Nov. 12, 2015
| GAME ONE | |
| Friday, November 13 - 6 p.m. ET | |
| Bryce Jordan Center | University Park, Pa.. | |
| Game Day Information: | |
| GAME DAY LINKS | |
| Live Video | |
TV: BTN (Live) -->Women's Basketball BlogFollow Us: @PennStateWBB | Facebook | InstagramGame Notes: Penn State | Holy Cross Statistics: Penn State | Holy Cross
INSIDE THE NUMBERS PSU UNL Team 194.675 195.300 V 48.900 49.150 UB 49.000 48.725 BB 47.975 48.800 FX 48.800 48.625 -->
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. --The Penn State women's basketball team will open the 2015-16 season by hosting Holy Cross on Friday (Nov. 13) at 6 p.m. inside the Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State has won nine straight season openers and owns a 3-0 edge in the all-time series with Holy Cross.
Promotions
// Quick Change --David & Dania puzzle the audience with flashing costume transformations which happen in fractions of a second. Featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Americas Got Talent," "Ellen Degeneres" and many more TV shows worldwide.
// Poster Pickup -- Fans will be able to pick up their 2015-16 women's basketball season poster.
Season, Single Game & Group Tickets
// Season, single game and group ticket packages for the 2015-16 campaign are currently on sale.
// To purchase tickets or for information on group ticket experiences, fans can visit http://bit.ly/PSUWBBTickets, call 1-800-NITTANY, visit Virtual Venue and chose your seats, or visit the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office weekdays from 10 a.m-6 p.m.
B1G Mini Plan
// The Big Ten Mini Plan will feature your chance to see each Big Ten home game at a greater than 30% discount over single game tickets. You will have the same seats for each game and have the ability to post for resale on TicketMaster+, the only authorized resale marketplace of Penn State Athletics.
// Big Ten Mini Plans for the sideline package are $90 for adult and $63 for youth, while baseline tickets are $63 and $45, respectively. Big Ten Mini Plan can be purchased by clicking here.
Getting Social
Follow Penn State women's basketball on Facebook by clicking here or on Twitter by clicking here. Stay up to date with all of our 31 varsity programs on your favorite social media platforms by clicking here. You can also stay up to date with the women's basketball program on LadyLions.com.
Series Notes
// Penn State and Holy Cross have met three times on the hardwood, with the Lady Lions unblemished in those meetings.
// The last meeting came on Nov. 28, 2009 in the Dead River Company Classic championship game. The Lady Lions won, 52-48, in Orono, Maine.
// The first meeting in the series came on Feb. 25, 1992, a 71-59 PSU victory in Worcester, Mass.
// An NCAA Tournament first round game rounds out the meetings. A 64-33 victory on March 23, 2003 helped the Lady Lions on their way to a 10th Sweet Sixteen appearance.
At A Glance
// Senior Brianna Banks led the Lady Lions with 20 points in an 84-58 exhibition win over Cal (Pa.) on Nov. 1, 2015. Banks led four players in double figures, including double-doubles from Kaliyah Mitchell and Peyton Whitted.
// Head coach Coquese Washington enters her ninth season at the helm of the Lady Lion program. Washington has won 148 games through her first eight season, including four 20-win seasons and three Big Ten regular season titles (2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14).
// Junior guard Sierra Moore will miss the 2015-16 season due to injury (knee). Moore averaged 12.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists, and added 15 blocked shots and 35 steals in 30 games last season.
// The 2015 recruiting class was ranked 15th nationally by ESPN.com/Hoopgurlz, marking the third top-15 and fourth top-25 class signed by Washington.
// The freshmen class features a pair of guards, Amari Carter and Teniya Page, and two post players, Ashanti Thomas and Jaylen Williams. Carter and Page were each rated as five-star recruits coming out of high school, with Page ranking 27th and Carter sitting 32nd in the final ESPN.com/HoopGurlz player rankings. Thomas and Williams were ranked 87th and 80th, respectively.
// The Lady Lions return 91 percent of their scoring, 90 percent of their assists and steals, 88 percent of their minutes played and 86 percent of their rebounds from a season ago.
Agee Sending It Back
Candice Agee ended the 2014-15 season ranked tied for No. 13 on Penn State's career blocked shots list with 87 rejections through three seasons. Here are just some of Agee's experience with sending back opponents shots:
// Agee is tied with Reicina Russell (87; 2003-04) and Vicki Link (87;1984-87) for 13th place on the career blocked shots list.
// She is just two rejections shy of tying Kathy Phillips (89; 1989-92) for 12th spot.
// Agee posted 17 multi-block efforts in 2014-15 and now has 24 career contests with two-or-more blocks.
// The Victorville, Calif., native enjoyed a 13-game streak with at least on blocked shot in 2014-15. She rejected shots in each game from Jan. 6 - Feb. 26, 2015.
// Agee recorded a career-high five blocks in a win over Rider on Dec. 14, 2014.
// Entering her final season in the blue and white, Agee owns the 10th best blocks per game average. She averages 1.0 blocks per game in 87 career games.
Double-Doubles
Eight of Penn State's 11 double-double performances from last season return for 2015-16.
// Candice Agee and Kaliyah Mitchell each recorded three double-doubles last season. It was the first career double-double performances for each of them.
// Sierra Moore also chipped in a pair of double-doubles - the first of her career.
Spann Among Top Freshmen Scorers
Lindsey Spann opened her career with eight consecutive double-figure scoring games and became just the fifth rookie since 1981 to lead the team in scoring during her first season on the court.
// Spann reached the 10-point mark in each of her first eight career games, a feat not accomplished by Penn State's top two career scorers, Kelly Mazzante and Maggie Lucas.
// She ended the season ranked No. 7 on the PSU freshman scoring list with 384 points.
// Her 13.2 points per game was tops on the squad, making her just the fifth freshman since 1980-81 to lead the team in scoring average, joining Lucas (2010-11), Tyra Grant (2006-07), Mazzante (2000-01) and Susan Robinson (1988-89)
// Spann connected on 37 three-pointers to rank No. 6 on the freshman charts.
Record Setting Academics
A school-record seven Lady Lions earned Academic All-Big Ten honors during the 2014-15 academic year.
// The seven academic award winners surpassed the six honorees from the 2003-04, 2008-09 and 2012-13 squads.
// Jenny DeGraaf, Molly Dincher, Kaliyah Mitchell, Sierra Moore, Lindsey Spann, Tori Waldner and Peyton Whitted all earned carried at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA through their competition season.
// Waldner was also named to the Big Ten Distinguished Scholars list, awarded to student-athletes that held a 3.7 or higher GPA during the academic year.
On The Recruiting Trail
Head coach Coquese Washington and her staff was able to ink the No. 15 signing class in 2015, netting a pair of five-star recruits and two other top-100 players.
// The class included a pair of guards, Amari Carter (Washington D.C.) and Teniya Page (Chicago), and two post players, Ashanti Thomas (Lexington, Ky.) and Jaylen Williams (Easton, Mass.).
// Carter and Page were each rated as five-star recruits coming out of high school, with Page ranking 27th and Carter sitting 32nd in the final ESPN.com/HoopGurlz player rankings.
// Thomas and Williams were each top-100 players, as well, sitting 87th and 80th, respectively.
// The class will also get a boost from Brianna Banks, who sat out last season after transferring from Connecticut with one year of eligibility remaining.
Moore Out for 2015-16
// Junior guard Seirra Moore will miss the 2015-16 season due to injury (knee).
// Moore averaged 12.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists, and added 15 blocked shots and 35 steals in 30 games last season.
// After sitting out the 2013-14 season, Moore was the only Lady Lion to start all 30 games and averaged a season-high 34.1 minutes per game.
Success In Season Openers
// The Lady Lions have found success in their season openers over the years, posting a 39-12 record since 1965 in the first game of the season.
// Penn State is 43-8 all-time in home openers, including a 16-3 mark at the Bryce Jordan Center.
// Additionally, Coquese Washington is a perfect 8-0 in the first game of a season since taking the helm of the Lady Lion program for the 2007-08 season.
// In fact, the Lady Lions have started at least 2-0 in seven of Washington's eight seasons.
2016 Pink Zone at Penn State
// The 10th Annual Pink Zone at Penn State will be held Sunday, January 17 in the Bryce Jordan Center when the Lady Lions take on Michigan. The time for the game will be 2 p.m. ET.
// Last year, the Lady Lions donated $999,999 after setting a record with $310,000 raised for breast cancer causes in 2013-14.
// All totalled, the Lady Lions have donated more than $1.375 million for breast cancer research and awareness in the first nine years.
// Money raised this year will be disbursed to six different beneficiaries: Mount Nittany Medical Center, The Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, The Kay Yow Cancer Fund, PA Breast Cancer Coalition, JC Blair Memorial Hospital, and Geisinger-Lewistown Hospital.
// For more information on the Pink Zone at Penn State, visit the official Pink Zone website at www.pennsylvaniapinkzone.org.