UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State women's basketball faces Purdue on the road Wednesday at 7 p.m.
OPENING TIP
- Penn State is coming off an 85-62 road loss at RV/RV Illinois Sunday.
- 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 (88), 22 more than the next closest player in the Big Ten, while also averaging 11.2 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 (4.3 per game) and made three's (55) in addition to 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.
- Marisa currently ranks 10th in career scoring (1,735) in program history and needs 52 more points to move into ninth.
- Starting in every contest after the first game, Shay Ciezki has averaged 10.9 points, 2.5 assists, 1.9 three-pointers and 1.2 steals per game while shooting a team-best 39.7% from three.
- Penn State ranks in the nation 11th in steals per game (11.6) and 20th in turnovers forced per game (20.3).
SCOUTING PURDUE
- Is 17-8 overall with five wins in the last seven games and both losses coming to No. 2/2 Indiana.
- Clinched at least the seventh seed in the Big Ten Tournament with an 8-7 league record and can finish as high as fifth in the league.
- Fifth-year guard Lasha Petree leads the team in scoring (14.2 points per game) while senior guard Abbey Ellis (11.5) and redshirt-senior forward Caitlyn Harper (10.7) also average above 10 points per game.
- Senior guard Jeanae Terry posts team-highs in rebounding (7.6 per game), assists (4.8 per game) and steals (2.1 per game).
AGAINST THE BOILERMAKERS
- Purdue has the advantage in the series, 34-23.
- Penn State won the first of this year's matchups 70-60 on Jan. 7 at Bryce Jordan Center.
- Marisa produced a game-high 24 points along with eight boards and six assists.
- Kapinus recorded her first double-double of the season with 17 points and a season-high 12 rebounds.
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 (4.3 per game) and made three's (55) in addition to 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.
- She has recorded 80 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 1,735 career points, she is 10th in school history.
- Starting this season ranked 24th, she needs 52 more to pass Alex Bentley (2010-13, 1,786 points) for ninth.
- In program history she also ranks tied for third in 30-point games (seven), fifth in career three-point field goals made (182), 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 (428).
- In the nation, she ranks 37th in career free throw percentage and 47th in career points.
- For the 2022-23 season, she ranks in the nation 35th in points (491), 46th in minutes per game (35.6), 55th in field goals made (169), 64th in assists (116) and 82nd in free throws made (98).
- In the Big Ten she is first in minutes per game, fifth in points, sixth in three-point percentage (35.2), seventh in three-pointers made, eighth in assists per game, 10th in steals (49), 11th in assist/turnover ratio (1.6), 15th in free throw percentage (77.2) and 21st in field goal percentage (38.5).
NAISMITH DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCHLIST
- Leilani Kapinus was 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 sixth in the nation in steals (88) and first in the Big Ten, which is 22 more the No. 2 steals conference leader (Sydney Wood of Northwestern).
- Averaging 3.3 steals per game, sixth nationally, she has bumped up that average to 3.4 against B1G opponents in 16 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 26 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 11.2 points and 2.7 assists per game and 43.1 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 20 times and pulled down at least seven rebounds in 13 contests with three double-doubles.
A TRIO OF ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT SELECTIONS
- Ali Brigham, Anna Camden and Makenna Marisa were named to the College Sports Communicators' Academic All-District Team Tuesday.
- To be eligible for nominations, players had to have at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA, be enrolled at its current institution for over one year and be an important starter or rotation player.
- Marisa: 3.81 GPA, Elementary and Early Childhood Education major.
- Brigham: 3.68 GPA, Communications major.
- Camden: 3.78 GPA, Broadcast Journalism major.
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 421 combined from the 2020-21 and 2022-23 seasons as a Lady Lion for an average of 8.3 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 (1,735), Thompson 113th (1,438) and Cash 312th (1,080).
CASHING REBOUNDS
- Johnasia Cash has pulled down the 19th most career rebounds (946) among active Division I players in the nation and is also 43rd in double-doubles (25).
- In her fifth season, Cash has averaged 6.9 boards per game in her career and 6.1 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 831 minutes of action as the main ballhandler after Makenna Marisa, she has committed just 61 turnovers with 67 assists.
- She is one of three Lady Lions averaging at least double-digit points (10.9), leads the team in three-point percentage (39.7), is second in made three's (52) and averages 1.2 steals per game.
- In the conference she's tied for ninth in made three's.
UP NEXT
Penn State closes out the regular season at home on Senior Day, presented by Penn State Alumni Association, against Michigan State Saturday at 2 p.m.