Penn State women’s basketball falls to Northwestern in conference play
Written by Grant Commerer on February 2, 2020
Penn State struggled to defend a powerful Northwestern offense on Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center.
The Lady Lions fell to the No. 23 Wildcats 82-59, dropping their overall record to 7-15. Penn State is now just 1-10 in Big Ten play with seven regular season games remaining.
The Lady Lions started off slow in the first quarter but picked up the pace tremendously, ending the quarter with a two-point lead. They continued the fast-paced attack throughout the second quarter as well, and headed into halftime up 38-37.
Penn State struggled coming out of the break, and Northwestern began to take control. The Lady Lions crawled back to within two points by the first media timeout of the third quarter, but that is all the closer they would get.
The Wildcats pulled away, ending the third quarter on a 20-1 run. Northwestern continued the onslaught with total domination in the fourth quarter.
“In the first half we had it, the second half we didn’t,” coach Carolyn Kieger said. “We’re not going to become a better basketball team overnight, but the players can fix the culture overnight.”
The comeback attempt got tougher and tougher for the Lady Lions as three players got into foul trouble in the second half. Frazier, freshman Shay Hagans and sophomore Lauren Ebo each accumulated four fouls in the game.
Frazier was one foul away from fouling out of her second straight game. The senior fouled out in the Lady Lions’ previous contest against Iowa.
On the scoresheet, the Lady Lions were led by junior Kamaria McDaniel with 16 points on the day. Senior Siyah Frazier chipped in with 15 points.
Guard Makenna Marisa had an outstanding all-around performance, posting 12 points while shooting 2-for-3 from downtown. The freshman had eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals to go along with her offensive performance.
On the other side, Northwestern junior Lindsey Pulliam and sophomore Veronica Burton led the Wildcats with 19 points apiece in the contest. Pulliam was 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and Burton was 3-for-3 from the charity stripe.
Senior Abbie Wolf contributed to the winning effort with 15 points and senior Abi Scheid put up 13 points and four rebounds.
Grant Commerer is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email him at guc84@psu.edu.
Feature Image by Logan Bourandas
Continue reading
