Dec. 30, 2015
| GAME 12 | |
| Thursday, December 31 - 2 p.m. ET | |
| Bryce Jordan Center | University Park, Pa.. | |
| Game Day Information: | |
| GAME DAY LINKS |
TV: Big Ten Network (Live) -->BTN2go VideoLive Audio (Free) |Women's Basketball BlogFollow Us: @PennStateWBB | Facebook | InstagramGame Notes: Penn State | Northwestern Statistics: Penn State | Northwestern
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. --Every game is intense, but the fervor picks up just a bit when Big Ten play begins, and that excitement will start with a New Year's Eve contest vs. Northwestern at the Bryce Jordan Center. The Lady Lions (5-6, 0-0 B1G) will host the No. 14/15 Wildcats (11-1, 0-0 B1G) on Thursday, Dec. 31 at 2 p.m.
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Series Notes
// Penn State and Northwestern will meet for the 42nd time in program history.
// The Lady Lions are 34-7 all-time against the Wildcats, including a 19-1 record at home.
// Penn State is 33-6 vs. Northwestern in Big Ten contests, including nine straight victories.
// The two teams first met on Dec. 17, 1979 when Northwestern traveled to Happy Valley. The game was won by Penn State, 79-74.
// Penn State and Northwestern have met twice before in B1G openers, with the Lady Lions winning each of those meetings (1/3/2013 & 1/6/1994).
At A Glance
// Penn State opens its 24th season in the Big Ten Conference on Thursday vs. Northwestern. The Lady Lions are 247-133 all-time in B1G play, including a 13-10 mark in openers.
// Sophomore Lindsey Spann posted her second 20-point game of the season vs. Sacred Heart with 23 points. She is averaging 18.0 points and 2.8 assists over her last five games.
// Penn State has four players averaging in double figures over the last five games, including 18.0 points from Spann and 13.6 points from senior Brianna Banks.
// Freshman Teniya Page continues to lead the team in assists (4.3 apg) and ranks No. 6 in the Big Ten in assist/turnover ratio (2.18).
// Penn State will travel to Minnesota for a 3 p.m. meeting with the Golden Gophers on Sunday, January 3. The game will be shown live on BTN2go.com.
Scouting Northwestern
// Northwestern is 11-1 overall and enters Thursday's meeting with a perfect 5-0 mark away from home. The Wildcats are 2-0 in true road games - defeating Loyola & North Carolina.
// The Wildcats have used the same starting lineup in 11 of their 12 games - with the only different lineup coming in the loss to DePaul. Nia Coffey, Ashley Deary, Christen Inman and Maggie Lyon have started all 12 games, with Christine Johnson starting 11 games.
// Junior Nia Coffey leads the team in points, rebounds and blocked shots. She is the only player in the Big Ten averaging a double-double, leading the conference with 11.1 rebounds. Her 18.2 points per game rank No. 9 in the conference.
// Coffey's seven double-doubles this season lead the B1G and rank No. 7 nationally.
// Junior Ashley Deary leads the NCAA with 4.6 steals per game. She has at least four steals in seven games, including 10 thefts vs. Eastern Washington.
// Deary also sits No. 3 the conference and No. 15 in the NCAA with 6.4 assists per game this season.
// Northwestern takes care of the basketball, averaging just 10.9 turnovers per game. That total ranks No. 3 nationally and is tops in the B1G.
Last Time Out - vs. Sacred Heart (Dec. 20, 2015)
// Lindsey Spann led all scorers with 23 points to account for her second 20-point game of the season and seventh of her career.
// In the process, Spann notched her 500th career points, ending the afternoon with 518 career tallies.
// With five rebounds, Spann also passed the 100-career rebound mark.
// Kaliyah Mitchell pulled down 11 rebounds to go along with 15 points to post her second double-double of the season and sixth of her career.
// With her 11 rebounds, Mitchell moved past the 400-career rebound mark.
// Peyton Whitted pulled down 12 rebounds against Sacred Heart for her fifth 10-plus rebound effort of the season.
// Brianna Banks passed the 500-career-point mark with her 17 tallies and in the process scored the 100th point of her Penn State career.
// Candice Agee posted her 30th career game with multiple blocked shots
// Teniya Page posted her eight career game with at least 10 points and four assists.
B1G Highlights
// Penn State begins its 24th season in the Big Ten Conference on Thursday vs. Northwestern at the Bryce Jordan Center.
// The Lady Lions own an all-time mark of 247-133.
// All-time, Penn State is 146-45 at home in Big Ten conference games, while owning a 101-88 mark in road games.
// Penn State's eight regular season championships since 1992-93 are the most won by any Big Ten team. Ohio State (7) and Purdue (6) are next on the list.
// The Lady Lions also own a pair of Big Ten Tournament titles, winning in 1995 & 1996.
// Their 25 NCAA Tournament appearances are the most in the Big Ten. Iowa, Purdue and Rutgers each have 24 NCAA Tournament appearances entering 2015-16.
Ringing in the New Year
// Penn State is playing its fifth game all-time on New Year's Eve, with a 1-3 record in the previous four games.
// The Lady Lions will be playing the first home game on New Year's Eve in school history. Three of the previous four meetings have been played on the road, with the other coming at a neutral site.
// Three of the four New Year's Eve games have come in Big Ten play, with the other meeting coming against current B1G member Rutgers.
B1G Bragging Rights
// Penn State owns an all-time mark of 328-189 against members of the Big Ten, including an overall winning record against 11 of the 13 teams in the conference.
// Since joining the conference in 1992-93, the Lady Lions are 273-152 vs. its conference brethren. That mark includes a 247-133 mark in conference play, a 25-19 mark in the Big Ten Tournament and one win vs. Indiana in the 1998 WNIT Semifinals.
// Since 1992-93, Penn State owns a winning mark vs. nine of the 13 Big Ten teams.
The Last Five Games
// Penn State is 2-3 in its last five games, including a 2-1 record at the Bryce Jordan Center.
// The Lady Lions are allowing 66.4 points per game, while scoring 69.8 points per contests.
// As a team, Penn State has made 73-of-91 from the free throw stripe, a .802 clip from the charity stripe.
// Penn State is averaging just 14.0 turnovers per game in its last five contests, while forcing 18.4, a plus-4.8 turnover margin.
// Four players are averaging in double figures; Lindsey Spann (18.0), Brianna Banks (13.6), Teniya Page (11.8) & Kaliyah Mitchell (11.8).
// Sophomore Lindsey Spann is averaging 18.0 points per game over the last five games. She is adding 2.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists.
// Junior Kaliyah Mitchell leads the team with a 6.8 rebounding average over the last five games, including a pair of double-doubles.
Balanced in the Scoring Column
// Penn State has seen at least three players reach double figures in nine of 11 games this season.
// Four Lady Lions have eclipsed the 10-point mark in seven games - including one game with five players scoring 10-plus points.
// At USF, Penn State placed all five starters in double figures, marking the first time since Jan. 25, 2015 that five different Lady Lions scored 10 or more points in the same game.
// Freshman Teniya Page reached the 10-points plateau in each of her first eight career games.
// Five different Lady Lions have six-or-more double-digit scoring games, including freshman Teniya Page, sophomore Lindsey Spann, juniors Kaliyah Mitchell and Peyton Whitted and senior Brianna Banks.
// Perspective: In 2014-15, Penn State had four players reach double-figures in the same game on seven occasions, five times w/ four players and twice with five players.
Getting Jiggy Whitted
// Peyton Whitted enjoyed a quick start to her junior season, setting career-highs for points (22), rebounds (16), assists (7), field goals made (8) and free throws made (6) in her first three games.
// Whitted entered today ranked No. 3 in the Big Ten with 8.9 rebounds per game through 11 games.
// She posted three double-doubles over her first four games this season. Her 22-point, 11-rebound effort in the season opener marked her first career double-double.
// She hauled in 10-plus boards in each of her first four games, making her the first player since Nikki Greene (2013) to post four straight games with at least 10 rebounds.
// Whitted's first three career double-doubles have come against Holy Cross (22p, 11r), at Tennessee (17p, 16r) and vs. Central Connecticut State (15p, 15r).
// Her 17-point, 16-rebound effort at No. 4/5 Tennessee came against her father's alma mater. Whitted's dad, Kevin, played basketball at UT from 1993-95, leading the team in field goal percentage twice.
// Whitted was named to the Big Ten Weekly Honor Roll after averaging 16.0 points and 15.5 rebounds for the week of Nov. 16-22.
// Entering the season, Whitted had just one double-digit rebound game. She has five this season.
Banks Depositing 20's
// Senior Brianna Banks made her Penn State debut on Nov. 13 vs. Holy Cross and promptly tied her then-career-high with 20 points.
// In her second game, Banks eclipsed that effort with 22 points against Fordham.
// On Dec. 12 at St. Bonaventure, Banks netted a career-best 26 points on a personal-best 10 field goals.
// Banks has reached double figures in six of the seven games she has completed, missing most of four games due to injury.
// Banks played just two minutes at No. 5/4 Tennessee before leaving the game with an injury. She missed games vs. Central Connecticut State and at Cal State Northridge, and played just three minutes vs. BYU.
Spann Heating Up
// After leading the team in scoring last season as a redshirt-freshman, Lindsey Spann reached double digits just twice in her first six games.
// Since her two-point performance vs. BYU, Spann has reached the 10-point mark in five straight games, including a pair of 20-point efforts.
// Her first 20-point effort of the season came vs. Virginia Tech on Dec. 3, pouring in 20 points.
// She added a 23-point outing against Sacred Heart on Dec. 20, adding five rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Agee Sending It Back
// Senior Candice Agee blocked four shots vs. Sacred Heart to move her career total to 107 rejections.
// She trails Tori Waldner (120, 2012-15) for the No. 8 spot on the career charts.
// Her three blocks at Cal State Northridge helped her become just the 10th Lady Lion to record 100 career rejections.
// Agee has 30 career games with two-plus 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.
// Agee is looking to become just the 10th player in Penn State history to register 1.0 blocks per game for a career. She is currently at 1.06 bpg.
On the Right Page
// True freshman Teniya Page has been impressive as the Lady Lion point guard in her first seven career games.
// The Chicago, Ill., native poured in a career-high 26 points to go along with personal best marks of eight rebounds and four steals against Cal State Northridge on Nov. 27.
// Page opened her career with seven straight 10-plus point, four-plus assist efforts.
// Her eight straight games of 10-plus points to open her career is a feat not accomplished by Penn State's top two career scoring leaders, Kelly Mazzante and Maggie Lucas.
// She scored 15 points with seven assists vs. Holy Cross, handed out six helpers with 11 points vs. Fordham to open her career.
// Against Fordham, Page did not commit a turnover in 38 minutes of action.
Mitchell's Double Digit Streak
// After not reaching the scoring column in the season opener vs. Holy Cross, junior Kaliyah Mitchell secured double figures in scoring in each of the next five games.
// Mitchell led the team in scoring at USF with 18 points, just two points shy of her career-best effort.
// Mitchell posted her first double-double of the season on Tuesday, Dec. 8 against Youngstown State with 16 points and a game-high 12 boards.
// The junior added 15 points and 11 rebounds on Dec. 20 vs. Sacred Heart for her second double-double of the year.
// She has also cashed in at the free throw line, making 33-of-36 shots from the charity stripe. Her .917 free throw percentage ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten and No. 11 nationally.
// Mitchell made 19 free throws in a row from the third quarter vs. Central Connecticut State to the third quarter against Youngstown State, including a 6-of-6 effort vs. BYU on Nov. 28..
Injury Bug Strikes
// Senior guard Brianna Banks missed most of a four-game stretch due to a lower leg injury from Nov. 18 - Nov. 28. She came out of the Tennessee game with the injury, missed all of the next two contests and played sparingly in the BYU game.
// Junior guard Keke Sevillian missed the Lady Lions contest vs. Sacred Heart due to injury.
// Junior guard Sierra Moore and freshman guard Amari Carter will both miss the 2015-16 season due to injuries (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.
// Carter also missed her senior year of high school due to a knee injury.
Working Overtime
// Penn State opened the season with an 86-82 overtime victory vs. Holy Cross and are now 21-18 all-time in overtime.
// The season opening overtime contest marked just the third time PSU opened a season with extra time.
// The Lady Lions are 2-1 all-time in season opening overtime games. The also won at Dayton, Nov. 12, 2010, but lost, 93-84, to Connecticut on Nov. 25, 1989 in a game played at Iowa.
// The overtime victory marked the first overtime victory for PSU since the Nov. 18, 2010 at Oakland (96-89). Penn State had lost three straight overtime contests.
Among NCAA Victory Leaders
// Penn State is one of only 16 teams in NCAA Division I to accumulate 890 or more victories in program history, with an overall record of 892-424 (.677).
// The Lady Lions are one of just three Big Ten teams to amass 890 or more victories. Ohio State (952), Maryland (894) and Penn State (892) are the three B1G schools to reach the mark.
// Penn State's win total has reached that mark in large part thanks to its 26 20-win seasons.
Washington Reaches 150
// Head coach Coquese Washington won her 150th career game on Sunday, Nov. 15 vs. Fordham, 75-59.
// Washington has started each of her nine seasons at the helm of the Lady Lions with a victory.
// In eight of the nine seasons, Penn State has began the year with at least two victories.
// Washington is unblemished in home openers, as well, winning all nine of her initial games in front of the home crowd.
Nice Opener for Newcomers
// All five Penn State newcomers saw time on the floor vs. Holy Cross in the season opener.
// Three newcomers; senior Brianna Banks, and freshmen Teniya Page and Ashanti Thomas all started their first games in the blue and white.
// Banks ranked second on the team in scoring with 20 points, while Page also reached double figures with 15 points.
// Page handed out seven assists, grabbed two rebounds and had one steal in the contest.
// Thomas chipped in seven points, six rebounds and one blocked shot in her first collegiate game.
// Freshmen Amari Carter and Jaylen Williams each scored two points in the contest.
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 game time 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 totaled, 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.
Three McDonald's All-Americans
// The Lady Lions tout three McDonald's High School All-Americans on their roster this season in Candice Agee, Sierra Moore and Brianna Banks.
// Banks played in the 2011 contest, while Agee and Moore were participants in the 2012 game.
// Prior to Coquese Washington taking the reins, the Lady Lions only had one McDonald's High School All-American in program history.
Adding Two for 2016-17
// Head coach Coquese Washington and her coaching staff added a pair of top-25 guards during the early signing period in Siyeh Frazier and Jaida Travascio-Green.
// The 5-foot-11 Frazier averaged 18.5 points and nine rebounds per game as a junior at Renaissance High School in Detroit, Mich.
// She added nearly seven assists and six steals per game to earn AP All-State honors and Detroit Free Press Dream Team.
// An all-conference performer since her freshman year of high school, Travascio-Green garnered all-state honors after averaging 17 points, six rebounds, nearly four assists and two steals per game as a junior.
// A state qualifier and school-record holder in the high jump, Travascio-Green earned 2015 honorable mention all-state from the Chicago Tribune.
#WePlayOn
Penn State ended the WNBA season with four players on active rosters, including one All-Star and one WNBA Finals participant.
// Alex Bentley and Nikki Greene each suited up for the Connecticut Sun, Maggie Lucas played for the Indiana Fever and Tanisha Wright spent the season with the New York Liberty.
// Bentley ranked among the top-15 in the WNBA in steals (1.9) and scoring average (14.7), sitting third and 11th, respectively.
// Bentley was selected to the WNBA East All-Star roster and scored a team-best 23 points off the bench and handed out five assists.
// Lucas saw action in 30 games with a career-best 5.7 points per game average. She helped the Fever to an Eastern Conference championship and push the Minnesota Lynx to five games in the WNBA Finals.
// Wright ended her 11th season in the league with 7.4 points, 3.1 assists and 1.0 steals per game.
// Her assist total ranked ninth in the WNBA in 2015 and she moved into No. 14 in league history with 1,127 helpers in 364 career games.
// Greene played in 12 games as a late-season signing for the Sun, averaging 1.2 points and 2.0 rebounds.