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Women’s Basketball Travels to RV/RV Illinois for Sunday Matchup

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UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State women's basketball faces RV/RV Illinois on the road Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.

OPENING TIP

  • Penn State is coming off a 67-55 home loss to No. 13/14 Ohio State Thursday.
  • 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 fourth in the nation in steals (87), 25 more than the next closest player in the Big Ten, while also averaging 10.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 blocks per game.
  • She is one of two players in the nation to be averaging at least 10 points, five rebounds, three steals and one block per game.
  • Makenna Marisa leads the team in scoring (18.2 points per game), assists (4.4 per game) and made three's (53) in addition to 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.
  • Marisa currently ranks 11th in career scoring (1,717) in program history and needs nine more points to move into 10th.
  • Starting in every contest after the first game, Shay Ciezki has averaged 11.1 points, 2.5 assists, 1.9 three-pointers and 1.3 steals per game while shooting a team-best 40.0% from three.
  • Penn State ranks in the nation fifth in steals per game (12.0) and 17th in turnovers forced per game (20.8).

 
SCOUTING ILLINIOS

  • Is 19-7 overall and 9-6 in the Big Ten for sixth place in the conference standings.
  • Led by first-year head coach Shauna Green, who previously led Dayton to five Atlantic 10 regular season championships and the postseason in each of her six seasons, including four NCAA Tournament appearances.
  • Led the Big Ten in both three-point percentage (38.0, eighth in the nation) and three-point percentage defense (27.6, 37th in the nation).
  • Junior guard Makira Cook leads the team in scoring (18.4 points per game) and assists (4.1 per game).
  • Three other starters average at least 10 points: junior guard Genesis Bryant (14.8), sophomore guard Adalia McKenzie (14.2) and junior forward Kendall Bostic (10.2).

 
AGAINST THE FIGHTING ILLINI

  • Penn State has a decisive advantage in the series, 40-16.
  • The Lady Lions won last year's matchup 90-72 at Bryce Jordan Center, have claimed wins in 10 of the last 11 matchups, and won seven-straight times in Champaign.

 
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 (18.2 ppg), assists (4.4 per game) and made three's (53) in addition to 4.3 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game.
  • She has recorded 79 double-digit scoring games and 36 20-point games with 11 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 1,717 career points, she is 11th in school history.
  • Starting this season ranked 24th, she needs NINE 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 three-point field goals made (180), seventh in career free throw percentage (81.6%), eighth in career scoring average (15.8 ppg), tied for ninth in career double-digit assist games (three) and 11th in career assists (426).
  • In the nation, she ranks 35th in career free throw percentage and 47th in career points.
  • For the 2022-23 season, she ranks in the nation 35th in points (473), 40th in minutes per game (35.8), 50th in field goals made (165), 55th in assists (114) and 99th in free throws made (90).
  • In the Big Ten she is first in minutes per game, fifth in points per game, seventh in three-point percentage and three-pointers made, tied for seventh in assists, ninth in steals (48), 12th in assist/turnover ratio (1.6), 14th in free throw percentage (76.9) and 20th in field goal percentage (39.1).

 
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 fourth in the nation in steals (87) and first in the Big Ten, which is 25 more the No. 2 steals conference leader (Sydney Wood of Northwestern).
  • Averaging 3.3 steals per game, sixth nationally, she has ramped up that average to 3.6 against B1G opponents in 15 contests.
  • Overall, she has racked up at least three steals in 16 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 25 blocks, 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 (6.6 per game), 11th in the league, and has put up 10.9 points and 2.7 assists per game and 42.9 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 19 times and pulled down at least seven rebounds in 12 contests with three double-doubles.

 
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 8.2 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 47th (1,717), Thompson 109th (1,438) and Cash 309th (1,071).

 
CASHING REBOUNDS

  • Johnasia Cash has pulled down the 18th most career rebounds (945) among active Division I players in the nation and is also 42nd in double-doubles (25).
  • In her fifth season, Cash has averaged 6.9 boards per game in her career and 6.2 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 801 minutes of action as the main ballhandler after Makenna Marisa, she has committed just 58 turnovers with 66 assists.
  • She is one of three Lady Lions averaging at least double-digit points (11.1), leads the team in three-point percentage (40.0), is second in made three's (50) and averages 1.3 steals per game.
  • In the conference she's tied for 10th in made three's.

 
UP NEXT
Penn State plays its last road game of the regular season at NR/RV Purdue next Wednesday at 7 p.m.