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Mark Selders

Penn State Looks To Stay Hot Thursday Night Against Rhode Island


UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's basketball team put its 2-0 record on the line Thursday night when the Lady Lions welcome Rhode Island to the Bryce Jordan Center for a 6 p.m. tipoff.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
OPENING TIPS

  • Penn State looks to stay hot Thursday night when the Lady Lions welcome Rhode Island to the Bryce Jordan Center.
  • Penn State looks to ride the momentum of its back-to-back 30-plus point wins to open the season. The Lady Lions beat Coppin State 84-45 in their season opener before taking down St. Francis (Pa.) 87-54 Monday night. PSU opened the season with consecutive 30-point wins for the first time in nearly 40 years.
  • Penn State's balanced offense has seen six different Lady Lions score in double figures thus far. Graduate transfer Kelly Jekot has made an immediate impact, recording double-doubles in both of PSU's first two games.

 
IF PENN STATE BEATS RHODE ISLAND

  • Penn State would start the season 3-0 for the first time since 2017-18.
  • The Lady Lions would improve to 18-1 all-time against Rhode Island.

 
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION

  • Rhode Island will be looking for its first win of the season Thursday night when the Rams head to Happy Valley.
  • Rhode Island fell to Providence 76-50 in its season opener on Saturday.
  • Marie-Paule Foppossi led Rhody with 17 points, while Johanna Muzet followed with 11. Emmanuelle Tahane rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10 points.
  • The Rams shot 50.0 percent (12-for-24) from the field in the first half, but just 23.1 percent (6-for-26) in the second half.
  • URI enters its second season under head coach Tammi Reiss. Rhode Island finished the 2019-20 season with a 13-16 overall record and 6-10 mark in Atlantic 10 play.

 
AGAINST THE RAMS

  • Penn State and Rhode Island will be meeting for the first time since 1991 and 18th overall.
  • Penn State was a member of the Atlantic 10 conference from 1983-1991, a time frame in which the two teams met 17 times.
  • The Lady Lions hold a 17-1 advantage in the all-time series, including a 10-0 mark at home.
  • Penn State has won its last eight matchups with Rhode Island.

 
HISTORIC START TO THE SEASON

  • Penn State's 2-0 start to the 2020-21 campaign has been fueled by a pair of 30-plus point wins as the Lady Lions took down Coppin State 84-45 on Nov. 25 before defeating St. Francis (Pa.) 87-54 on Nov. 30.
  • The large margins of victory (39 over Coppin State and 33 over St. Francis) mark the first time in nearly 10 years that Penn State has recorded back-to-back 30-plus point wins. The last time PSU beat back-to-back opponents by 30 or more points was in 2010 when the Lady Lions defeated Army (95-65) on Dec. 8 and Maine (95-41) on Dec. 12.
  • It's also the first time PSU has opened a season with consecutive 30-point victories in nearly 40 years, dating back to Dec. 2 & 5, 1980, when it started off the season with wins over Howard (82-44) and Fairleigh Dickinson (106-66).

 
HIGH-OCTANE OFFENSE

  • Head Coach Carolyn Kieger's high-octane offense has been on full display through the first two games of the season. Penn State is shooting 51.2 percent from the field, a mark that ranks 17th in Division I as of Dec. 2.
  • The Lady Lions shot a blistering 56.7 percent (34-for-60) from the field in their most recent game against St. Francis (Pa.). The 56.7 percent clip was the Lady Lions' highest since Nov. 13, 2016 when PSU shot 59.2 percent in a 106-50 win over Saint Peter's.

 
NEW FACES? NO PROBLEM!

  • Penn State's 2020-21 roster features eight freshmen and five transfers who are seeing their first court time in in the Blue and White this season.
  • The eight freshmen, all true freshmen, are tied for the national lead in number of freshmen on Division I rosters. Oral Roberts and Incarnate Word also have eight freshmen on their rosters. Penn State is the only team with eight freshmen that is 2-0 on the season.
  • Penn State is ranked as the seventh-youngest team in Division I, and the youngest in the Big Ten, with an average age of 19.56. The Lady Lions are the only team that is 2-0 amongst the seven youngest teams in Division I.
  • Penn State has 12 players that have two or less years of Division I playing experience, which equates to 75 percent of its roster. The 12 rostered players with two or less years of DI playing experience is tied for ninth-most amongst all Division I rosters.

 
TRANSFERS MAKING AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT

  • Graduate transfer Kelly Jekot (previously Villanova) and senior Johnasia Cash (previously SMU) have made an immediate impact for Penn State.
  • Jekot leads the team with 17.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game and has recorded double-doubles in both of Penn State's games thus far this season. Jekot tallied just one double-double in her three years at Villanova and has flourished under Kieger's system, notching the second and third double-doubles of her career in Penn State's first two games.
  • Jekot scored the 1,000th point of her career with her 11th point of the game against Coppin State. Jekot scored 990 points during her three years at Villanova from 2016-2019. She transferred to Penn State in January 2020 and sat out the entirety of the 2019-2020 season with an injury.
  • Cash currently ranks second on the team with 12.0 points per game and third in rebounds with 6.0 boards per contest. The SMU transfer came to Penn State over the offseason and was granted immediate eligibility for 2020-21. Cash, a McKeesport, Pa. native, provides key post presence for Kieger's squad and is coming off a 16-point, 8-rebound performance against St. Francis (Pa.) Monday night.

 
SUPER SOPHOMORES

  • Penn State's three-member freshmen class of Anna Camden, Shay Hagans and Makenna Marisa are the only three players on the PSU roster who had seen court time under Kieger prior to this season, and are being relied upon as key on-court and culture leaders in 2020-21.
  • Marisa currently ranks fifth in Division I with 13 assists thus far this season.
  • Hagans has averaged 9.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in Penn State's two games.
  • Camden recorded her first career double-double in the season opener with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

 
UP NEXT

  • Penn State hits the road for its first away contest of the season Sunday when the Lady Lions travel to #22 Syracuse. Tipoff from the Carrier Dome is set for 2 p.m. and the game will be nationally televised on the ACC Network.