Strong Second Half Leads Lady Lions To 72-55 Road WinStrong Second Half Leads Lady Lions To 72-55 Road Win
Craig Houtz

Strong Second Half Leads Lady Lions To 72-55 Road Win

Box Score

BRONX, N.Y. – The Penn State women's basketball team outscored Fordham 34-11 in the second half to rally back for a gutsy 72-55 road win Wednesday night.
 
The Lady Lions, who trailed by as much as 12 in the first half, were down 44-38 at halftime, but dominated the second half, outscoring Fordham 16-6 in the third quarter and 18-5 in the fourth en route to the victory.
 
Senior Teniya Page scored a game-high 25 points behind a 10-for-20 effort from the field. Sophomore Alisia Smith chipped in a career-high 16 points and a team-best eight rebounds, while junior Siyeh Frazier added 15 points and four steals.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

  • The opening five minutes of the game were back-and-forth until Fordham scored seven-straight points to open up an 18-10 lead at the 2:53 mark. Four points from Page and a Sam Breen three-pointer had Penn State within four, but a Rams layup ended the term to give Fordham a 23-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.
  • The Rams began the second quarter with back-to-back three-pointers as the Fordham edge reached 29-17 and forced a PSU timeout with 8:14 on the clock.
  • Frazier rattled off the next six points to spark a 21-7 Lady Lion run over the next six minutes. Page scored nine points during the stretch as Penn State went 10-for-14 from the field to come back and take a 38-36 lead with 2:13 to play in the opening half.
  • Fordham answered right back, ending the term with eight-straight points to take a 44-38 lead into halftime.
  • After a high-scoring first half, things cooled off a bit as the teams were a combined 4-for-24 from the floor in the opening seven minutes of the second half.
  • Senior Amari Carter poured in five-straight points during a 41-second stretch to spark Penn State's 12-0 quarter-closing run. Page, Frazier and freshman Karisma Ortiz all contributed baskets as PSU kept Fordham scoreless for the final 3:26 of the quarter. The 12-0 run allowed the Lady Lions to take a 54-40 lead into the final quarter.



 

  • Fordham scored the first three points of the fourth term, but Penn State throttled off an 18-0 run over the next 6:12 to put the game away.
  • The fourth-quarter stretch saw six points from Smith and five from both Frazier and Page as Penn State held Fordham to an 0-for-9 clip from the field.
  • The Rams scored the final basket, but it was nearly enough as Penn State walked out of The Bronx with a hard-fought 72-55 win.  


STAT STANDOUTS

  • Page, Smith and Frazier have all scored in double figures in each of Penn State's three games this season.
  • Ortiz put together a strong all-around game, setting career highs in points (6), rebounds (7) and assists (5).
  • Penn State held Fordham to a stingy 15.6 percent (5-for-16) clip from the field in the second half.
  • The Lady Lions scored 19 points off 15 Fordham turnovers.
  • Four Lady Lions corralled five or more rebounds: Smith (8), Ortiz (7), Carter (5), and Frazier (5).

 
KEY NOTES

  • With 25 points tonight, Teniya Page moved into 11th place on Penn State's all-time career scoring list. The senior currently has 1,637 career points and surpassed Andrea Garner (1,619 points, 1997-2000).
  • Smith's career-high 16 points bested her previous career mark of 14 that was set on Nov. 20, 2017 against Central Connecticut State.
  • The win marks the 199th of head coach Coquese Washington's career, putting her just one win away from the 200-victory milestone.
  • The Lady Lions move to 6-0 all-time against Fordham.
  • Freshman Bexley Wallace made her first career start in the Blue and White.
  • Penn State earned its first true road win since a 69-62 victory at Wisconsin on Jan. 14, 2018.




COACH'S TAKE

  • "Fordham is a really tough place to play. They're a well-coached team and play a style that is really tough to go up against. I thought that we had a really good second half defensively. We made some adjustments and went to a small lineup. That lineup seemed to help us contain them and keep them off the three-point line."
  • "Teniya Page was aggressive from the beginning of the game and that's something that we've been talking about. I also liked that we had some balance and got contributions from a lot of people. Alisia Smith had a really big game for us, especially on the boards. Siyeh Frazier had some really good moments and Karisma Ortiz came in and played seemingly every position on the floor. We got contributions from everybody."


 
UP NEXT

  • The Lady Lions head back to State College to open up a three-game homestand against Princeton Sunday.
  • The game will be nationally televised on the Big Ten Network, with tipoff slated for 2 p.m.
  • Penn State then remains home to host North Dakota at 2 p.m. Wednesday and Stony Brook at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 25.