Feb. 8, 2015
| 54 | 50 |
| Mackey Arena | West Lafayette, Ind. | 6.861 | |
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) |
| Notes |
| VIDEO: Highlights | Postgame Press Conference |
| FINAL STATISTICS |
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Penn State Lady Lions (6-18, 3-10) used career highs fromKeke Sevillian(Goodrich, Mich.) andAlex Harris(Lorain, Ohio) to post a 54-50 win over Purdue (10-13, 3-9) Sunday at Mackey Arena. With Penn State trailing 46-44 with 2:37 remaining,Lindsey Spann(Laurel, Md.) hit a three-pointer andSierra Moore(Hanover, Pa.) hit a jumper to give the Lady Lions a 49-47 lead for good with 1:38 remaining.
Sevillian, who was celebrating her 20th birthday on Sunday, was perfect on the afternoon, going 3-for-3 from the field, 2-for-2 from three-point range and 2-for-2 from the free throw line en route to a career-high 10 pints. She also dished out one assist.
Harris was a spark off of the bench with personal bests of 13 rebounds and four blocks. She also dished out a pair of assists in the win. Harris also made the free throw to make it a four-point game with five seconds left. Spann registered a game-high 16 points, including a career-high four three-pointers, with two assists and a steal. The rookie guard now has 346 points this season to move into the Top 10 on Penn State's freshman season scoring list, passing Kahadeejah Hebert (340) for 10th place.
SophomoreKaliyah Mitchell(Stone Mountain, Ga.) grabbed 12 rebounds to go along with six points, three assists, two steals and a block. Moore finished with eight points and six rebounds.
The Lady Lions were off to a sluggish start, going 0-for-7 with five turnovers in the first five minutes of the game as the Boilers established a 6-0 lead. A long jumper byJenny DeGraaf(Springboro, Ohio) and a bank-shot for Spann sliced into the Purdue lead and made it a 6-4 Boiler lead with 13:48 remaining.
After the Boilers scored the next five points to make it a seven-point game (11-4), Penn State went on a brief 5-2 run to close the gap to four (13-9) on a jumper byTori Waldner(Milton, Ga.) with 7 minutes left. Purdue would push the lead to 18-12 over the next five and a half minutes, but Penn State ended the half by scoring five of the final seven points on a three-pointer by Spann and a jumper by Waldner to go into the break with the Boilers leading 20-17.
It was an offensive struggle for both teams in the opening frame as the Lady Lions shot just 32 percent (7-22) with 12 turnovers and Purdue shot 24 percent (8-34) with six turnovers. The 17 points by the Lady Lions in the opening frame are the fewest since scoring 17 in the second half against Michigan State in the 2013 Big Ten Tournament (3/9/13).
The Boilers came out firing in the second half, scoring the first four points of the second half to take a 24-17 lead just over a minute into the frame.
After an exchange of three-pointers, Mitchell kicked-off a 12-2 Lady Lion run with three consecutive points. Sevillian hit her second three-pointer of the half and Spann, Moore andPeyton Whitted(Suwanee, Ga.) each added two points in the run. Moore's layup off of the steal by Mitchell gave Penn State its first lead of the game at 30-29 with 14:51 left. Whitted capped the run with a nice up-and-under move to extend the Lions' lead to three (32-29) with 13:27 on the clock.
Purdue responded with a 10-0 run of their own over the next three minutes to take a 39-32 lead with just over 10 minutes left in the game. Spann connected her third three-pointer of the afternoon to get the Lions rolling. Following a pair of free throws by Sevillian, Whitted laid the ball in to tie the game at 39-39 with seven minutes left. Moore capped the 10-0 Penn State run with three consecutive points to give the Lady Lions a 42-39 lead with just under six minutes left.
The Boilers made another charge with a 7-2 run to take a 46-44 lead with 2:37 remaining. However, the Lady Lions bounced back starting with a three-pointer by Spann. After a Purdue free throw, Moore scored to push Penn State to a 49-47 lead with 1:38 remaining. The Lady Lions were able to seal the win with five free throws down the stretch while holding the Boilers to just one basket and one free throw.
The 2014-15 Penn State Lady Lion Basketball season is presented byKish TravelandKish Insurance. The Lady Lions return to the BJC on Wednesday to meet Michigan State at 7 p.m. on Dollar Dog Night. Penn State will also host Minnesota on Sunday at 2 p.m. There's a pregame National Girls and Women in Sports Day Clinic with other women's sports teams. Participants get a free ticket to the game and parents get a $5 ticket.
Lady Lion Basketball single-game tickets are available by calling 1-800-NITTANY. Single-game tickets range from $10-17 for adults and seniors and $5-11 for youth (12 and younger). The PNC Flex Books are $120 and give fans 12 vouchers, 10 that can be redeemed in any combination for Nittany Lion and Lady Lion Basketball tickets throughout the year and two extra vouchers for the Nittany Lions' Coaches Vs. Cancer game and the Lady Lions' Pink Zone game.
The Ninth Annual Pink Zone at Penn State presented by Mount Nittany Health will be held Sunday, March 1 in the Bryce Jordan Center when the Lady Lions take on Wisconsin. The time for the game will be determined later in the season. Last year, the Lady Lions donated a record $310,000 to breast cancer causes. All totaled, the Lady Lions have donated more than $1.135 million for breast cancer research and awareness in the first eight years. This year's fundraising efforts will benefit the Mount Nittany Medical Center, Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition, the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital and Lewistown Hospital. For more information on the Pink Zone at Penn State, visit the official Pink Zone website at www.pennsylvaniapinkzone.org.
The Lady Lions are on Twitter. Follow sports information contact Kris Petersen (@ladylionsid) and the Lady Lions and coaches (@pennstatewbb) to get the inside scoop. The Lady Lions are also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pennstateladylions.