MarisaMarisa

Penn State Drops 2OT B1G Opener to Minnesota, 98-96

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Makenna Marisa scored a career-high 34 points and made a career-best seven three-pointers as Penn State (7-2, 0-1 B1G) fell 98-96 in double overtime to Minnesota (4-3, 1-0 B1G) Saturday night at the Williams Arena.
 
The first half started back-and-forth with six lead changes. Minnesota made the first bucket of the game, but Penn State promptly went on a 7-0 run across four minutes featuring back-to-back treys from Makenna Marisa and Shay Ciezki.
 
The Golden Gophers would go on a 10-3 run themselves to take back the advantage and would lead by two at the end of the period. To start the second quarter the Lady Lions chained together seven straight points flourished by Marisa's third three-pointer of the game.
 
Minnesota came within a point twice, but Chanaya Pinto staved off both attempts for the lead with a pair of buckets. However, with under two minutes to go in the half, the Golden Gophers scored six straight finishing with a long ball with four seconds remaining to lead 31-29.
 
The Lady Lions were firing on all cylinders in the third period, sparking a 18-2 run to lead 55-46 heading into the fourth quarter. Twice in the third quarter Kapinus stole the ball and scored a layup all alone on the fastbreak.
 
In the largest scoring quarter of the game, both teams combined for 51 points in the fourth. Marisa opened the period with her sixth trey to put Penn State ahead by 10 points. The Golden Gophers then whittled the lead down to two points over two minutes.
 
Penn State built its lead back to eight points after a free throw from Alexa Williamson with 2:25 remaining. Minnesota was able to rally and tie it up with 13 seconds to go when it made three free throws after getting fouled on a corner three attempt.. Back-to-back turnovers put the Lady Lions back in possession as Kapinus drove down the court and scored for the 76-74 advantage with two seconds left. But with half a second remaining, a Penn State foul gave the Golden Gophers two free throws to send the game into overtime.
 
With three seconds left of the first overtime, two free throws brought Minnesota the 86-84 edge, but a buzzer beating off-balanced jumper from Ciezki sent the contest to double overtime.
 
With under two minutes to go, the Golden Gophers had a five-point advantage until Williamson made a layup and Marisa a jumper to cut it down to one.
 
A foul with eight seconds to go saw Minnesota make both at the stripe for the 98-96 lead. Heading down the court, Kapinus attempted to make the game-tying basket but missed as time expired.
 
NOTES

  • The game marked the first time the Lady Lions have played in overtime this season.
  • Marisa's 34 points is a career-high, beating her previous best of 33 at Duquesne on Dec. 18, 2021.
  • Marisa's seven three-pointers also bests her previous career-high of five she made versus Delaware on Nov. 16, 2021.
  • Marisa now has six games with 30+ points in her career. She has 65 games where she scored in double digits.
  • With five steals, Kapinus now has six games with three or more steals this season.
  • Kapinus netted 18 points for her 21st double digit scoring game of her career.
  • Two other Lady Lions finished with double digits in scoring, Ciezki with 13 and Pinto with 11 points.
  • Penn State forced 26 Minnesota miscues, marking six games the Lady Lions have forced 20+ turnovers.


UP NEXT
Penn State faces No. 4/5 Indiana next Thursday in the first B1G game of the season at Bryce Jordan Center.