UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's basketball team returns to its home hardwood Saturday afternoon when the Lady Lions take on Illinois at 2 p.m. in Big Ten action at the Bryce Jordan Center.
FOLLOW ALONG
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PROMOTIONS
- Sarah McMurtry Senior Day
- Red Panda acrobat at halftime
- Pre-game Kids Zone
OPENING TIPS
- The Lady Lions return home for their next two games, beginning with a Saturday showdown against Illinois.
- Penn State is 1-3 in Big Ten play. The Lady Lions picked up a 71-64 victory over Wisconsin on Jan. 3. Penn State has fallen to the top three teams in the league standings in Maryland, Indiana and Rutgers. Those three squads are currently a combined 10-2 in Big Ten play
- Four Lady Lions are averaging double-digit points, led by Teniya Page's 20.8 ppg. Page's 20.8 ppg ranks second amongst all Big Ten players.
IF PENN STATE BEATS ILLINOIS
- The Lady Lions would earn their seventh-straight win over Illinois, improve to 37-15 all-time against the Illini and 19-3 at home against Illinois.
- Penn State would improve to 9-7 on the season and 2-3 in Big Ten play.
- The Lady Lions would move to 8-4 in the Bryce Jordan Center this season.
SCOUTING ILLINOIS
- Illinois comes to Happy Valley with a 9-6 overall record and 1-3 mark in Big Ten action.
- The Fighting Illini picked up their lone Big Ten win thus far on Sunday afternoon at Minnesota, 66-62.
- Illinois has dropped conference contests to Indiana (85-83, OT), Northwestern (68-45) and Rutgers (70-61).
- Alex Wittinger leads the team with 15.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, which Brandi Beasley follows with 10.7 points per contest.
- Beasley has averaged a team-best 12.3 points per Big Ten game.
AGAINST THE ILLINI
- The Lady Lions lead the all-time series against Illinois 36-15 and have won six-straight meetings. Penn State is 18-3 all-time when playing Illinois at home.
- Penn State and Illinois will be meeting for the first time since last year's Big Ten Tournament when the Lady Lions took down the Illini 83-57 in the first round.
- Teniya Page scored a Lady Lion Big Ten Tournament record 38 points in the win.
- Alisia Smith scored 11 points, while Amari Carter chipped in 10, and Penn State advanced to the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.
SENIOR'S SHINING MOMENTS
- The Lady Lions will be celebrating their five-member senior class in a unique way this season. Each senior will get their own "Senior Day" in addition to the cumulative Senior Day that will celebrate the class as a whole during the regular-season finale.
- The senior being celebrated on each Senior Day will get to pick that game's honorary coach(es) in addition to having their family and friends in attendance.
- The third Senior Day of the 2018-19 season comes Saturday against Illinois when the Lady Lions will honor Sarah McMurtry.
- McMurtry began her time at Penn State as a member of the club basketball team, but her team-first attitude and hard work earned her a roster spot as a freshman and a spot on scholarship the following year. McMurtry has proven to be a servant leader who always has the best interest of the team in mind. She has twice been the recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award as a two-time team captain. A true student-athlete, Sarah has also earned Academic All-Big Ten honors twice.
- McMurtry comes from a Penn State family. Both brothers, her mother, father and grandfather all graduated from Penn State. Her father, Severn, played baseball at Penn State from 1982-85.
FIRST FOUR
- The Lady Lions have played some of the conference's toughest competition to kick off Big Ten action.
- Penn State is 1-3 in conference action, but those three losses have come against the teams that are currently in the top three of the Big Ten standings and a combined 10-2 in Big Ten play (Maryland, Indiana and Rutgers).
- Teniya Page has scored 20-plus points in all four of Penn State's conference games. The senior guard is averaging 23.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per Big Ten game.
TRACKING TENIYA
- Senior Teniya Page has totaled 1,901 career points, putting her just 99 points away from hitting the 2,000-point mark. She would become the sixth Lady Lion to reach the milestone if she hits the 2,000-point mark. With 14 regular-season games left and at least one postseason contest guaranteed (Big Ten Tournament), Page will need to average 6.6 points per game for the rest of the season to reach the milestone. She averaged 15.3 points per game as a freshman, 19.9 as a sophomore and 18.4 as a junior.
- Her 1,901 career points rank seventh all-time on the Penn State career scoring charts and is 15th amongst all active Division I players.
- She scored 23 points in Penn State's most recent game at Rutgers (Jan. 6) to move into seventh place on the Lady Lion career scoring leaderboard. She surpassed Class of 2019 Basketball Hall Of Fame nominee and former All-American Suzie McConnell (1,897 points; 1984-88) to move into seventh place.
UP NEXT
- The Lady Lions remain home next week to host Ohio State Thursday night.
- Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from the Bryce Jordan Center.