Lady Lions Lose On Senior Day Versus Minnesota

The Penn State Lady Lions were defeated by the Minnesota Golden Gophers of 94-83. 

Penn State ends the regular season dropping two straight games and finishing 11-17 overall, 5-12 in the Big Ten. The Lady Lions will play Wednesday night in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. 

Minnesota wins its final two games of the regular season and finishes 14-16 overall, 7-11 Big Ten.

The Golden Gophers were led by Sara Scalia and Kadi Sissoko. Both combined for 64 of the 94 teams points. Laura Bagwell Katalinich also had 16 points.

Katalinich and Sissoko had double-doubles. Sissoko had seven offensive rebounds. Additionally, the Golden Gophers had 22 offensive rebounds and 20 more shot attempts.

Here’s what coach Carolyn Kieger had to say about getting out rebounded by over twenty and what needs to be corrected, “Rebounding is toughness, heart and there is a skill to it in terms of timing and discipline and we gotta fix all of it.”

For the Lady Lions it was senior day for Niya Beverley and Kelly Jekot. Both started and combined for 11 points.

Here’s what Marisa had to say about the impact seniors Beverley and Jekot had on her as a player and a person, “Both Niya and Kell have been amazing teammates both on and off the court.  They taught me so much about leadership, IQ and composure.”

Makenna Marisa paced the Lady Lions with 28 points on 11-20 shooting from the field. Coming into the game Marisa ranked eighth in the country when it came to points per game. Tova Sabel also played a key role for the Lady Lions off the bench with 19 points on a very efficient 7-8 shooting.  

 The story for the Lady Lions was the lack of the 3-point shot.  The team shot a miserable 3 for 16 from three missing their first 11 attempts.  It took a while for the Lady Lions to get in rhythm.

On the other hand, the Lady Lions did a nice job getting to the free throw line and stopping the clock when the game started to get out of hand.  Minnesota had as big off a 22 point lead which was cut down to 8 by the Lady Lions with efficient Free Throw shooting.

They shot 22-25 from the line in what looked like another comeback game in the making.  It was shut down quickly after a couple three’s by Scalia and points in the paint from Sissoko.  

Senior night was spoiled as the Golden Gophers took the game 94-83.