Feb. 27, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" Postseason basketball has arrived as the Penn State women's basketball program travels to Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for a first-round matchup with Illinois on Wednesday (Feb. 28). The Lady Lions (15-14, 6-10 B1G) will face the Fighting Illini (9-21, 0-16 B1G) at approximately 4 p.m. ET, with the game airing on locally on WHVL.
Follow Along
// The Big Ten Network production will be broadcast locally on WHVL with the captivating Lisa Byington calling the play-by-play alongside the magnificent Christy Winters-Scott. Remarkable basketball mind Vera Jones will patrol the sidelines for the telecast.
// Fans can follow along with Penn State's contest vs. Illinois on Twitter (@PennStateWBB), or via live audio, live stats and live video with the links to the right.
Series Quick Facts
// Penn State and Illinois will meet for the 51st time, with the Lady Lions owning a 35-15 edge after collecting a 68-59 victory over the Fighting Illini on Jan. 23, 2018. MORE ON PAGE 10
// This will mark the eighth meeting in the B1G Tournament between the two programs, as Penn State owns a 5-2 edge and has won two-straight game. MORE ON PAGE 2
// Penn State is 10-5 all-time on Feb. 28, but have lost five of its last six games on the date. The Lady Lions have played three times in the B1G Tournament on the final day of the month, with two of those games coming against Illinois. MORE ON PAGE 9
Opening Tips
// Junior Teniya Page and redshirt-sophomore Amari Carter each earned All-Big Ten honors, with Page garnering first team (coaches) and second team (media) honors, while Carter was a second team (coaches) and honorable mention (media). MORE ON PAGE 11
// Penn State currently ranks among the NCAA top-40 as a team in free throws attempted and free throws made, ranking No. 2 the Big Ten in both categories. MORE ON PAGE 20 & 31
// Redshirt-sophomore Amari Carter posted her 22nd multi-steal game of the season against Ohio State on Feb. 25 and finished the regular season No. 2 in the Big Ten with 78 steals on the season. MORE ON PAGE 15 & 38
// Junior Teniya Page joined an exclusive group of Lady Lions, as she is the fifth player in program history to score 1,500 points and hand out 300 assists in a career. MORE ON PAGE 13
// Sophomore Jaida Travascio-Green made her 100th career 3-pointer at Purdue on Jan. 28, making her the 16th Lady Lion to reach the century mark from distance. MORE ON PAGE 12, 16 & 54
// A handful of Lady Lions posted career highs in a multitude of categories this season, including Siyeh Frazier and Jaylen Williams. MORE ON PAGE 18
// Head coach Coquese Washington is looking for her 200th career victory, entering the game with 196 career wins. MORE ON PAGE 19
// The Lady Lions played six Big Ten game against a ranked opponent this season, tying for the most games vs. ranked teams in its 26-year tenure in the conference. MORE ON PAGE 22
// Penn State is one of 11 Division I programs to enter the 2017-18 season with zero seniors on its roster, including one of only two power five conference teams. MORE ON PAGE 19
Last Five Games
// Penn State is 1-4 over its last five games, with the lone victory coming over Northwestern, 67-59, on Valentine's Day. Of those five games, four of them came against the top-five seeds in the B1G Tournament (Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio State).
// Looking at the three main statistical categories, Penn State is minus-12.4 in scoring margin, a minus-13.8 in rebounding margin, while owning a plus-4.8 edge in turnover margin.
// The Lady Lions have 48 steals (9.6 spg) over the last five games, including three games with 10-plus swipes.
// The 53 steals have helped Penn State force 81 turnovers (16.2 tpg) during that stretch, while committing just 57 missteps (11.4 tpg) of its own.
// Junior Teniya Page is averaging a team-best 19.8 points per game on 40 percent shooting (35-of-87).
// Redshirt-sophomore Amari Carter has logged a team-best 17 assists and 13 steals to go along with 13.4 points per game.
// In her last five games, Carter has turned the ball over just four times as the primary ball handler in the Lady Lion offense, giving her a 4.25 assist-to-turnover ratio during that stretch.
// Freshman Alisia Smith made her first career start vs. Northwestern and has started two of the last five games, chipping in 6.2 points and a team-best 5.4 rebounds per game.
// Sophomore Siyeh Frazier has done a little bit of everything over the last five games, averaging 6.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.6 steals and 1.0 block per game.
Scouting Illinois
// Illinois enters the Big Ten Tournament with a 9-21 overall record and finished with a 0-16 mark in Big Ten play. The Fighting Illini are in the midst of a 17-game losing streak, with their last win coming over Austin Peay on Dec. 16, 2017.
// The Illini sit among the top teams in the NCAA in blocked shots, ranking No. 48 nationally and No. 7 in the B1G with 128 rejections and No. 67 in Division I and No. 7 in the conference with 4.3 blocked shots per game.
// Illinois is connecting at a 73.8 percent clip from the free throw stripe to sit No. 66 nationally and No. 6 in the Big Ten, however, the Fighting Illini rank No. 14 and 13, respectively, in the Big Ten in free throws attempted and free throws made.
// In the last meeting, junior Alex Wittinger posted the first triple-double by an opponent vs. Penn State history with an 18-point, 10-rebound and Bryce Jordan Center record 11 blocked shots.
// The junior ranks No. 18 nationally and No. 2 in the Big Ten with 72 blocked shots. Her 12 double-doubles are No. 4 in the Big Ten, while her triple-double is one of only two in the conference and 21 nationally this season.
// Sophomore Ali Andrews is an inside-outside threat for the Illini, hitting a team-best 40 3-pointers, while also ranking No. 2 on the squad with 24 blocked shots.
Last Meeting ââ'¬" at Penn State 68, Illinois 59 (Jan. 23, 2018)
// With 18 points in the game, junior Teniya Page led Penn State in scoring for the ninth time and 41st time in her career.
// Page tied Bethany Collins (465; 1985-88) on the career field goals made chart with three against the Illini.
// Page tied Tina Nicholson (124; 1993-96) at No. 9 on the career 3-pointers made list, hitting three in the game to move her career total to 124.
// Sinking nine free throws in the game, Page passed Vicki Link (318; 1984-87) on the career free throws made chart. Page sat at No. 15 at that point in the season.
// With her first steal of the game, Page became the 46th Lady Lion to reach 100 career steals.
// Junior Jaylen Williams reached a Big Ten high in points with nine, besting her seven-point effort at Indiana on Feb. 27, 2016.
// Redshirt-sophomore De'Janae Boykin pulled in a team-best 10 rebounds, registering five-or-more rebounds in her 18th-straight to that point in the season.
// It marked her second-straight double-digit rebound game and the seventh of the season for Boykin.
// Redshirt-sophomore Amari Carter moved her double-figure scoring streak to nine-straight games with 12 tallies.
// Sophomore Jaida Travascio-Green hit double-digits with 10 points.
// Penn State improved to 10-2 in the year when holding opponents under 70 points
// The Lady Lions scored 23 second chance points compared to Illinois' four.
// The Blue and White added 17 points off of 16 Illini turnovers and got 18 points from its bench.
// Penn State committed just nine turnovers in the game, marking the 54th time in program history it committed single-digit turnovers.
Complete notes package available by clicking here.