Jan. 3, 2017
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State women's basketball team iced a high-scoring Iowa Hawkeyes team, earning a 71-58 victory to earn its first Big Ten Conference win of the 2016-17 season at the Bryce Jordan Center on Tuesday (Jan. 3).
The Lady Lions (11-4, 1-2 B1G) held Iowa (10-6, 1-2 B1G) to a season-low-tying 58 points as the Hawkeyes shot just 38.2 percent from the floor. From 3-point range, Penn State shot 41.2 percent and held Iowa to just 10.5 percent.
Penn State saw four players reach double-digit scoring in its Big Ten victory with freshman Jaida Travascio-Green (Lisle, Ill.) leading the way in her first collegiate start. The Lisle, Ill. native scored 16 points on the night for the Lady Lions, including five makes from beyond the arc for the second time in her first season donning the Blue and White.
Sophomore Amari Carter (Washington, D.C.) was a leader on the floor for Penn State, scoring 13 points and adding a career-high eight rebounds, while dishing out a team-best six assists. The six assists mark her eighth game of the year with at least five helpers.
Senior Kaliyah Mitchell (Stone Mountain, Ga.) surpassed the 800-point plateau in the fourth quarter against the Hawkeyes with a layup. Mitchell knocked down six points on the night to move her career total to 801.
Sophomore Teniya Page (Chicago, Ill.) scored 10-or-more points for her ninth-straight appearance with 11 points on the night for Penn State. The sophomore guard has posted 13 games in the 2016-17 campaign with 10-or-more points and notched the 38th time in her career reaching double figures.
Senior Sierra Moore (Hanover, Pa.) rounded out the four double-digit scorers for Penn State with 10 points, while senior Peyton Whitted (Suwanee, Ga.) grabbed a game-high nine boards and Jaylen Williams (Easton, Mass.) added seven rebounds for the Lady Lions.
Penn State kept a powerful Iowa offense to just 27 second half points and allowed only nine points in the third quarter keeping the Hawkeyes to just one field goal and seven free throws. As a team, the Lady Lion defense forced Iowa into 18 turnovers and scored 22 points off of miscues.
Turning Point
With 8:16 left in the third quarter
Travascio-Green sparked a 17-0 run for the Lady Lions with back-to-back 3-pointers to force an Iowa timeout. The timeout proved to be in vein as Penn State scored seven more points to take a 49-33 lead and ice Iowa for 8:35 seconds in the third quarter as the only field goal it would score was just 10 seconds into the start of the half.
Difference Makers
Penn State
- G Amari Carter -- Scored 13 points, pulled down a career-high eight rebounds and dished out six assists for the Lady Lions, while committing just one turnover
- G Jaida Travascio-Green -- Notched a team-best 16 points with five 3-pointers and sparked a 17-0 run for the Lady Lions with back-to-back treys.
- F Peyton Whitted -- Pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, including four offensive boards.
- G Teniya Page -- Scored 11 points and handed out four assists in 32 minutes of work.
- Big on the Boards -- As a team, the Lady Lions outrebounded Iowa 42-30 on the night with 15 offensive rebounds and 13 second chance points.
- Benching It -- Penn State's bench outscored Iowa, 25-6, to hold the edge in bench scoring for the 14th time in 15 games.
Iowa
- F Megan Gustafson -- Notched a team-best 21 points on 7-for-21 shooting from the field and going 7-for-8 from the free throw line
- G Tania Davis -- Tallied 14 points and had a team-best seven rebounds
- G Kathleen Doyle -- Scored 11 points with 5-for-9 shooting from the field.
By Quarter
First Quarter
In Travascio-Green's first start of her career as a Lady Lion, the freshman drained the first points of the game for Penn State with a 3-pointer, giving the Blue and White a 3-2 lead early in the first quarter. After falling behind by five, Williams checked into the game and scored a quick layup to bring Penn State within three, 16-13, with just under two minutes to play. Iowa tacked out two final points in the closing minutes to take the five-point lead into the second quarter.
Iowa 18, Penn State 13
Second Quarter
Penn State worked its way within one of Iowa before a technical foul allowed Spann to make both shots from the charity stripe and give the Lady Lions a 21-20 advantage over the Hawkeyes. Later in the quarter, Travascio-Green dropped her second trey of the game to push Penn State ahead by three, 29-26. After an offensive rebound by Carter put the ball back in Travascio-Green's hands, the freshman knocked down her second-straight 3-pointer to force Iowa to burn a timeout with 1:30 remaining in the half. On its next trip down the floor, Iowa found an open 3-pointer to bring it within one of the Lady Lions, 32-31. The make would be the last of the half as Penn State took a slight one-point lead into halftime.
Penn State 32, Iowa 31
Third Quarter
Travascio-Green's sharp shooting continued into the second half as she stretched the Penn State lead to 40-33 with two 3-pointers in the first three minutes of play. Penn State used a 17-0 spurt to take control, forcing Iowa into miscues and keeping them scoreless for 8:35 before two free throws ended the scoring draught for the Hawkeyes. However, the Blue and White responded with two points of its own on its next trip down the floor to maintain its 16-point lead, 51-35. Despite not scoring a field goal in 9:46 in the third quarter, Iowa used five free throws from Davis in the closing minutes to cut the Penn State lead to 11.
Penn State 51, Iowa 40
Fourth Quarter
Penn State continued to be aggressive in the paint using offensive boards and put backs to draw fouls against the Hawkeyes and put them in the bonus with 6:41 left to play. The Lady Lions did not let up offensively as it went 5-for-7 from the field, including a 3-pointer from Page and a layup from Carter. Iowa found a slight groove, scoring six-straight points but two free throws from Page ended the run for the Hawkeyes and extended the Penn State lead to 70-54 with 1:47 remaining. Penn State gave up four remaining points in the closing minutes to hold Iowa to a season-low 58 points and take its first Big Ten Conference win.
Penn State 71, Iowa 58
Up Next
Penn State travels to West Lafayette, Ind. to take on Purdue Saturday, Jan. 7 at 2 p.m. The contest will be featured on BTN Plus and live on the airwaves of the Penn State Radio Network.
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