Feb. 28, 2017
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -The Penn State women's basketball program will take the No. 7 seed into the 2017 Big Ten Tournament and face off with No. 10 seed Minnesota on Thursday, March 2 inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Lady Lions and Gophers will tipoff at 6:30 p.m. and the game will air live on the Big Ten Network and the Penn State Radio Network.
Follow Along
- Fans can follow along with Penn State's time at the Big Ten Tournament on Twitter and Instagram (@PennStateWBB), or via live stats, live video or live audio with the links to the right.
Inside the PDF
- Sophomore Teniya Page has already accomplished a lot in her first 58 games in the Blue and White, while sitting on the precipice of a pair of major career achievements. MORE ON PAGE 11, 15, 16, 17 & 46
- The trio of Teniya Page, Jaida Travascio-Green and Lindsey Spann look to become the second trio of teammates to hit 40-plus shots from 3-point range in the same season. MORE ON PAGE 24
- Graduate student Sierra Moore is enjoying a fine senior season, averaging 10.1 points per game. MORE ON PAGE 11, 21 & 44
- Penn State is 26-20 all-time at the Big Ten Tournament, winning titles in 1995 and 1996. The 26 wins are third-most all-time behind Purdue (39) and Ohio State (36). MORE ON PAGE 2 & 3
- Sophomore Teniya Page and senior Kaliyah Mitchell each earned All-Big Ten honors from the Big Ten Conference coaches and media. Page earned first team honors and Mitchell was an honorable mention selection. MORE ON PAGE 4, 15 & 24
- Ranking No. 16 in the NCAA, redshirt freshman Amari Carter sits No. 3 in the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio. MORE ON PAGE 11, 22 & 40
- Penn State has twice tied the school record for fewest turnovers in game and posted three-straight games with 10-or-fewer turnover for the first time in program history from Jan. 16-23, 2017. MORE ON PAGE 27
- In the classroom, the quartet of Sarah McMurtry, Kaliyah Mitchell, Lindsey Spann and Peyton Whitted all earned Dean's List honors in the fall semester. MORE ON PAGE 25
Series Notes
- Penn State and Minnesota will meet for the 44th time in program history. MORE ON PAGE 13
- The Lady Lions are 28-15 all-time against the Golden Gophers, winning the only meeting of the regular season, 77-66, on Feb. 8 in University Park, Pa.
- Every meeting between the two schools has come as members of the Big Ten Conference.
- The two teams have met twice in the Big Ten Tournament, with Penn State winning both games. The Lady Lions and Gopher met in the 2010 first round and 2012 quarterfinals. MORE ON PAGE 2
Scouting Minnesota
- Minnesota enters the Big Ten Tournament with a 14-15 overall record and a 5-11 mark in Big Ten play to earn the No. 10 seed.
- As a team, Minnesota is one of the most effective teams in the NCAA at getting to the free throw line, sitting No. 22 nationally with 605 attempts from the charity stripe and No. 21 in the NCAA in free throws made at 433.
- Ranking No. 10 in the NCAA in rebounding average - 43.7 boards per game - the Gophers come in at No. 17 in the nation in offensive rebounds per game, pulling down 16.0 offensive caroms per game.
- The Gophers 73.7 points per game sit No. 6 in the Big Ten and No. 42 nationally.
- Second Team All-Big Ten honoree Carlie Wagner leads the team and ranks No. 35 nationally with 18.8 points per game, including 72 makes from 3-point range.
- Kenisha Bell averaged 16.4 points and 5.0 assists during the regular season to earn Honorable Mention All-Big Ten honors.
- Bell also ranks No 26 nationally and No. 3 in the Big Ten with 132 makes from the free throw line, shooting at a .776 clip from the charity stripe.
- Jesse Edwards paces the team with 6.7 rebounds per game and 44 blocked shots on the season.
Last Five Games
- Penn State is 4-1 in its last five games, including a trio of wins on its home floor and a road win at Illinois.
- The Blue and White have owned the boards in the last five games, grabbing 41.8 rebounds per game. The opposition is corralling 35.8 boards, giving Penn State a plus-6.0 edge.
- Penn State is neither forcing or turning the ball over at a huge clip. The Blue and White average just 10.2 missteps per game over the last five, while the opposition is turning the ball over just 10.6 turnovers per game.
- Sophomore Teniya Page is averaging a team-best 21.0 points per game and adding a team-high 20 assists.
- Graduate student Sierra Moore continues to have a solid senior season, averaging 13.8 points per game in the last five games.
- Moore and fellow senior Kaliyah Mitchell are pacing the team with 7.0 rebounds apiece. Of the 70 rebounds pulled down by the pair, 28 of those are of the offensive variety.
- Freshman Amari Carter has 18 assists and just eight turnovers in the last five games, adding 8.0 points per game.
Last Time Out -- Penn State 76, No. 24/25 Michigan 75 (Feb. 26, 2017)
- Teniya Page scored 19 points, leading the way for the Lady Lions, marking the 50th double-figure game of her career and 25th this season.
- Page has now reached double-figures in 12-straight games.
- Page also led the team in rebounds with six on the afternoon.
- Sierra Moore eclipsed the 700 career points mark finishing with 11 for the game and 708 for her career.
- Moore has scored double-figures in six-straight games and nine of her last 11 contests.
- Lindsey Spann scored 15 points in the game, including three 3-pointers.
- Spann's three makes from distance give her 41 on the season and give Penn State three players with 40-plus makes from 3-point range, to mark only the second time in Penn State history three players eclipsed the 40-make mark from beyond the arch.
- Spann, Page (53) and Jaida Travascio-Green (41) joining the trio of Kelly Mazzante (98), Jess Strom (46) and Jennifer Brenden (41) from 2002-03.
- Ashanti Thomas matched her career high with 11 points, going a perfect 5-of-5 from the field.
- Amari Carter moved into No. 7 on the freshman assist charts, moving her total to 120 helpers with four assists on the day. She passed Helen Darling (119, 1996-97).
- The Lady Lions improve to 7-4 overall in Pink Zone games.
- Penn State closes out the regular season on a seven-game home court winning streak and finish 14-1 overall at the Bryce Jordan Center.
- Michigan was held without a field goal for the final 4:25 of the game.
Last Meeting - at Penn State 77, Minnesota 66 (Feb. 8, 2017)
- Teniya Page scored her 900th career point on a second quarter 3-pointer and ended the night with 918 career points.
- With her eight assists, Page moved her career total to 218, pushing her up two spots on the career charts into No. 25.
- Page has converted her last 21 attempts from the free throw line and hasn't missed a free throw since Jan. 23 at Indiana. The last Penn State streak of more than 20-straight made free throws came from Maggie Lucas (35) in 2013-14.
- Peyton Whitted added her name to the record books as she logged her 600th career rebound to become the 23rd member of Penn State's 600-rebound club. She now has 601 on the season.
- Jadia Travascio-Green moved into No. 6 on the freshman season 3-point field goals made list, hitting No. 36 and 37 on the season.
- Travascio-Green passed teammate Lindsey Spann who logged 36 in the 2014-15 season.
- Amari Carter logged seven assists to move her season total to 109 helper to rank No. 8 on the freshman season assists list.
- Lindsey Spann added yet another double digit scoring game to her resume with 13 points, marking her 55th career game with 10-plus points.
- Penn State's bench out-scored Minnesota's reserves, 23-13, to mark the 21st time this season the bench owned the scoring advantage.
- The Lady Lions turned the ball over just 10 times on the night, their fifth game in 2016-17 with 10-or-fewer turnovers.
- Penn State shot 90.0% from the free throw line to mark the second time this season they made at least 90% of their shots from the charity stripe.
- With 20 assists, Penn State posted its third game with at least 20 helper.