INDIANAPOLIS – The Penn State women's basketball team put together a late-game rally but fell short in a 65-57 loss to Wisconsin in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament Wednesday afternoon at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Sophomore Kamaria McDaniel led Penn State with a team-best 16 points. Senior Teniya Page followed with 14.
Page wrapped up her career in the blue and white as one of the best to ever don the Lady Lion uniform. She finished with 2,110 career points, 425 career rebounds and 417 career assists. Page is the first-ever Lady Lion to reach the 2,000 points, 400 rebounds and 400 assists milestones. The three-time first team All-Conference pick will graduate with her name all over the Penn State record books.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Wisconsin started the game 4-for-5 from the field to jump out to a quick 9-3 lead less than three minutes in before extending that edge to 13-5 at the 3:54 mark of the opening quarter.
- Freshman Bexley Wallace converted a tough layup out of the 3:54 media timeout before junior Siyeh Frazier followed with one of her own and Penn State was back within four at 13-9. The Badgers scored five of the final seven points of the quarter, however, to take an 18-11 lead after the first term.
- Wisconsin scored the first five points of the second stanza to extend their advantage to 23-11 and force a Lady Lion timeout at the 8:23 mark.
- Penn State pulled back within seven at 23-16 after baskets from freshman Lauren Ebo and McDaniel, but Wisconsin scored 10 of the half's final 16 points to take a 33-22 lead at the break.
- Scoring was even through the first five minutes of the second half as the Badgers still clung to an 11-point lead at 39-28 at the under-five media timeout.
- Five points from Page then fueled a 10-4 Lady Lion run over the final 3:30 of the third quarter. A last-second three-pointer from Karisma Ortiz capped the burst that brought Penn State within five at 43-38 heading into the final 10 minutes.
- Senior Amari Carter hit a jumper just over a minute into the fourth quarter to cap a string of nine unanswered Penn State points. The jumper had the Lady Lions within three at 43-40 and forced a Wisconsin timeout with 8:44 to play.
- The Badgers answered with 10 of the next 15 points, however, to thwart the Lady Lion momentum and pull back ahead by eight at 53-45 with just under five minutes to play.
- The Lady Lions were back within five following four Page points that put the score at 57-52 with 2:02 left on the clock, but it would be as close as Penn State would get the rest of the way.
- The Badgers scored the next five points before making their free throws down the stretch to put the game away and earn the 65-57 win.
KEY NOTES
- Page recorded her 44th-straight double-digit scoring effort, and the 105th double-figure performance of her career.
- She wraps up her career ranked second in the program history books in career minutes per game (35.3), career 30-point games (8) and career free throws made (535).
- McDaniel racked up her 15th double-digit game of the season.
COACH'S TAKE
Head Coach Coquese Washington
- "I thought we had some good spurts in the second half. We showed a lot of fight. The foul trouble kind of hurt our momentum a bit."
- "There are a lot of lessons our younger kids are going to learn from their first time playing in this tournament. I'm hoping it gives them motivation to come back next year and stick around longer."
- "These five seniors are ready for the next level and the next step in their lives. They've been tremendous scholars, and the experiences they've had being a Lady Lion and being a Penn Stater I think are things they're going to carry with them the rest of their lives."