Lady Lions start season with gritty win over Norfolk State
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa- The Penn State Lady Lions secured a 67-61 victory over the Norfolk State Spartans in the season opener.
It was not an impressive win, but the Lady Lions will still take the one in the win column this week. Coach Kieger was not impressed with her squad after Wednesday's victory.
“Thank god I don’t have any stats right now,” Kieger said. “Because that was ugly.”
The Lady Lions turned the ball over 23 times throughout the game and could not pull away from the Spartans. The largest lead of the night was a 10-point lead in the fourth.
Every time the Lady Lions started pulling away, Norfolk State pushed back. With 1:43 left, Norfolk State closed the deficit to make it 60-59. The Lady Lions had to fight for this victory.
“We need to learn how to have the no-mercy mentality,” said Kieger. “We got to learn to put the pedal to the metal and close out games better.”
The scoring was led by Penn State star Makenna Marisa with 24 points. Marisa shot 50 percent from the field and recorded 11 rebounds as well.
“We have high expectations for this team,” said Marisa. “We’re not satisfied with our performance tonight and we’re working every single day.”
Marisa was in the game for 39 of the 40 minutes. On the other side, Norfolk State’s players shared the wealth, with three players scoring in double digits.
Norfolk State came into tonight’s game after winning their season opener 125-19. Their team is built around forcing turnovers and making points off those forced turnovers. Although they forced 23 turnovers, they gave away 22.
Taniyah Thompson was another star of tonight’s game. She racked up 15 points tonight and had a few big plays down the stretch to seal the victory.
“I mean, scoring is cool and all,” said Thompson. “But I need to crash the net more on the rebound. I got to get more deflections.”
The Lady Lions sealed the victory late but have higher expectations all around and will look to improve their game before they host Fairfield on Nov. 11.
Fairfield is coached by former Big Ten coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Carly Thibault-DuDonis. Thibault-DuDonis will bring a ready-to-play Fairfield team into the Bryce Jordan Center to take on the Lady Lions.
Both teams will look to remain perfect on the season.
Kyle Schmidt is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email kyle.schmidt1025@gmail.com.
