Lady Lions Stay Hot with Win Over Illinois

Story posted January 23, 2018 in CommRadio, Sports by Brianna Slattery

UNIVERSITY PARK- The Penn State Lady Lions (13-8) continue a now three-game winning streak against Illinois (9-13) with a final score of 68-59. Penn State is currently ninth in their conference standing (4-4).

The game began with Illinois in the lead which quickly led Penn State’s Head Coach, Coquese Washington to call a timeout within the first two minutes of the quarter. Washington said if the shots were not falling right away she wanted her team to pick up the intensity and be more aggressive on the defensive end.

The Lady Lions picked up their momentum and took the lead with ten minutes left in the first half. A major key to this comeback was an efficiently quick offense, which Teniya Page said they have been working on. Throughout practice this week the team has been improving on hitting that extra pass and getting open an extra person. Penn State eventually executed what they practiced in the second quarter and for the rest of the game leading them to victory.

Although there were some struggles offensively early on in the game, the team was able to become disruptive defensively assisting the Lady Lions to create turnovers. Within the first half, Penn State attempted a trapping press into man coverage but soon went into a 3-2 zone.

The scoring for Penn State was well distributed throughout all players on the court. The leading scorer for Penn State was Junior, Teniya Page with 18 points, just two below her average points per game. She was able to hit 3 of 6 field goal attempts in today’s game. This impressive performance was followed by Amari Carter with 12 points and Jaida Travascio-Green with 10.

Penn State outrebounded Illinois 59-68. Leading her team with rebounds, De’Janae Boykin, showed consistency with several rebounds both offensively and defensively and aided Penn State tremendously on their victory.

Illinois, Junior, Alex Wittinger was a huge threat going into the game for Penn State. Leading her team with 18 points and 10 rebounds, Wittinger kept her team in the game. Lady Lion’s Coach Washington stated Wittinger is one of the best rebounders in the Big Ten Conference and the team knew they had to shut her down.

Wittinger’s teammates Brandi Beasley (15 points) and Cierra Rice (10 points) were also great assets towards Illinois’ offensive strength.

Despite not having as close of a game as their two previous games, The Penn State Lady Lions still had to put up a fight against The Fighting Illini.

The Lady Lions will hit the road for the next two games, as they face two Big Ten Conference games against Purdue (4-2) and Ohio State (5-2).

 

Brianna Slattery is a freshman, majoring in communications and marketing. You can contact her by email at bes5457@psu.edu.