Penn State Lady Lions Recap vs. Youngstown State

Story posted November 16, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Micheal Bolger

The Penn State Lady Lions defeat the Youngstown State Penguins after getting off to a slow start. The Nittany Lions have now beaten three straight conference champions from last season.

Opening up the game, the Nittany Lions couldn’t get settled in their usual 2-3 zone defense, which led to a ton of wide open three point looks for the Penguins. Youngstown’s Paige Shy would capitalize on those looks and go 5-9 from the three range finishing the night with 19 points.

With the Penguins leading heading into the second quarter, Penn State would need to find someone else to rely on after Makenna Marisa struggled to get separation from the Youngstown State defense. Leilani Kapinus and Shay Ciezki were those people that stepped up, driving into the paint and keeping the Lady Lions in the game.

That would all change after some halftime adjustments from Penn State’s head coach Carolyn Kieger who turned the tide of the game by getting more separation for Marisa off of pick and rolls. Kieger also put her defense into a man-to-man, different from their 2-3 zone, and pressured the Penguins in the backcourt.

Under the new look, Penn State’s defense got a lot more aggressive in the second half and Marisa was able to get going. Taniyah Thompson was a big factor in that defense as she went one-on-one in the paint against Lilly Ritz and eliminated the Penguins main threat.

The Lady Lions were also able to get a ton of steals and score off of fast breaks after putting on the pressure in the backcourt. The Penguins would need to play a lot more conservative, passing the ball around and wasting a ton of time that they needed to get back in the game.

The Youngstown State Penguins were down by 10 with three minutes left to go in the fourth quarter and would try getting the three-point shots going against. However, the shots did not fall and time would run out leading to a Penn State 77-63 victory.

Youngstown State is now 1-13 against Big Ten teams and 0-5 against Penn State all time. They are the reigning Horizon League regular season championships but with the hardest part of their season coming up, will they be able to replicate that same success? 

The Lady Lions started out last season 3-0 and ended 11-18 after getting into the heart of their Big Ten conference schedule. This program continues to improve each season but will they end the season same as last year or will things end differently for the Nittany Lions.

One of the biggest storylines coming into the season was Johnasia Cash gunning for her much desired goal of 1000 career points. She needed five points to obtain that goal headed into the game and she got it, finishing the night with seven points.

Penn State improves to 3-0 on the season and will host Bryant on Friday. Youngstown State will fall to 1-1 on the season and will continue their three game road trip next week against Akron.

Micheal Bolger is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email mpb6233@psu.edu.