Nov. 12, 2017
By Brian McLaughlin, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK Pa. - The Lady Lions used a career performance from Jaida Travascio-Green to beat the Drexel Dragons, 84-70, on Sunday.
Travascio-Green finished with a career-high 31 points, making seven 3-point shots. This included the dagger with 45 seconds left when Travascio-Green hit a three-pointer from the corner to give Penn State a 14-point lead.
"My teammates got me the ball really well, and even when I was missing shots they kept telling me to shoot it" Travascio-Green said.
With four players reaching double-figures for the Lady Lions this was a team win.
"This is an unselfish team, I think at times too unselfish," head coach Coquese Washington said. "As we get more experienced they will put each other in great positions like they did tonight with Jaida."
A 12-0 run to end the first quarter opened the game up for the Lady Lions, who shot 13-for-15 from the free throw line in the opening quarter.
Penn State dominated Drexel all afternoon in the paint, out-rebounding the Dragons 52 to 39. De'Janae Boykin led the team with 19 rebounds to go along with 14 points for her first double-double of the season.
"She (De'Janae) is just really aggressive on the boards, and she is a really good athlete, really good timing going after the rebounds," Washington said. "I think rebounding and making shots gives you energy and adrenaline to keep doing it and De'Janae did that today, allowing us to get out in transition to find Jaida."
Jaylen Williams was also a force in the paint for the Lady Lions scoring a career-high 17 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
"We changed up the offense a little bit and I was posting up a lot more. My teammates were throwing me some great passes and I was just trying my best to make them," Williams said.
Amari Carter once again acted as the facilitator for the offense, pushing the pace of the game and often finding Travascio-Green open for three. Despite shooting only one-for-six from the field, Carter still found a way to make an impact.
"Her (Carter's) job isn't just to score, her job is to run the team. She didn't have a great shooting night, and didn't take too many shots," Washington said. "She was still a great facilitator of the game, she still controlled the tempo of the game, found her teammates and just controlled the game. She is a tremendous value to have on the floor"
The win improves Penn State to 2-0 after wins over Siena and Drexel this weekend, all without star guard Teniya Page.
"There is nothing like game experience and figuring out who you are on game day. You can be one team in practice and another when the lights come on," Washington said. "Starting to figure out who this team is and what we are going to get from folks on game days is huge. I liked the heart we showed today and I think we are going to continue to grow because we are so young."
Penn State goes on the road for two weeks starting with a game at Marshall on November 15th, and will return home after Thanksgiving.