Nov. 9, 2017
Women's Basketball Digital Programs
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -The 2017-18 season will open with a pair of games at the Bryce Jordan Center for the Penn State women's basketball team. The Lady Lions will host Siena on Friday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. before entertaining Drexel on Sunday, Nov. 12 in a 1 p.m. contest. Each contest is a double-header with the Penn State men's basketball program, with the Nittany Lions hosting Campbell at 4 p.m. on Friday and Fairleigh Dickinson at 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Promotions
- Friday, Nov. 10 - Post-Game Autograph Session with Amari Carter and Teniya Page.
- Sunday, Nov. 12 - Military Appreciation Game; Post-Game Autograph Session with Amari Carter and Teniya Page. Military who show their ID at Primanti Bros. between the women's and men's basketball games will receive 50-percent off their purchase on Sunday in honor of Military Appreciation Day.
Follow Along
- Fans can follow along with each of Penn State's contests on Twitter and Instagram (@PennStateWBB), or via live audio, live stats or the BTN2go.com video stream with the links to the right.
Opening Notes
- Penn State is one of five programs to enter the 2017-18 season with zero seniors on its roster, including 1-of-2 just power five conference teams. MORE ON PAGE 6
- Junior Teniya Page was one of 40 student-athletes invited to Colorado Springs, Colorado this summer to vie for a spot on the USA Basketball U23 squad. MORE ON PAGE 7
- Sophomore Amari Carter looks to guide a young team with the same solid play she showed at the guard position last season, when she ranked among the nation's elite in assist-to-turnover ratio. MORE ON PAGE 6
- Head coach Coquese Washington is looking for her 200th career victory, entering the 2017-18 campaign with 181 career wins on the sidelines. More on Page 6
- After missing most of the last two seasons, De'Janae Boykin returns to the court for the Blue and White in 2017-18, looking to make an impact from the start. MORE ON PAGE 6
- Penn State inked three prep standouts for the 2018-19 season, with Lauren Ebo, Karisma Ortiz and Bexley Wallace all singing National Letters of Intent on Nov. 8. MORE ON PAGE 7
Scouting Siena - Siena is coming off of a 14-16 campaign in 2016-17, which included a 13-7 record in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
- The Saints will need to replace two of their top three scorers from a season ago, with only Kollyns Scarbrough returning as a double-figure scorer from last season at 13.6 points per game.
- The Siena roster features eight international student-athletes, along with four different states represented on its roster.
- Scarbrough was a Preseason First Team All-MAAC selection, while the Saints were picked to finish eighth in the 11-team preseason poll.
Scouting Drexel - Drexel posted a 22-11 record in 2016-17 and advanced to the second round of the WNIT, falling to Villanova.
- Drexel will open the 2017-18 season against Penn State, marking the second-straight season the Dragons opened vs. Penn State. In 2016-17, Drexel topped Penn State 83-60 to open the season in Philadelphia.
- Last season, Drexel set a Colonial Athletic Association record with 297 made 3-pointers, breaking its own mark set in 2015-16 when the team made 264.
- The 2016-17 senior class left a large void for the Dragons to fill this season, as Meghan Creighton, Sarah Curran and Jessica Pellechio were the first trio to all graduate as 1,000-point scorers in school history.
- Preseason honorable mention All-CAA choice Bailey Greenberg is the teams leading returning scorer, as the sophomore averaged 7.7 points per game last year to earn CAA All-Rookie honors.
Sans Seniors - Penn State enters the 2017-18 season with no seniors on its roster, making it one of five NCAA Division I programs without a senior on its 2016-17 roster.
Preseason Page - After a standout 2016-17 campaign, junior Teniya Page was named to the preseason All-Big Ten squad by both the conference coaches and media panels to start 2017-18.
- A preseason all-conference pick by the conference coaches in 2016-17, as well, Page ranked No. 4 in the conference in scoring at 19.9 points per game as a sophomore.
- She enters the season already eclipsing the 1,000-point mark and is among the conference active leaders in points (1,091) and assists (240).
WNIT Success - A return to the national postseason highlighted Penn State's 2016-17 campaign, as the Lady Lions advanced to the third round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).
- After a two-year absence, Penn State hosted the postseason inside the Bryce Jordan Center, opening WNIT play with a 74-65 victory over Ohio. After toppling Fordham, 70-51, in the second round, the Lady Lions fell to Virginia Tech, 64-55, in the round of 16.
- Teniya Page registered a WNIT-record 24 points vs. Fordham, while joining Jaida Travascio-Green on top of the 3-pointers made charts in a WNIT contest at three. Both players also hit 3-of-4 shots from distance to set the standard for 3-point shooting percentage in WNIT games.
3-point Prowess - The 2016-17 roster finished No. 3 all-time at Penn State with 193 made 3-pointers, trailing only the school record 228 made triples by the 2002-03 and 2010-11 squads.
- On an individual level, Teniya Page, Lindsey Spann and Jaida Travascio-Green become just the second trio in school history to each make 40-plus 3-pointers in a single season. Page connected on a team-best 64 triples, Spann made 41 shots from distance and Travascio-Green added 46 makes.
- The 2016-17 group joined Jennifer Brenden (41), Kelly Mazzante (98) and Jess Strom (41) from 2002-03 as the only teams in Penn State history with three players to connect on 40-plus shots from distance.
Carter Assist-Turnover - It's not an easy task to step into college basketball as a point guard, especially when you are sidelined for nearly two full seasons due to injury. However, Amari Carter made the transition look like a walk across campus in the summer.
- The first-year player handled the fast-paced Penn State offense like a veteran, leading the team in assists and ranking among the national leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.73.
- She led the team in assists on 18 occasions - including 14 games with 5-plus assists - and committed two-or-fewer turnovers in 27-of-32 games played. She had six game with zero turnovers and averaged 30 minutes per game in 32 starts.
Rookies Add to Talented Roster - Accumulation of talented people is paramount to any organization, and that is a motto that head coach Coquese Washington builds her teams around.
- The additions of Sam Breen (Gibsonia), Kamaria McDaniel (Inkster, Mich.) and Alisia Smith (Lansing, Mich.) to the 2017-18 roster fit that model and each of them should have an impact for the Lady Lions on and off the court.
- All three newcomers bring first-team all-state accolades to campus, along with Breen and McDaniel ending their careers vying for their respective state's Ms. Basketball honors.
1,000-point Club - With a first-quarter layup vs. Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament, Teniya Page joined Maggie Lucas, Kelly Mazzante and Susan Robinson as the only sophomore's in Penn State history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
- The Chicago, Illinois native pushed her name all the way to No. 32 on the career scoring charts, sitting tied with Lindsey Spann at 1,091 points.
- Page also joined Mazzante as the only players in Penn State history to post a 30-point game in both their freshman and sophomore campaigns.
Page Among B1G Leaders - After a pair of solid showings in her first two seasons, Teniya Page enters her junior season ranked among the top returners in the Big Ten in scoring and assists.
- The Chicago, Illinois native is the only non-senior on the active scoring ledger, sitting No. 8 with 1,091 points. She is No. 6 on the active assists charts with 240 helpers.
Boykin's Back - De'Janae Boykin will return to the hardwood for the 2017-18 season after appearing in just six games through her first two collegiate seasons.
- After transferring to Penn State from Connecticut in the middle of her freshman season, Boykin sat out the second half of the 2015-16 campaign and the first half of the 2016-17 season.
- She made her collegiate debut on Dec. 18, 2016 vs. American and promptly showed what made her a top-10 recruit coming out of high school. However, after just six games, she was sidelined for the remainder of the season due to an injury.
- Boykin ended her first season with the Blue and White averaging 4.7 points and 4.8 rebounds.
Page: The One and Only - The rich history and tradition of Lady Lion basketball is illustrated by the immense success that the student-athletes have on and off the court. With all of the great names that have donned the blue and white, it isn't often a player can accomplish something no one else has, but Teniya Page did just that in 2016-17.
- On her way to her 1,000th point, Page was able to tally 200 made field goals, 60 made 3-pointers, 100 made free throws and add 100 assists. No other Lady Lion has amassed those numbers, as page totaled 209 field goals - 64 of the 3-point variety - 136 free throws and 109 assists.
- The closest any other Lady Lion had come to the mark was Suzie McConnell, who had 255-56-116-298 (FG-3pt-FT-A) in 1987-88 season.
Washington Eyes No. 200 - In 10 years at the helm of the Lady Lion program, head coach Coquese Washington has amassed 181 career victories, leaving her just 19 shy of reaching the 200-win mark for her career.
- Over the decade on the Penn State sideline, Washington has enjoyed three Big Ten regular season championships, six postseason appearances - including four NCAA Tournament berths - and five 20-win campaigns.
- She looks to become the 16th head coach to reach 200 wins at a single Big Ten institution, with five of those coaches still active (Lisa Bluder, Iowa; Brenda Frese, Maryland; Suzy Merchant, Michigan State; C. Vivian Stringer, Iowa & Rutgers; Sharon Versyp, Purdue).
Taking Care of the Rock - There are few things more beautiful on a basketball court than a ball-handler that takes care of the precious orange sphere and Penn State painted a masterpiece when it came to taking care of the rock in 2016-17, setting the school record for fewest turnovers per game.
- In 32 games, Penn State turned the ball over just 417 times or an average of 13.0 turnovers per game, besting the 13.1 turnovers per game by the 2003-04 squad. It also marked just the fourth time that Penn State logged under 14.0 turnovers per game.
- Six times in 2016-17 the Lady Lions committed eight-or-fewer missteps in a game, including a school-record-tying six on three occasions.
- The season total was bolstered by a string of three-straight games with 10-or-fewer turnovers from Jan. 16-23, the first such streak in school history.
- A point guard herself, head coach Coquese Washington's teams now own five of the top-10 lowest turnovers-per-game averages in Penn State history.
Page USA Basketball
- The opportunity to wear the red, white and blue was on the table again for junior Teniya Page this summer, as she was one of 40 student-athletes selected to attend the USA Basketball U23 Training Camp.
- Though her team won the four-day, round-robin tournament in Colorado Springs, Page suffered an injury late in the training camp and was unavailable to be named to the roster for the Four Nation's Tournament.
Inking Three
- Penn State added three student-athletes for the 2018-19 campaign on Wednesday, Nov. 8, as head coach Coquese Washington and her staff saw National Letters of Intent arrive from three different states.
- Lauren Ebo (Washington, D.C.), Karisma Ortiz (San Jose, Calif.) and Bexley Wallace (Pickerington, Ohio) all inked their NLIs on the first day of the early signing period.
- Ortiz is the highest ranked signee, sitting at No. 54 nationally according to ESPN/HoopGurlz, as the guard from San Jose, California averaged 9.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists.
- After spending her first two prep seasons at Paul VI Catholic School, Ebo averaged 10.3 points and 7.7 rebounds at Riverdale Baptist School as a junior.
- Wallace has been a force for Pickerington Central High School and spent one summer with the USA Basketball 16U squad, winning a bronze medal at the 2015 FIBA Americas Championships.