UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State women's basketball closes out the regular season against Michigan State Saturday at 2 p.m. Anna Camden, Johnasia Cash and Alexa Williamson and other team personnel will be honored in a pregame ceremony for Senior Day, presented by Penn State Alumni Association.
GAMEDAY INFO
Promotion
- All kids get in for free! The Kids' Zone will feature face painters, giveaways, games and more.
Parking
- Parking for Penn State women's basketball games are available at the following locations two hours prior to the start of each game: Stadium West, Jordan East and Porter North.
- There is no charge for patrons with a valid Penn State parking permit.
- Pre-paid parking is available at a discounted rate of $5.50 through the ParkMobile app. Season-long packages are also available.
- Parking will cost $10 on the day of an event without a valid permit or prepayment.
- ParkMobile prepayment availability ends at 11:59 p.m. the night before each event. Events will not be selectable on the site after that time, and payment must then be made on site upon arrival to event parking staff (cash only).
Mobile Ticketing and Updated App
- All Penn State Athletics tickets are once again mobile tickets. Fans can access Penn State Athletics mobile ticket guide at GoPSUsports.com/mobiletickets.
- Make sure to have the NEW Penn State Athletics App downloaded on your phone to easily access and manage your mobile tickets. Download the app on the App Store and Google Play.
Bryce Jordan Center Bag Policy
- The bag policy has been updated for the 2022-23 season.
- Bags that are clear plastic, vinyl or PVB and are 12" x 6" x 12" or smaller are permitted.
- Small clutches or wristlets that are 4" x 6" x 1" are also permissible.
- All clear bags and patrons are subject to metal detection and/or bag inspection upon entering the venue.
- Bag policy details can be found HERE.
OPENING TIP
- Penn State is coming off an 86-62 road loss at Purdue Wednesday.
- 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 sixth in the nation in steals (88), 18 more than the next closest player in the Big Ten, while also averaging 11.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 0.9 blocks per game.
- Makenna Marisa leads the team in scoring (17.9 points per game), assists (4.2 per game) and made three's (57) in addition to 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.
- Marisa currently ranks 10th in career scoring (1,745) in program history and needs 42 more points to move into ninth.
- She is also five rebounds from 500 in her career and can become the second Lady Lion to record 1,750 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists (Tanisha Wright, 2002-05: 1,995 points, 621 rebounds, 484 assists).
- Starting in every contest after the first game, Shay Ciezki has averaged 11.1 points, 2.5 assists, 2.1 three-pointers and 1.2 steals per game while shooting a team-best 39.7% from three.
- Penn State ranks in the nation 13th in steals per game (11.4) and 25th in turnovers forced per game (20.0).
SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE
- Is 14-13 overall with three wins in its last four games and is in ninth place in the conference standings at 6-10.
- Will be either the eight seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament with a win and Nebraska loss to Northwestern Sunday or the nine seed with a loss.
- Rank in the nation 10th in assists per game (18.0), 13th in turnover margin (6.1), 14th in steals per game (11.1) and 17th in scoring offense (78.3 points per game).
- Graduate student guard Kamaria McDaniel leads the team in scoring (13.7 points per game), and sophomore guard/forward Matilda Ekh (12.5) is the only other Spartan averaging over 10 points per game.
- Sophomore guard DeeDee Hagemann is seventh in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (2.7) with a team-high 136 assists and 54 steals.
AGAINST THE SPARTANS
- Penn State leads the series, 31-23.
- Michigan State won the first matchup of the two programs this season 81-75 in overtime.
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 (4.2 per game) and made three's (57) in addition to 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.
- She has recorded 81 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 1,745 career points, she is 10th in school history.
- Starting this season ranked 24th, she needs 42 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 (184), seventh in career free throw percentage (81.6%), eighth in career scoring average (15.7 ppg), tied for ninth in career double-digit assist games (three) and 11th in career assists (430).
- In the nation, she ranks 37th in career free throw percentage and 48th in career points.
- For the 2022-23 season, she ranks in the nation 41st in points (501), 53rd in minutes per game (35.5), 60th in field goals made (173), 67th in assists (118) and 91st in free throws made (98).
- In the Big Ten she is second in minutes per game, sixth in points, eighth in three-pointers made, ninth in three-point percentage (35.2) and assists per game, 12th in steals (49) and assist/turnover ratio (1.6), 15th in free throw percentage (77.2) and 21st in field goal percentage (38.7).
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 18 more the No. 2 steals conference leader (Sydney Wood of Northwestern).
- Averaging 3.1 steals per game, ninth nationally, she has bumped up that average to 3.2 against B1G opponents in 17 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 1.0 per game.
- In addition to her defense, she leads the squad in rebounds (6.5 per game), 12th in the league, and has put up 11.1 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 20 times and pulled down at least seven rebounds in 13 contests with three double-doubles.
BIG TEN TOURNAMENT SEEDING
- Penn State's seeding for next week's Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis will have a direct result on its results against Michigan State.
- With a 4-13 league record, the Lady Lions could finish at best with the No. 10 seed, which comes with a first round bye, or finish as low as No. 13.
- No. 10 seed: Penn State win against Michigan State and losses by Rutgers (5-12) Sunday at home to Illinois and Wisconsin (5-12) Sunday at home to Michigan due to the three-way tiebreaker of head-to-head results (Penn State 2-1, Rutgers 2-2 and Wisconsin 1-2).
- No. 11 seed:
- Penn State and Rutgers win and Wisconsin loss due to head-to-head tiebreaker (Penn State 1-0, Wisconsin 0-1).
- Penn State and Wisconsin win and loss by Rutgers due to head-to-head tiebreaker of wins against the No. 1 team in the standings and moving downwards (Penn State 1-1 against current No. 7 Purdue, Rutgers 0-1 against Purdue).
- No. 12 seed: Penn State loss and a loss from Minnesota (3-14) at home to Purdue Sunday.
- No. 13 seed: Penn State and Minnesota loses.
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 423 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 48th (1,745), Thompson 116th (1,445) and Cash 316th (1,082).
CASHING REBOUNDS
- Johnasia Cash has pulled down the 19th most career rebounds (947) among active Division I players in the nation and is also 44th in double-doubles (25).
- In her fifth season, Cash has averaged 6.8 boards per game in her career and 6.0 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 868 minutes of action as the main ballhandler after Makenna Marisa, she has committed just 62 turnovers with 70 assists.
- She is one of three Lady Lions averaging at least double-digit points (11.1), leads the team in three-point percentage (39.7), is second in made three's (56) and averages 1.2 steals per game.
- She is just one of two freshmen in the nation to be averaging at least 2.0 three's per game with a 40.0 or better three-point percentage.
- In the conference she's fifth in three-point percentage (39.7), which ranks 46th in the nation and ninth in three-pointers made per game (2.0).
UP NEXT
Penn State kicks off the Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis on either Wednesday, March 1 or the following day.