Women’s Basketball On the Road Sunday In First Matchup Against Michigan StateWomen’s Basketball On the Road Sunday In First Matchup Against Michigan State
Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics

Taniyah Thompson

Women’s Basketball On the Road Sunday In First Matchup Against Michigan State

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UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State women's basketball faces Michigan State on the road Sunday at 3 p.m.
 
OPENING TIP

  • Penn State is coming off a 95-51 loss to then-No. 6/6 Iowa Sunday in the 17th annual Play4Kay Game Benefiting Pink Zone.
  • Leilani Kapinus was named to the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List Jan. 24 and was the only Big Ten player selected to the list and one of 15 overall.
  • Kapinus is fifth in the nation in steals (83), steals per game (3.5) and first in the Big Ten while also averaging 11.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 blocks per game.
  • Kapinus is one of two players in the nation to be averaging at least 10 points, five rebounds, three steals and one block per game.
  • This year Makenna Marisa leads the team in scoring (17.9 points per game), assists (4.4 per game) and made three's (50) in addition to 4.2 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game.
  • Marisa currently ranks 11th in career scoring (1,673) in program history.
  • Starting in every contest after the first game, Shay Ciezki has averaged 11.3 points, 2.5 assists, 1.9 three-pointers and 1.3 steals per game while shooting a team-best 39.7% from three.
  • Penn State ranks in the nation fifth in steals per game (12.5), 15th in turnovers forced per game (21.1), 33rd in turnover margin (4.3), 56th in assists per game (15.5), 73rd in three-point percentage (33.8) and 87th in field goal percentage (43.0).


SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE

  • Is 12-12 overall and 4-9 in the Big Ten, tied for ninth place with Penn State and Rutgers.
  • Leads the conference in offensive rebounds per game (14.1) and ranks in the nation ninth in turnover margin (6.4), 11th in assists per game (18.0), 12th in steals per game (11.5), 14th in scoring offense (79.3 points per game), 16th in turnovers forced per game and 28th in free throw attempts per game (20.9).
  • Graduate student guard Kamaria McDaniel leads the team in scoring (14.5 points per game), free throws made (87), assists (64) and blocks (12).
  • Sophomore guard DeeDee Hagermann has racked up a team-best 113 assists for a 2.6 assist/turnover ratio.

 
AGAINST THE SPARTANS

  • Penn State leads the series, 31-22.
  • The two teams split last year's series, with Penn State winning 79-71 on Feb. 21 in East Lansing while Michigan State claimed a win in University Park 79-58 on Jan. 27.

 
ONE OF THE TOP POINT GUARDS IN THE NATION, MAKENNA MARISA

  • Senior Makenna Marisa was one of 20 point guards selected to the Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List heading into the season and named to the All-Big Ten Preseason Team by the coaches and media.
  • This year she leads the team in scoring (17.9 ppg), assists (4.4 per game) and made three's (50) in addition to 4.2 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game.
  • She has recorded 77 double-digit scoring games and 34 20-point games with nine this year.
  • A 35-game streak of consecutive double-digit games that started at the beginning of last season ended Nov. 26 against Fresno State.
  • She has notched seven career 25+ points and 5+ assists games, the 10th most in the Big Ten since 2009-2010 (courtesy of Her Hoop Stats).
  • With 1,673 career points, she is 11th in school history.
  • Starting this season ranked 24th, she needs 53 more to pass Angie Potthoff (1993-1997, 1,725 points) for 10th.
  • In program history she also ranks tied for third in 30-point games (seven), fifth in career free throw percentage (82.1%), seventh in career three-point field goals made (177), eighth in career scoring average (15.6 ppg), tied for ninth in career double-digit assist games (three) and 11th in career assists (418).
  • In the nation, she ranks 30th in career free throw percentage and 48th in career points.
  • For the 2022-23 season, she ranks in the nation 39th in points (429), 56th in field goals made (148), 58th in assists (106), 95th in three-point percentage (36.5) and 98th in steals (47).
  • In the Big Ten she is first in minutes per game, fifth in points, sixth in three's made per game (2.1), tied for sixth in steals, seventh in assists per game (4.4) and three-point percentage, 11th in assist/turnover ratio (1.6), 13th in free throw percentage (78.3) and 18th in field goal percentage (38.7).


NAISMITH DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCHLIST

  • Leilani Kapinus has been named to the Naismith Women's Defensive Player of the Year 2023 Watch List, the organization announced Jan. 24.
  • Kapinus is the only Big Ten player on the watchlist and one of 15 players overall.
  • She ranks fifth in the nation in steals (83) and first in the Big Ten, which is 25 more the No. 2 steals conference leader (Sydney Wood of Northwestern).
  • Averaging 3.5 steals per game, fifth nationally, she has ramped up that average to 3.8 against B1G opponents in 13 contests.
  • Overall, she has racked up at least three steals in 15 games, including eight contests with 5+: nine against Cornell, seven in the wins over Purdue and Northwestern, six versus Fresno State, Rutgers and Minnesota (at home) and five against Minnesota (in Minneapolis) and Wisconsin.
  • In addition to her steals, the guard has recorded a team-high 23 blocks, tied for eighth-most in the Big Ten.
  • Again, her block average has increased in conference play with 1.1 per game.
  • In addition to her defense, she leads the squad in rebounds (6.2 per game), 15th in the league, and has put up 11.0 points and 2.7 assists per game and 44.3 field goal percentage.
  • Kapinus is one of two players in the nation to be averaging at least 10 points, five rebounds, three steals and one block per game (Alasia Smith of Gardner-Webb).
  • She has scored in double-figures 17 times and pulled down at least seven rebounds in 10 contests.


A TRIO OF 1,000 POINT SCORERS

  • Johnasia Cash notched her 1,000 career point in the win over Youngstown State, becoming the third current Lady Lion to accomplish the feat (Makenna Marisa and Taniyah Thompson).
  • Cash has produced 412 combined from the 2020-21 and 2022-23 seasons as a Lady Lion for an average of 8.6 ppg.
  • She had 659 in her seasons at SMU.
  • Thompson accomplished the feat in her three seasons at East Carolina.
  • Among active career scoring leaders in Division I, Marisa ranks 48th (1,673), Thompson 106th (1,425) and Cash 294th (1,071).

 
CASHING REBOUNDS

  • Johnasia Cash has pulled down the 17th most career rebounds (944) among active Division I players in the nation and is also 40th in double-doubles (25).
  • In her fifth season, Cash has averaged 7.0 boards per game in her career and 6.4 in her two seasons at Penn State (2020-21 and 2022-23).
  • In her first year as a Lady Lion in which she earned Third-Team All-Big Ten from the media, she recorded a double-double in all 11 games in which she gathered 10+ rebounds.
  • After readjusting due to missing last season, her rebounding picked up with a three-game streak of 10+ rebounds (Bryant-11, Syracuse-12 and Toledo-10).

 
FRESHMAN IMPACT

  • Shay Ciezki has made an instant impact as a freshman.
  • After coming off the bench in the opener, Ciezki has started every game since.
  • In 736 minutes of action as the main ballhandler after Makenna Marisa, she has committed just 54 turnovers with 61 assists.
  • She is one of three Lady Lions averaging at least double-digit points (11.3), leads the team in three-point percentage (39.7), is second in made three's (46) and averages 1.3 steals per game.
  • In the conference she's tied for 11th in made three's.

 
UP NEXT
Penn State returns home to face No. 13/12 Ohio State Thursday at 7 p.m.