UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Driven by double-digit scoring performances from sophomore guard Kiyomi McMiller, redshirt junior center Gracie Merkle and redshirt junior guard Moriah Murray, the Penn State women’s basketball team rolled to its fourth consecutive non-conference home victory with an 82-64 win over the Yale Bulldogs on Sunday inside Rec Hall.
Following the impressive performance against the Bulldogs, the Lady Lions improve to 6-1 overall and have won each of their last four non-conference home games dating to the start of the 2025-26 campaign. Penn State has started the year with at least six wins through the first seven contests on the schedule in each of the last three years. In defeat, Yale drops to 1-7 overall and will return to action next Wednesday at home in New Haven against Bryant. Following the second all-time meeting between the two programs, PSU improves to 2-0 and has outscored Yale by a combined 68 points across both matchups.
McMiller led the way for PSU, pacing the Blue & White in scoring for the fourth time this season with 19 points. The Silver Spring, Maryland, native also contributed a team-high six assists, pacing the Lady Lions in that category for the seventh time in as many opportunities. She also leads PSU in terms of games with five or more assists, accomplishing that feat for the fifth time in seven chances. Merkle, a native of Mount Washington, Kentucky, poured in 18 points on an ultra-efficient 9-for-10 performance from the field, while Murray logged 18 points of her own highlighted by a 50 percent effort from beyond the arc.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter
Merkle won the opening tip and notched the opening bucket of the game thanks to a bounce pass down low from Cléante. The Lady Lions quickly made it a 6-0 opening run with McMiller working her way into the action with a coast-to-coast bucket followed by an assist on a breakaway layup for Murray moments later. Turnovers plagued the Bulldogs in the early going, but Yale was able to tally its opening basket on a wide-open left corner triple with just over six minutes remaining in the frame. PSU responded to Yale’s 5-0 scoring run in the middle of the frame with a 5-0 response, but baskets continued to fall both ways to the tune of a 13-9 Lady Lion lead with just over three minutes to go in the first. The teams traded buckets back and forth over the final six possessions of the period, but a steal and score for the Lady Lion defense capped off by a layup from Okokoh made it a 19-15 ball game through one quarter.
Second Quarter
Penn State started the second period on a 4-0 scoring run bolstered by baskets from McMiller and Cléante, but the Bulldogs were able to notch an answer with a mid-range jumper from the right wing. A long-range pass was saved by Cléante back into the hands of Okokoh, who drew contact and drilled the game’s first two free throw attempts to make it a 25-17 PSU edge with 6:24 to go in the first half of play. Yale went on a quick 6-2 stretch to pull back within four points of the Lady Lion advantage, 27-23, at the media intermission. Out of the break, Yale extended its scoring streak to 11 consecutive points to take the lead at 30-27 with less than three minutes to go in the opening stanza. Okokoh silenced the Bulldog stretch with a physical bucket in the paint, and Murray put the Blue & White back in front with a 3-pointer moments later. PSU managed to weather the storm and closed the opening half on a 12-2 scoring run capped off by a buzzer-beating half-court heave from Murray to take a 39-32 edge into the halftime break.
Third Quarter
McMiller quickly found Merkle for a paint bucket to start the second half of play, and despite an answer on the other end from the Bulldogs, the Lady Lions were able to tack on back-to-back layups to balloon the advantage to double digits. Yale hit a long two moments later, but a jumper from McMiller kept the Penn State advantage at 11, leading 47-36. The Bulldogs brought the game back to single digits with back-to-back layups just before the media break, but McMiller silenced the Yale stretch with an athletic layup from the left side. PSU’s defense held Yale off the scoreboard over a three-plus minute span and utilized that pressure to generate a 9-0 scoring run to take a 16-point lead with just over three ticks left in the third quarter. The Lady Lions and Bulldogs traded buckets down the home stretch in the period, but impressive effort from McMiller and Murray powered Penn State to a 64-47 lead through three quarters of play.
Fourth Quarter
Yale opened the final frame with a paint jumper, but a quick reply from Merkle in the post preserved the 17-point Lady Lion lead. The Bulldogs continued to whittle away at the PSU advantage, but the Lady Lions were able to notch a quick response each time to preserve the lead. A jumper from McMiller at the 7:46 mark of the period kicked off a 10-0 scoring run for the Blue & White that culminated in the team’s largest lead of the afternoon at 78-53 with just over four minutes remaining in the game. Yale mustered a jumper and logged its first pair of makes at the charity stripe in Sunday’s matchup, but the Lady Lions continued to maintain a dominant double-digit advantage as the contest wound down. Okokoh and Evans hit free throws down the stretch, and the PSU defense held on to close the book on a solid 82-64 win over Yale on Sunday in Happy Valley.
POSTGAME NOTES
Yale at Penn State
November 30, 2025
Rec Hall (University Park, Pa.)
- Penn State improved to 6-1 overall through the month of November and remains unblemished at home inside Rec Hall with a 4-0 mark. Yale drops to 1-7 overall and returns home to New Haven next Wednesday for a home game against Bryant.
- Following the second all-time meeting of the two programs, the Lady Lions improved to 2-0 overall. The last matchup came on February 22, 1985, with PSU picking up a decisive 97-47 victory inside Rec Hall.
- The Lady Lions picked up a victory in the rebounding battle by a 38-32 differential, outrebounding its opponent for the sixth time this season and improving to 5-1 when doing so this season.
- In terms of paint scoring, the Blue & White racked up a domineering 52-36 edge. Penn State saw 63 percent of its scoring come from the painted area while logging over half of its points on layups.
- Transition scoring also went Penn State’s way, with the Blue & White outpacing Yale by a 23-8 differential in terms of fast break scoring.
- Sophomore guard Kiyomi McMiller led the Blue & White in scoring for the fourth time this season, placing her in tie with Merkle for the most games atop the box score at PSU this year. The Silver Spring, Maryland, native had 19 points with a team-high six assists and three rebounds.
- McMiller logged her seventh consecutive double-digit scoring performance in as many opportunities, notching her 25th collegiate performance in double figures. McMiller also finished the game with 19 points for the third-straight game.
- Redshirt junior center Gracie Merkle cracked double figures for the for the 52nd time in her collegiate career in addition to her 29th such performance at Penn State. The veteran center tallied 18 points on an impressive 9-for-10 shooting effort from the field, also adding a game-high eight rebounds.
- Redshirt junior guard Moriah Murray cracked double digits for the 19th time in her collegiate career and finished with 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the field and a 4-for-8 clip from long range.
- Freshman guard Viktoria Ranisavljevic set a career high in assists with four against the Bulldogs.
- Penn State utilized the starting lineup of Murray, Evans, Cléante, McMiller and Merkle for the second time this season and the first time since playing Cincinnati on November 7. PSU moves to 2-0 when utilizing that starting five.
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