After a long run of Gopher dominance over Penn State (12 wins and 2 losses), the Lady Lions have rallied sweeping three games from Minnesota with each win providing a memorable kick.
The first went down at Target center when the Big Ten Tourney finally rolled into Minneapolis. A 72-67 Lady Lion win triggered Lindsay Whalen’s dismissal and added a buzz to the proceedings.
The second memorable PSU victory was an 80-64 January final at Williams Arena. Mara Braun had suffered a regular season ending injury in the previous game versus Illinois. This loss served notice that Braun was Plan A and there was no Plan B. Minnesota finished the regular season losing 8 of 9 with the only win coming against hapless Northwestern.
The final, most embarrassing, tweak to Gopher pride was the 90-34 end of the regular season beat down of Minnesota in Happy Valley. The 56 point deficit tied for second worst in Gopher history. Brynn Senden was Minnesota’s leading scorer with 10 points. Forget Plan B- Senden as leading scorer would’ve been Plan 9 from Outer Space.
Anyway, Penn State finished last season 9-9 in the B1G, were selected for the WBIT, and played their way to the semifinals before losing to Villanova. PSU’s final record was 22-13.
We can forget most of what we knew about last season’s Lady Lions because once again head coach Carolyn Kieger has revamped the lineup. Some starters like Ty Valladay, Ashley Owusu, Leilani Kapinus, Makenna Marisa and Ali Brigham left through graduation and some like Shay Ciezki transferred to Indiana to fill Sara Scalia’s roll.
In their place we now find players like Moriah Murray in her second year from Drexel who averaged 4.3 points per game last season in limited action. This season as a starter Murray a 5’8” sophomore guard averages 15 points and 2.6 rebounds in 31.3 minutes per game. She is a three-point threat hitting 44-103.
Another returner is 5’8” senior guard Jayla Oden in her second season from Illinois who averages 9.5 points and 2.1 rebounds in 25.8 minutes. That’s about a 10 minute per game increase in playing time.
Alli Campbell is 6’0” graduate guard averaging 8.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in 30.9 minutes. Her playing time has doubled since last season.
Gabby Elliot, a Michigan State transfer, is a 5’10” graduate guard averaging 8.2 points and 5.2 rebounds in 24.7 minutes. Elliot is coming off back-to-back season ending injuries.
Then there is the transfer from Bellarmine, Gracie Merkle. The 6’6” sophomore center averages 20.3 points and 9.7 rebounds in 23.4 minutes. She also has 23 blocks.
Penn State wants to push the pace off turnovers. If you can handle their 1-2-2 press it turns into a half-court game where you need a plan to handle Merkle. Both teams are 0-1 in the B1G and are desperate for a win.
Penn State is 9-3 with wins over: Bucknell 90-68, Canisius 89-57, Duquesne 92-83, Niagara 101-45, Monmouth 100-55, Marshall 74-59, Georgia 67-47, Drexel 86-78 and Providence 68-57.
And losses to: St. Johns 67-76, Indiana 60-75 and Kansas 65-68
