UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's basketball team plays its final home game of the season Thursday evening when the Lady Lions host Michigan inside the Bryce Jordan Center at 7 p.m.
PROMOTIONS
- Wear white
- Free pizza for first 500 students
FOLLOW ALONG
- Tickets: Tickets
- Video ($): BTN-Plus
- Listen: Penn State Sports Network with Justin Antweil and Joe Putnam – 93.3 FM, 1390 AM and Online
- Live Stats: Live Stats
- Game Notes: Penn State Notes
OPENING TIPS
- Penn State closes out its 2019-20 home slate Thursday night when the Lady Lions face Michigan at the Bryce Jordan Center in the penultimate game of the regular season.
- Four of Penn State's wins this season have come over 2019 NCAA Tournament teams.
- Junior Kamaria McDaniel is the Big Ten's second-leading scorer with 19.6 points per game. Senior Siyeh Frazier (12.4 ppg) is also averaging double-digit points.
- McDaniel enters the game 21 points away from her 1,000th career point.
IF PENN STATE BEATS MICHIGAN
- Penn State would beat Michigan for the first time since Feb. 26, 2017.
- The Lady Lions would snap their 12-game losing streak.
- Penn State would pick up its second conference win of the season.
SCOUTING MICHIGAN
- Michigan owns an 18-9 overall record and 9-7 mark in conference play.
- The Wolverines have won their last two games and five of their last seven.
- Michigan is coming off a 65-57 victory at Michigan State in their most recent game Sunday.
- Michigan owns a balanced offensive attack, with four Wolverines averaging double-digit points.
- Naz Hillmon leads the way with 16.9 points per game in addition to a team-best 8.7 rebounds per contest.
- Kayla Robbins and Amy Dilk follow with 11.6 points per game, while Akienreh Johnson has chipped in 10.5 ppg.
- Dilk leads the team with 120 assists.
AGAINST THE WOLVERINES
- Penn State holds a 36-17 edge in the all-time series against Michigan, but the Wolverines have won the last four contests and seven of the last eight matchups.
- The Lady Lions hold a 17-4 advantage when playing Michigan in Happy Valley.
- The Wolverines earned an 82-48 win in the season's first meeting on Dec. 31 in Ann Arbor, Mich.
- Senior Siyeh Frazier and junior Kamaria McDaniel led Penn State with a game-high 16 points apiece.
NEARING 1,000
- Kamaria McDaniel enters Thursday's game against Michigan with 979 career points, putting her just 21 points away from the 1,000-point mark.
- With at least three games remaining on the schedule (two regular-season and one guarenteed Big Ten Tournament game), McDaniel will need to average seven points per game to reach the 1,000-point mark. She currently averages 19.6 ppg.
- McDaniel has scored 529 points thus far this year, 79 more than her first two seasons combined (450).
- McDaniel would become the 39th member of the Lady Lion 1,000-Point Club and first to join since Teniya Page (Class of 2019 - 2,108 career points).
KAMARIA McBUCKETS
- Kamaria McDaniel is the Big Ten's second-leading scorer and averaging 19.6 points per game. That mark ranks 16th in all of Division I as of Feb. 26. Her 20.7 points per Big Ten game ranks first in the conference.
- She dropped the third 40-point game in program history against Pittsburgh on Dec. 5 and put up a 31-point performance against Minnesota in the Big Ten opener on Dec. 28. McDaniel was just one assist away from recording Penn State's first triple-double of the Big Ten era on Jan. 9 against Michigan State as she tallied team-best marks of 24 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. It marked her first career double-double. She then put together a 35-point effort at Purdue on Jan. 26. It was her third 30-plus point performance of the season.
- McDaniel has tallied twelve 20-plus point efforts, nine of which have come in conference play, and has scored in double figures in 25 of Penn State's 27 games.
- McDaniel's scoring jump comes after she finished her sophomore campaign averaging 9.7 ppg in 2018-19.
UP NEXT
- Penn State closes out the regular season Sunday at 2 p.m. at Michigan State.
- The Lady Lions then turn their attention to the Big Ten Tournament, which begins March 4 from Banker's Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.