ROSEMONT, Ill. – Penn State women's basketball learned the home and road designations for its 18 Big Ten Conference games in the 2023-24 season following an announcement from the league office on Thursday morning. Dates, television network assignments and tipoff times for all Big Ten contests will be announced later this year.
The Lady Lions will compete against five double-play opponents in conference competition next season, with one game apiece scheduled on each team's home campus. PSU will challenge Minnesota and Purdue in a pair of regular season games for the second straight season after splitting with the Boilermakers and defeating the Golden Gophers in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament last year. Penn State will play a home-and-home series with the Big Ten Tournament runner-up Ohio State Buckeyes in addition to a pair of games against the Northwestern Wildcats and Maryland Terrapins.
PSU squares off against a quartet of single-game opponents inside the Bryce Jordan Center next year, with the Blue & White set to welcome the Illinois Fighting Illini, Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans and Nebraska Cornhuskers to Happy Valley in 2023-24. Michigan State returns to Central Pennsylvania for the second year in a row after playing Penn State twice last season in a home-and-home series. Michigan, Illinois and Nebraska each travel to University Park for the first time since the 2021-22 campaign.
Penn State's final group of games will be contested on the road, with the Lady Lions geared up to travel for single-game opportunities against four B1G foes. Highlights on PSU's road schedule include the reigning Big Ten regular-season champion Indiana Hoosiers and defending National Runner-Up Iowa Hawkeyes. The Blue & White will also square off in road games against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and Wisconsin Badgers in the 2023-24 slate.
Head Coach Carolyn Kieger enters her fifth season at the helm of the Lady Lions in 2023-24, having boosted the program's win total in each of the past four seasons. Penn State won 14 total games a season ago highlighted by an 11-6 mark in games played at the Bryce Jordan Center. The Blue & White also secured their first postseason victory since the 2017-18 season following a first round victory over Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament. Penn State boasted one of the most high-intensity defenses in college basketball last year, ranking 12th nationally in steals per game with 11.2 and 25th in turnovers forced per game with 19.7.
The Lady Lions return seven student-athletes from last year's roster highlighted by a trio of starting guards in Makenna Marisa, Leilani Kapinus and Shay Ciezki. In addition to an All-B1G First Team selection in Marisa and an All-B1G Defensive Team contributor in Kapinus, Penn State landed a quintet of transfer athletes including 2021 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award winner and two-time Big Ten Tournament MVP Ashley Owusu.
FOLLOW THE LADY LIONS
Visit GoPSUSports.com for more information on Penn State women's basketball. Fans can keep up to date with the Lady Lion women's basketball team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @PennStateWBB.
