UNIVERSITY PARK – Johnasia Cash recorded her 1,000th career point as Penn State women's basketball (3-0) beat Youngstown State (1-1) Tuesday night at Bryce Jordan Center. Leilani Kapinus led the Lady Lions with 21 points, nine rebounds, a career-high five assists and four steals.
1⃣0⃣0⃣0⃣ career points for @nasiacash33!!! 🎉🥳#UnleashThePRIDE pic.twitter.com/T9BbAvSM5z
— Penn State Women's Basketball (@PennStateWBB) November 16, 2022
With Youngstown State holding a 41-35 lead three minutes into the third quarter, an 11-0 run by Penn State gave it the lead for the rest of regulation. Kapinus started it with a jumper in the lane, Makenna Marisa hit a pair of free throws, Taniyah Thompson got a bucket inside, Kapinus went coast to coast with a layup after stealing the ball and Marisa made a pair of jumpers.
The Penguins made it a two-possession game (67-61) with 3:26 remaining on a three, but the Lady Lions ended the game on a 10-2 run. Penn State got six-straight points on free throws and a layup from Kapinus and a fast break layup from Shay Ciezki that gave it a double-digit lead for the rest of the game.
Never trailing in its first two games of the season, Penn State secured its first lead on the first basket of the second quarter, a jumper from Marisa. The Lady Lions were able to have a 33-22 advantage at halftime on a layup and-one from Kapinus on its final possession of the quarter.
NOTES
- With 21 points, Marisa moved into 20th place in program history in career points (1,303), passing Carol Walderman (1980-83) at 1,280, Helen Darling (1996-00) at 1,294 and Kathy Phillips (1988-92) at 1,295.
- She has 26 20+ point and 60 double-digit scoring games.
- Penn State has defeated three-straight reigning conference champions to open the season: Youngstown State (Horizon League), Fairfield (MAAC) and Norfolk State (MEAC).
- The Lady Lions extended their non-conference home-winning streak to 12 games, tied for the fourth-longest in school history (12/0/91-2/16/93).
- Ciezki recorded her first double-digit scoring game (16 points) of her collegiate career, going 5-9 from the field, 2-4 from three and 4-4 at the line in addition to five rebounds and three assists.
- The Lady Lions had advantages in fast break points (17-2), points in the paint (38-28), rebounding (35-24) and second chance points (7-0), limiting the Penguins to just two offensive boards.
- Penn State went 17-27 (63.0%) from the field in the second half.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
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Penn State remains home to face Bryant Friday at 7 p.m.