| 75 | 59 |
| Bryce Jordan Center | University Park, Pa. | Attn: 3024 | |
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) |
| Quotes | Notes |
| Photo Gallery (PSU) |
| VIDEO: Coach Washington Postgame |
| FINAL STATISTICS |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; November 15, 2015 - The Penn State women's basketball team picked up its second home victory of the 2015-16 season with a 75-59 win over Fordham on Sunday, Nov. 15 at the Bryce Jordan Center. With the victory, Penn State head coach Coquese Washington won her 150th career game as a head coach.
Penn State (1-0) was led by redshirt-senior Brianna Banks (Newnan, Ga.), who scored a career-high 22 points, surpassing her previous career-best of 20, which she scored on two separate occasions.
Also notching double-digit scoring was junior Kaliyah Mitchell (Stone Mountain, Ga.), who notched her 400th career point against the Rams in the third quarter, scoring 15 points on the afternoon and bringing her career total to 409. Finally, Candice Agee (Victorville, Calif.) added 12 points for PSU and Teniya Page (Chicago, Ill.) rounded out the double-digit scoring with 11 points for the Blue and White.
As a team, Penn State shot 42.0 percent from the floor, while Banks knocked down a team-high three three-pointers. The Lady Lions out-rebounded Fordham (0-1), 41-40, with Peyton Whitted (Suwanee, Ga.) pulling down a team-high 11 boards for the second-straight game. Whitted closed out the game with nine points, 11 rebounds, along with a team and career-high seven assists, while Page dished out six assists for the Blue and White.
Defensively, Penn State forced 17 Rams turnovers and had 10 steals. The Lady Lion's eight turnovers marked the lowest since Feb. 16, 2014 when PSU had just seven turnovers against Wisconsin. Penn State blocked four shots on the day with two coming from Agee, who now has 92 career blocked shots and ranks 11th all-time in PSU laurels, tied with Bethany Collins (1985-88).
Three players notched double-digit scoring for the Rams with G'mrice Davis scoring a team-best 15 points. Samantha Clark and Danielle Burns also had double-digit scoring efforts with 14 and 10 points, respectively. As a team, Fordham shot 36.2 percent from the floor and 80.0 percent from the charity stripe.
Fordham got out to the early 6-0 lead over Penn State before Banks knocked down a jumper with 5:18 remaining in the first quarter to light up the scoreboard for the first time in the game for the Blue and White. Coming out of the media timeout, the Lady Lions found their offensive groove, going on an 8-2 run to close out the first quarter with a narrow 10-8 lead over the Rams.
PSU's offensive surge continued into the second quarter as it opened up with eight-straight points, including a three-pointer from Page. Following a missed free throw, Penn State grabbed the offensive rebound and dumped the ball to Agee who converted on the layup to extend the Lady Lion lead to 23-10 heading into the media timeout.
In the final six minutes of the opening half, the two teams started to exchange baskets, allowing Fordham to come within 10 of Penn State and forcing Head Coach Washington to call a timeout with 1:55 remaining in the second quarter. Penn State added a free throw and a layup from Mitchell to take a 31-20 lead into the locker room at the half.
The Lady Lions shot 38.7 percent from the floor in the first half with Agee leading all scorers with nine points, while Banks added six and Page had five. Penn State out-rebounded the Rams, 20-19, with Whitted pulling down seven boards in the first 20 minutes of action. Penn State notched six second chance points, while the bench had 13 of the Lady Lion's 31 first half points. Defensively, Penn State forced nine turnovers and had six steals with Keke Sevillian (Goodrich, Mich.) swiping a team-high three balls and Agee and Lindsey Spann (Laurel, Md.) each adding two.
Fordham shot 32.1 percent from the floor in the first half and did not make a shot from beyond the arc, going 0-for-8 in three-point attempts. Clark led all Ram scorers with eight points, while Davis had four points. Burns led all players on the boards in the first half, grabbing eight rebounds and blocking two shots.
The two teams opened up the second half exchanging baskets but Penn State was able to maintain at least a 10-point advantage in the opening five minutes, taking a 39-28 lead into the third quarter media timeout. The Lady Lion's ignited out of the media break with Banks scoring a layup and Spann following it up with a fast break layup of her own off a Whitted steal.
The fast break play and backcourt pressure from Penn State forced Fordham to call a timeout to slow the pace of the game with 3:08 remaining in the third quarter and PSU leading 45-31. A trey at the buzzer for the Rams allowed them to close the gap to nine points with Penn State taking a 51-42 point lead into the final quarter of the game.
The Rams used a 7-0 run in just over a minute of play to come within five, 57-52, of the Lady Lions, forcing Washington to call a timeout with 4:35 left to play in the game. Banks came out of the timeout to drop a three-pointer off a pass from Spann before Mitchell drove the lane with an easy layup to extend the PSU lead to 62-52 with 3:26 left in the fourth quarter.
Penn State closed out the game with a 13-7 run to earn a 75-59 victory over Fordham in its second game of the season.
The Lady Lions hit the road for the first time in the 2015-16 campaign when they head to Knoxville, Tenn. for a mid-week game against the University of Tennessee Lady Vols. Tipoff from Thompson-Boling Arena is set for 8 p.m. and the game will air live on the SEC Network.
Season tickets, Big Ten mini plans and single-game tickets for both the men's and women's programs are available from GoPSUsports.com or by calling 1-800-NITTANY.
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