March 13, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Postseason basketball returns to the Bryce Jordan Center for the second-straight season as the Penn State women's basketball program will host Radford in the first round of the Women's Invitation Tournament on Thursday (March 15). The Lady Lions (16-15) will tip off at 7 p.m. against the Highlanders (23-8).
Follow Along
// Fans can follow along with Penn State's home contest vs. Radford on Twitter and Instagram (@PennStateWBB), or via live audio, live stats and live video with the links to the right.
Series Quick Facts
// In its 1,400th games in program history, Penn State and Radford will meet for the first time in program history in the opening round of the WNIT.
// Penn State will meet its second Big South Conference team in program history, owning an 0-2 mark vs. Liberty. MORE ON PAGE 2 & 8
// The Lady Lions are 3-1 all-time on March 15, including a WNIT victory over St. Joseph's in the 1998 event. 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 20 & 21
// Penn State currently ranks among the NCAA top-50 as a team in free throws attempted and free throws made, ranking No. 2 the Big Ten in both categories. MORE ON PAGE 18 & 31
// Redshirt-sophomore Amari Carter posted her 23rd multi-steal game of the season against Michigan on March 1 and ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten with 80 steals on the season. MORE ON PAGE 13, 31 & 36
// 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
// Page broke her own Penn State Big Ten Tournament scoring record with 38 points vs. Illinois in the opneing round of the 2018 Big Ten Tournament. Her total is the most in Penn State postseason history. MORE ON PAGE 11 & 42
// Sophomore Jaida Travascio-Greenmade 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 8, 14 & 52
// A handful of Lady Lions posted career highs in a multitude of categories this season, including Siyeh Frazier and Jaylen Williams. MORE ON PAGE 16
// Head coach Coquese Washington is looking for her 200th career victory, entering the game with 197 career wins. MORE ON PAGE 17
Last Five Games
// Penn State is 2-3 over its last five games, with victories over Northwestern (67-59) at home and vs. Illinois (83-57) in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis.
// Looking at the three main statistical categories, Penn State is minus-5.6 in scoring margin, a minus-12.6 in rebounding margin, while owning a plus-4.0 edge in turnover margin.
// The Lady Lions have reached the 70-point mark just once in the last five games, an 83-point outburst vs. Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament.
// As a team, Penn State is averaging 6.4 blocked shots per game and 7.6 steals per game over the last five contests.
// Junior Teniya Page has reached double-figures in each of the last five games - riding a career-long 16-game streak reaching 10 points - and is averaging 20.2 points per game.
// The last five games for Page include a Penn State Big Ten Tournament record 38-point effort in the opening round of the event vs. Illinois.
// Redshirt-sophomore Amari Carter paces the squad with 16 assists (3.2 apg) and 11 steals (2.2 spg).
// Carter is adding 11.4 points per game, ranking second on the team.
// Freshman Alisia Smith is leading the team in shooting percentage (57.9%) and free throw percentage (85.7%) over the last five games. She is 11-of-19 from the field and 12-of-14 from the charity stripe.
// Redshirt-sophomore De'Janae Boykin and junior Jaylen Williams sit atop the rebound charts in the last five games, with each grabbing 24 boards for a 4.8 rebounds per game clip.
// Williams leads the team with eight blocked shots in the last five games, including a Penn State Big Ten record six rejections vs. Michigan.
Scouting the Highlanders
// Radford enters with a 23-8 overall record and finished second in the Big South with a 15-3 mark to earn the automatic bid into the WNIT field. This season, the Highlanders are 8-5 on the road and 3-2 in neutral site contests.
// The Highlanders will be making the fifth appearance in the WNIT in program history, owning a 2-4 all-time record in the event. Radford has appeared in the WNIT in 1989, 2008, 2015 and 2017.
// A stout defense will invade the Bryce Jordan Center, as the Highlanders are allowing just 52.3 points per game and own a 31-4 record over the last 2+ seasons when holding the opposition below 60 points.
// Three Radford student-athletes earned All-Big South honors, headlined by two-time first team honoree Janayla White and Big South Defensive Player of the Year Jayda Worthy. Worthy also grabbed second-team honors, while Destinee Walker was tabbed honorable mention all-conference.
// Worthy and White provide the senior leadership for the Highlanders, with each reaching the 1,000-point mark. Worthy ranks No. 6 on the RU career charts with 1,248 points, while White sits No. 17 at 1,098 tallies.
// White ranks No. 2 all-time in Radford history in career blocked shots with 208 in her career and is No. 3 in RU history with 964 career rebounds.
WNIT Nuggets
// Penn State won the inaugural Women's National Invitation Tournament in 1998, grabbing an at-large bid in the field that season, as well.
// Penn State returned to the national postseason for the first time since 2013-14 with its selection as an at-large team into the WNIT.
The Lady Lions host all three games during their stay in the bracket, defeating Ohio and Fordham, before falling to Virginia Tech in the round of 16.
// The true freshman Siyeh Frazier had played just 43 minutes in Big Ten play and only 87 minutes in 20 appearances (4.3 mpg) during the regular season before the start of the WNIT, however, due to an injury, she was thrust into action over the final three games of her rookie campaign, playing 55 minutes in the three WNIT contests (18.3 mpg).
// Frazier finished the WNIT with 17 points, five steals, five rebounds and one assist in three games.
// Junior Teniya Page was a force in the 2017 WNIT, averaging 19.3 points per game and shooting 42.2 percent from the field in three games last season.
// For Page, she set the Penn State WNIT scoring mark with 24 points vs. Fordham and followed that with 23 points against Virginia Tech to join Helen Darling as the only Lady Lions with multiple 20-point games in the event.
Complete notes packet available by clicking here.