UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The trio of Ali Brigham, Niya Beverley and Makenna Marisa combined for 63 points and powered the Penn State Lady Lions' basketball team to an 83-69 nonconference win over Rider on Thursday evening at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Brigham continued her great start to her Lady Lion career with her second-straight 20-point effort, this time scoring a game-high 23 points on 11-of-13 shooting. She added six rebounds and six assists. Beverley scored 20 points for the third time in her career and went 8-10 from the field. Marisa tacked on an additional 20 points with four three-pointers. Leilani Kapinus tallied four points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. Penn State shot 53 percent from the floor, including 42 percent from three. The Lady Lions assisted on 21 of 33 baskets, earning 20-plus assists in each of the first two games.
Thursday night's win for the Lady Lions (2-0) marked the first time the program has had three players score 20-plus points in a game since December 7, 2014 against Wagner (Lindsey Spann, 22; Sierra Moore, 21; Kaliyah Mitchell 20). It also marks back-to-back seasons in which the Lady Lions have scored 80-plus points in their first two games of the season, doing so for the first time since the 1993-94 (90 vs. Syracuse, 87 vs. Providence) and 1994-95 (100 vs. Rutgers, 86 vs. Vanderbilt) seasons.
Penn State had 20-plus assists in back-to-back games for the first time since 2020 against Maryland (22) and Iowa (22).
Rider was paced by Raphaela Toussaint's 21 points, while Lenaejha Evans added 13.
The Lady Lions took an early lead in the first quarter thanks to an 8-0 run that included a pair of Beverley three pointers plus a basket from Brigham. Marisa added two more threes and Brigham netted eight points on 4-4 shooting to help the Lady Lions lead 24-14 at the first break.
After a Broncs' three-pointer cut the Penn State edge to single digits with 3:28 remaining in the second quarter, the Lady Lions responded with a 10-2 run and made their final five shots of the half. Beverley had four points in the run, while Kapinus, Brigham and Anna Camden each had two.
Beverley made excellent plays on the last two baskets for Penn State as time expired. First, after a steal by Kapinus, Beverley delivered a quick pass to Brigham for a fast-break layup. On PSU's next possession, she converted on a finger-roll layup with three seconds left to give Lady Lions a 44-27 advantage after 20 minutes.
Rider battled back in the third quarter with a 10-point run and eventually closed the gap to as low as four points at 51-47 with 3:47 left in the frame. Another basket late in the quarter by Beverley going coast-to-coast helped hold the lead for Penn State at 59-54 after three.
Beverley and Brigham added to their great performances early in the fourth quarter to help Penn State regain a double-digit lead. In an 11-2 run to begin the quarter, Beverley drilled another trey and sped down court for another fast-break lay-in and Brigham fought through contact to draw a foul and scored another bucket to quickly put Penn State up 70-56.
Marisa followed by scoring on back-to-back possessions for force a Rider timeout with the Lady Lions' leading by 17 with 4:13 to play. Penn State never looked back from there with its 83-69 win.
The Lady Lions host Delaware State on Tuesday, November 16 for their third non-conference game. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on B1G+.
