Nov. 12, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After dropping its season opener at Drexel on Friday night, the Penn State women's basketball program will open the home portion of the 2016-17 slate with a contest against Saint Peter's on Sunday, Nov. 13. The Lady Lions and Peacocks will tip at 1 p.m. inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
Follow Along
Fans can follow along with the game on Twitter (@PennStateWBB), or via live stats, live video or live audio with the links to the right.
Series History
- This sit he first meeting between Penn State and Saint Peter's in women's basketball.
Scouting Saint Peter's
- Saint Peter's returns its top two scorers from a 2015-16 team that finished 4-26 overall. Sajanna Bathea averaged 12.1 points and Talah Hughes logged 9.4 points in 30 appearances for each player.
- Saint Peter's was out-scored by an average of 11.4 points per game in 2015-16, but the Peacocks held their own on the boards with a slim disadvantage in rebounding margin (37.3-37.7).
- Junior Sajanna Bethea was named Preseason All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Second Team. It is the second straight season Bethea earned a spot on the Preseason All-MAAC Second Team, after earning All-MAAC Third Team last season
- Bethea led the team in scoring (12.1 ppg) and rebounding (7.1 rpg). She posted four double-doubles and registered 18 double-figure scoring games and seven double-digit rebounding games.
Last Time Out -- at Drexel 83, Penn State 60 (Nov. 11, 2016)
- Senior Sierra Moore played in her first game in 617 days. She played her final game of the 2014-15 season on March 4, 2015 and missed all of 2015-16 due to injury (knee).
- Moore tied for team high with 15 points, the 23rd double-figure scoring game of her career.
- In 32 minutes, Moore connected on 7-of-8 shots from the field, grabbed four rebounds and added two assists.
- Also logging 15 points for Penn State was sophomore Teniya Page.
- Page added a game-high seven rebounds
- Playing 39 minutes in the game, Page logged her 19th game of at least 38 minutes in 32 career games.
- Redshirt-freshman Amari Carter tallied two points, four rebounds and four assists.
- True freshman Jaida Travascio-Green scored her first career points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the game to account for six points.
- True freshman Siyeh Frazier also saw her first collegiate action, playing three minutes.
- Drexel's Jessica Pellechio tied a Penn State opponent record with eight made 3-pointers.
Needing 1 for 900
- In its 53rd season playing women's basketball, Penn State owns an 899-438 overall record.
- Penn State is looking to become the 16th program in NCAA Division I history to reach the 900-win mark, including the third Big Ten school.
Back at the BJC
- Penn State is 44-8 in season openers since earning its first win, 39-33, over Bloomsburg on Feb. 4, 1965 inside White Building on the University Park campus.
- The Bryce Jordan Center opened midway through the 1996 season, so since playing their first home opener in the building in 1997, the Lady Lions are 17-3 in the first game at the BJC.
Moore's Is Better
- Sierra Moore missed the entire 2015-16 season due to injury, meaning her last on-court appearance came on March 3, 2015 in the Big Ten Tournament. Her absence spanned 617 days and she returned on Friday, Nov. 11 at Drexel.
- Moore tied for the team lead with 15 points, connecting on 7-of-8 shots from the floor and 1-of-2 attempts from the free throw line.
- She added four rebounds and two assists in 32 minutes on the floor.
Opening on the Road
- Penn State opened a season on the road for the first time since the 2010-11 season (at Dayton) with an 83-60 loss at Drexel on Friday, Nov. 11.
- Since 2006-07, Penn State has now opened on the road four times; at Dayton (2010-11) and at Drexel (2016-17, 2009-10 and 2006-07).
- Starting its 53rd season on the road, Penn State has opened with a true road game on 18 occasions. The Lady Lions are 11-7 in those contests, with the season-opening loss to the Dragons snapping a three-game winning streak.
Books & Basketball
- Senior guard Sierra Moore walked across the stage at the Bryce Jordan Center last April as a member of The Pennsylvania State University's graduating class of 2016.
- The Hanover, Pa., native accepted her diploma, a B.A. in broadcast & journalism, and is now working on a mater's degree in human resources & employment relations.
- Moore missed the 2015-16 season due to injury (knee), after averaging 12.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 2014-15.
- The trio of Kaliyah Mitchell, Lindsey Spann and Peyton Whitted all excelled on the court and in the classroom during the 2015-16 campaign, earning Academic All-Big Ten honors.
- Along with her academic honor, Spann was an honorable mention All-Big Ten performer, as well.
- Mitchell and Whitted were also members of the Dean's List following the 2016 spring semester.
500 Club
- More exclusive than Penn State's 1,000-point club, the 500-rebound group currently has just 32 members. However, one of those is senior Kaliyah Mitchell and fellow fourth-year player Peyton Whitted is knocking on the door.
- Mitchell secured her 500th rebound in the opening game of the 2016 Big Ten Tournament vs. Illinois and enters today with 513 career boards.
- With just 51 rebounds, Mitchell can move into the No. 25 slot, currently held by Kelly Mazzante (2001-04), who nabbed 563 career rebounds.
- For Whitted, she is just 31 rebounds shy of becoming the 33rd member of the club, thanks for a 256-rebound season in 2015-16.
Page Putting In Work
- Teniya Page produced eight games of at least 40 minutes last season and with her 39 minutes played at Drexel in the season opener, now has 19 games with more than 38 minutes played in 32 career games.
- Page has not fouled out of a game in her career, reaching four fouls in only eight games.
- Perspective: Page's 19 games of at least 38 minutes were more than the rest of the team combined from 2015-16. Only four other players (12 times) played at least 38 minutes in a game.
Spann Solid From The Stripe
- Junior Lindsey Spann has moved her named into the discussion as one of the top free throw shooters in school history.
- Spann has made 118-of-150 shots from charity stripe in her career to rank No. 14 on the career free throw percentage list at .786.
- Her .877 free throw percentage (57-of-65) in 2015-16 ranks tied for No. 8 on the single season charts with Jess Strom's 71-of-81 effort in 2002-03.
Long Range Lindsey
- In just 61 career games, Lindsey Spann has ascended into the upper echelon of the single season and career charts for three-point shooting at Penn State.
- Her 102 makes from three-point range make her just the 14th player in Penn State history to hit the century mark from distance.
- She is currently 12 shy of passing Lynn Dougherty (113, 1989-92) for 13th on the career list.
- Her 65 makes from long range in 2015-16 sit tied with Kelly Mazzante (2000-01) for No. 11 on the single season charts.
- Spann's seven three-pointers at Minnesota were the most in a single game in 2015-16 for Penn State and sit tied for No. 4 on the Lady Lion single game charts.
- She connected on at least two three-pointers in six straight games from Jan. 10 - Jan. 27, before going 0-for-3 against Purdue (1/30).
Versus the MAAC
- Penn State owns a 12-0 against the current alignment of the Metro Atlantic Athletics Conference.
- Penn State has already faced six of the 11 schools in the conference, with Saint Peter's and Iona on the schedule for the first time in program history in 2016-17.
Team - Record
Canisius -- No Meetings
Fairfield -- 4-0
Iona -- First Meeting in 2016-17
Manhattan -- No Meetings
Marist -- No Meetings
Monmouth -- 1-0
Niagara -- 2-0
Quinnipiac -- 1-0
Rider -- 2-0
Saint Peter's -- First Meeting in 2016-17
Siena -- 1-0
Rookies Get First Taste
- True freshmen Siyeh Frazier and Jaida Travascio-Green each recorded the first official playing time of their respective careers in the season opener at Drexel.
- Travascio-Green connected on her first career attempt from the field, a 3-point basket with 1:33 left in the first quarter to push Penn State's lead to six points at the time.
- Overall, Travascio-Green would end the night with six points and two rebounds in 13 minutes of court time.
- Frazier played three minutes and had one assist in her first collegiate action.
NEXT UP
The Lady Lions will continue their homestand with a Wednesday, Nov. 16 meeting with Akron. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.