ORLANDO, Fla. – Highlighted by a sharp-shooting 24-point scoring outing from redshirt sophomore guard Moriah Murray, the Penn State women’s basketball rolled to a dominant 67-47 victory over the Georgia Lady Bulldogs Saturday afternoon from State Farm Field House at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in the Lady Lion finale at the State Farm WBCA Showcase.
The Blue & White matched their best start to a season since 2022-23 following Saturday’s electric 20-point victory over a power four conference opponent, rising to 7-0 overall. Penn State additionally started the 2022-23 season with a 7-0 record but had not accomplished that feat in the 26 years prior to that point. Penn State closed out the State Farm WBCA Showcase unbeaten at the event, logging a pair of critical non-conference victories over the Lady Bulldogs in addition to the Marshall Thundering Herd. Georgia and Penn State squared off in women’s basketball for just the third time in the storied programs’ respective histories, with the Lady Lions picking up their first-ever win over the Lady Bulldogs Saturday in Orlando. In defeat, Georgia falls to 4-2 overall and returns home to Athens this Tuesday, November 26, with a 6 p.m. (ET) matchup against Prairie View A&M.
Penn State was clinical in every facet of its offensive attack Saturday afternoon, with the Blue & White outshooting Georgia 44% to 30% while lighting it up from long range. PSU was an ultra-effective 7-for-17 from long range, with Murray solely responsible for all seven of those 3-point makes. Penn State shot 41% from long range while holding the Lady Bulldogs to a meager 28% efficiency from deep. PSU was once again effective on the boards, winning the rebounding battle by a 45-38 differential while adding a stunning 36-18 differential in terms of points in the paint. The Lady Lions were also far more impressive in the passing game, logging a 20-11 win in the assist column.
Individually, the Dunmore, Pennsylvania, native Murray continues to light things up from long range, finishing with a game-high 24 points on 8-for-16 shooting from the field with a 7-for-14 mark from 3-point land. Murray additionally poured in seven rebounds, besting a career high on the glass set against the Iowa Hawkeyes in a regular season meeting on February 8 of this year. Murray booked her fourth career 20-point scoring performance, with all four of those instances coming during the first seven games of the 2024-25 campaign.
Redshirt sophomore center Gracie Merkle once again managed a double-double in her second performance at the WBCA Showcase. Merkle, a native of Mount Washington, Kentucky, notched her 23rd career double-double and her fourth such performance since joining the Lady Lions this year. Merkle contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds, reaching double figures in the scoring column in all seven of her Lady Lion debut performances. Graduate guard Alli Campbell also impressed in Saturday’s showing against Georgia, booking a career-high in scoring with 14 points while contributing a striking seven assists and five rebounds. Guards Gabby Elliott and Jayla Oden, as well as forwards Tamera Johnson and Grace Hall also worked their way onto the scoresheet for PSU in the 20-point Lady Lion victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter
Georgia came away with the opening tipoff but failed to capitalize on the opening possession, paving the way for Murray to put the Blue & White on the board first with an emphatic left corner triple. The Bulldogs snapped back with a triple on the other end, but a layup from Merkle and another triple from Murray kept PSU on top. Georgia booked back-to-back jumpers to make it a one-point game, but an and-one layup for Johnson put Penn State ahead by a 10-7 margin at the media timeout with 4:50 to play in the frame. After Johnson buried the free throw to make it 11-7, Georgia buried a pair of 3-point jumpers and added a fastbreak layup to cap off an 8-2 run that put the Lady Bulldogs ahead by a 15-13 margin through the first 10 minutes of action.
Second Quarter
The Blue & White wasted zero time snapping back in response to Georgia’s late run at the end of the first quarter, rattling off eight straight points with disciplined offensive play that included six points from Campbell and an additional paint bucket from Merkle. Following Penn State’s dominant offensive start to the second period of play, the Lady Bulldogs were forced into a timeout with 5:33 remaining in the first half of action, with Penn State leading by a 21-15 tally. Georgia was finally able to scratch a pair of points across the board with a paint jumper out of the timeout, but PSU replied with a humper from Hall with less than five minutes to play to extend the Lady Lion edge to six. Offense slowed to a crawl over the next three minutes, with neither squad managing a bucket in that timeframe. Impassioned play resulted in offsetting technical fouls with two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the period, with the Lady Bulldogs capitalizing on the shift in momentum to close the quarter on an 8-2 run to deadlock the game at 25-all through the first half.
Third Quarter
The Lady Bulldogs rolled out of the gates to start the second half with back-to-back buckets in the painted area, including a fastbreak layup to open the period, but the Blue & White responded with an 8-0 run highlighted by an and-one from Elliott followed by baskets from Murray and Campbell to give Penn State a 33-29 lead with 7:33 to play in the period. After Georgia called a timeout to attempt to halt the PSU momentum, the Blue & White extended the run to 11-0 with a triple from Murray. Georgia had a trio of 1-for-2 trips to the charity stripe offset by back-to-back buckets from Campbell, culminating in a nine-point Lady Lion lead at 40-31 with less than four minutes to play in the quarter. Hard-fought, physical action punctuated the remainder of the third quarter of action, but the Lady Lions remained level-headed and closed the frame out with a 5-2 scoring run to take a critical 11-point advantage into the final period, 45-34.
Fourth Quarter
Penn State and Georgia exchanged baskets over the first few possessions of the final period to make it a nine-point game with just under nine minutes to go, but back-to-back triples from the sharp-shooting Murray forced a Lady Bulldog timeout with Penn State leading by a 53-38 edge with 7:26 to go. Murray kept the fiery streak alive with her third-straight 3-pointer out of the timeout from straight-away to punctuate a personal 9-0 run. Georgia nailed a mid-range jumper, but Murray struck yet again with her fourth triple of the period to put Penn State up by 19. The Lady Lions were blisteringly effective as the quarter continued to wind down, with back-to-back paint scores for PSU ballooning the Lady Lion lead to 23 points with just under four minutes to go. Another minute passed before Georgia would find another bucket, but the Blue & White continued the momentum with four unanswered points. The Lady Bulldogs notched five points in a row to close out the game, but Penn State was ultimately able to come away with the dominant 67-47 victory to close out the week in Orlando.
POSTGAME NOTES
Penn State vs. Georgia
November 23, 2024
State Farm Field House at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex (Orlando, Fla.)
- Penn State extended their undefeated streak to begin the 2024-25 campaign to seven consecutive wins for only the fifth time in school history and second time in the most recent three seasons.
- The best run of the game was an 11-0 stretch in the third quarter that spanned just over two minutes. Eight of those unanswered points came in just 41 seconds.
- The victory marks Penn State’s first win against Georgia in program history.
- Murray posted seven three pointers, her third time notching seven-plus threes in a game. She also produced her fifth game reaching the double-digit mark with 24 points. Murray also grabbed a career best seven boards.
- Campbell scored 14 points marking her second-straight game scoring in double figures and a career high for the graduate student.
- Merkle put up 12 points and 11 boards to notch her fourth double-double of the season as she continues her streak of reaching double figures in every game of the season.
- Oden put up a career high in steals with five on the day.
- The Lady Lions outscored Georgia 36-18 in the paint, their seventh consecutive game outscoring opponents in the paint
- Penn State held Georgia to 29.7% shooting from the field marking back-to-back games the Lady Lions held their opponent under 30% shooting from the field.
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