UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Lady Lions have had quite an exciting start to the year. Their young season has already seen four wins, all of which have been in come from behind fashion. While the wins have all ended in the same result, they have been different and exciting journeys to get there for this young team.
In the season opener, Penn State erased a 14-point deficit with just nine minutes remaining to win over Providence. Game three saw Fordham leading midway through the second half before the Lady Lions caught fire on both ends of the court. The team was then able to make a late push to force Princeton into overtime where they eventually emerged victorious and against North Dakota, Penn State was trailing by 11 points with less than five minutes remaining and were able to finish with a seven-point victory.
Being in so many close games early on in the season is a great opportunity to build as a team and become more successful as the season moves on. Head coach Coquese Washington highlighted the level on confidence the team has already gained from these tough games.
"I think all of these close games matter," she said. "They give you the confidence and experience of knowing what needs to happen in those moments."
Freshman guard Karisma Ortiz echoed Washington's acknowledgments of the increased confidence. "Now we have this confidence that we can fight back," Ortiz said. "We have the mentality that we're dogs, we're willing to fight back and claw back. We all have that fight within us and that fire in our eyes."
This notion of not giving up and fighting until the end is evident throughout the team. "There's a competitiveness that our team has," Washington added. They're going to fight and compete until the clock says zero."
Senior guard Teniya Page, who currently leads the team at 20.0 points per game, also sees the never-ending fight her team possesses. "We've already showed the fight we have to consistently stay in the game even though we're down." she said.
Ortiz further reiterated the resilience of the team. "Obviously, we don't want to be in these situations, but when we are confronted with them it allows us to take it as it is and attack it."
In the high-pressure situations the Lady Lions have been in this year, Page focuses on not succumbing to the pressure and just playing her style of basketball.
"I do everything I do in normal situations," Page said. "It's not different at all, there's not even a change."
Page's composure is one of the many things that Ortiz, has been absorbing this year.
"There's been a lot of things I've been learning from Teniya and Amari [Carter]," Ortiz said. I'm looking at them, confiding in them, and taking in everything they say and do."
Penn State will look to use all this early season experience and put it to use as their schedule is only getting more difficult. The Lady Lions will go on the road to face off with Florida State on Nov. 29 in what could be one of the toughest games of the year as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. They will also look to use this confidence and experience to help them succeed in conference play which begins in less than a month.
