UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State women's basketball senior Siyeh Frazier put together a career night in her final game at the Bryce Jordan Center, but it wasn't enough as the Lady Lions fell to Michigan, 80-66, Thursday night.
Frazier finished with a career-high 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting. She added a team-best seven rebounds and four steals.
Junior Kamaria McDaniel followed with 16 points, while freshman Makenna Marisa chipped in 10.
What a way to close out her last home game.
— Penn State On BTN (@PennStateOnBTN) February 28, 2020
The @PennStateWBB Senior Siyeh Frazier set a new career high with 28 PTS against Michigan 💪💪 pic.twitter.com/PbdkHnhmXn
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Frazier scored seven points in the first quarter, but Michigan used a 3-for-4 effort from three-point range to control the first term as the Wolverines were ahead 23-13 through the first 10 minutes.
- Michigan opened the second quarter with a layup, but Frazier followed with six-straight points that pulled PSU within 25-19. The Wolverines answered with six of the next eight points as their lead grew to 31-21 with 5:53 left on the first-half clock.
- The Lady Lion defense set the tone for the remainder of the half as Penn State held Michigan to a 1-for-7 clip from the field with seven turnovers in the final 5:53 of the half. McDaniel scored five points during that stretch while Frazier and Marisa each added baskets to trim the Michigan lead down to 33-30 at halftime.
- Marisa opened the second half with a three-pointer and Shay Hagans followed with a fast-break layup as Penn State took its first lead of the game at 35-33 less than a minute into the third quarter. Michigan was red-hot for the remainder of the quarter, however, as the Wolverines shot 12-for-18 from the field and outscored Penn State 26-9 to take a 59-44 lead into the final term.
- Michigan scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter, but Penn State battled right back with a 9-0 streak of its own as the score sat at 68-53 with just on five minutes left to play. The Lady Lions weren't able to get closer than 12 the rest of the way, however, as Michigan picked up the 80-66 win.
KEY NOTES
- Frazier bested her previous career high of 24 points that was set earlier this season against Michigan State on Jan. 9.
- Frazier's performance was her fourth 20-plus point game of the season and 18th double-digit scoring contest of the year.
- Frazier started the game a perfect 6-for-6 from the field through the first 14 minutes of game play.
- With 16 points tonight, McDaniel needs just five to reach the 1,000-point mark.
- McDaniel has scored in double figures in 26 of Penn State's 28 games.
- Senior Kayleigh Semion played a career-high 4:35 minutes in her Bryce Jordan Center finale.
- Marisa notched her 14th double-digit scored game of the season.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Carolyn Kieger
- "I want to talk about Siyeh here for a second. What a phenomenal last game: career-high 28 points, seven rebounds, four steals, and played her heart out. Unfortunately, we didn't get the W for her, but what a transformation she's made this season not only as a player, but as a leader. I'm very proud of her and I'm very proud that she was able to go out with her career high at the BJC. Hopefully, that's one for her to remember."
- "As a team, we have to keep chipping away, and we have to keep getting better. We can play a half at max effort then in our third quarter or fourth quarter, we hit a wall and we have to learn how to play 40 minutes as hard as we can."
- "I will say this: I thought it was a drastic better difference, huge difference, from the first time we played them at their place, and we can tell our team is getting better. We don't have the wins that we want, but I can tell that we're chipping away, and that's part of changing the culture and part of growing day-by-day. It's patience and that's hard, as athletes and as coaches, but we'll keep at it and we'll keep doing everything we can to take this program back to where it needs to be."
- Full Kieger transcript
- Siyeh Frazier transcript
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.