Marisa_Makenna_A_20_PU_MS_07347Marisa_Makenna_A_20_PU_MS_07347
Mark Selders

Penn State Seeks Third-Straight Road Win Sunday at Purdue


UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's basketball team caps off its two-game Midwestern road trip Sunday afternoon when the Lady Lions face Purdue at 1 p.m.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
OPENING TIPS

  • Penn State and Purdue will be meeting for the second time this season when the Lady Lions wrap up a two-game road trip with Sunday's 1 p.m. showdown at Mackey Arena.
  • Penn State picked up its second-straight road win Thursday night as the three-member sophomore class combined for 52 points in an 80-76 victory at Illinois.
  • Makenna Marisa has scored 20-plus points in Penn State's last two games, while Johnasia Cash has recorded double-doubles in four of Penn State's last five contests.
  • The Lady Lions are the youngest team in the Big Ten with an average age of 19.56 and eight true freshmen on the roster.

 
IF PENN STATE BEATS PURDUE

  • The Lady Lions would earn their third-straight road win and third Big Ten victory of the season.
  • Penn State would pick up its first win in Mackey Arena in nearly six years. The Lady Lions last beat Purdue on their home court on Feb. 8, 2015.
  • Penn State would wrap up its two-game road trip with a 2-0 mark.
  • The Lady Lions would move to 6-7 on the season.

 
SCOUTING THE BOILERMAKERS

  • Purdue enters Sunday's contest with a 6-7 overall record and 3-6 mark in Big Ten play.
  • The Boilermakers have dropped five of their last six games.
  • Purdue has earned conference wins over Wisconsin (56-55), Nebraska (83-72) and Penn State (91-87) so far this season.
  • Kayana Traylor leads the team with 14.6 points per game and 3.4 assists per contest.
  • Brooke Moore follows with 11.3 points per contest, while Fatou Diagne has chipped in 8.5 points and a team-best 7.7 rebounds per game.

 
AGAINST PURDUE

  • Penn State and Purdue will be meeting for the second time this season.
  • Purdue grabbed a 91-87 win in the season's first meeting in Penn State's Big Ten opener on Dec. 20 in Happy Valley.
  • The first meeting was a back-and-forth battle that went down to the final seconds as Penn State was within two at 89-87 with eight seconds left to play, but Purdue's Kayana Traylor hit a pair of free throws to ice the 91-87 win for the Boilermakers.
  • Sophomore Makenna Marisa led five Lady Lions in double figures with a career-best 26 points. Kelly Jekot chipped in 14 points, while Anna Camden and Johnasia Cash added 11 each. Freshman Tova Sabel rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points.
  • Penn State will be looking for its first win in West Lafayette since Feb. 8, 2015 when the Lady Lions earned a 54-50 road win.

 
SOPHOMORES SHINE IN SECOND-STRAIGHT ROAD WIN

  • Penn State's three-member sophomore class of Makenna Marisa, Shay Hagans and Anna Camden combined for 52 points to lead the charge in the Lady Lions' 80-76 road victory at Illinois Thursday night as PSU picked up its second-straight road win in Big Ten play.
  • Marisa led the way in the win with a team-best 24 points while shooting 56.3 percent from the field. She added six rebounds and four assists.
  • Hagans put together a career night with personal-best marks of 18 points and five steals. She iced the game with a perfect 4-for-4 effort from the charity stripe in the final 26 seconds.
  • Camden chipped in 10 points and a career-best three assists.
  • Senior Johnasia Cash recorded her second-straight double-double, and fourth in the last five games, with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Maddie Burke finished with nine points and a career-best seven rebounds, including a dagger of a three-pointer with 33 seconds left to play that gave Penn State the separation it would need for the win.

 
CASH IS MONEY

  • Senior transfer Johnasia Cash (previously SMU) has been on a tear as of late, recording double-doubles in four of Penn State's last five games.
  • Cash is averaging 16.6 points and 12.4 rebounds per game in the last five contests.
  • Cash has scored in double figures in 10 of Penn State's 12 games, while adding five double-digit rebounding efforts.
  • Cash's efficiency has improved greatly in her first year under Head Coach Carolyn Kieger. She's shooting 47.0 percent (63-for-134) from the field and was a 36.0 percent (266-for-738) shooter in her three seasons at SMU.

 
MARISA COMING INTO HER OWN

  • Makenna Marisa has turned her game up a notch in her sophomore season.
  • Marisa is currently averaging 15.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg and 4.4 apg compared to her freshman year numbers of 9.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 2.7 apg.
  • Marisa is coming off back-to-back 20-plus point efforts. She scored 25 against Minnesota Monday before dropping 24 at Illinois Thursday. The McMurray, Pa. native has scored 20-plus on four occasions this season, including the first meeting of the season against Purdue when she went off for a career-best 26 points.

 
YOUNGEST TEAM IN THE BIG TEN

  • Penn State's 2020-21 roster features eight freshmen and four 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 ranked as the ninth-youngest team in Division I, and the youngest in the Big Ten, with an average age of 19.56.
  • Penn State has 11 players that have two or less years of Division I playing experience, which equates to 73.3 percent of its roster.

 
UP NEXT

  • Penn State will return home for its next two games, beginning with a 6 p.m. Thursday contest against Nebraska at the Bryce Jordan Center.