Penn State takes down Radford 97-47
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (WTAJ) — Penn State women’s basketball improved to 7-1 on the season after defeating Radford 97-47. The Lady Lions took control from the start and opened the game on a 17-0 run and Radford didn’t connect on their first field goal until there was four minutes left in the first quarter. Penn State led 55-22 at halftime and didn’t let up in the second half to finish off one of their most dominant performances of the season.
Makenna Marisa led all scorers with 24 points while the Lady Lions shot 56% from the field. Penn State’s defense set the tone early and forced 29 turnovers while turning those into 37 points. This is the third game this season that Penn State has won by 40 or more points.
This week Penn State received votes in the AP Top 25 for the first time in the Carolyn Kieger era.
“We knew it was going to take time. We knew it was going to be a process to rebuild this program. And I’m really proud of the fact that we did it the right way. And, you know, we built it brick by brick and really done it with culture,” said Kieger. “So, you know, it’s great to see, but our end goal is to be playing in the tournament. So we’re obviously trying to stack as many quality wins as we can.”
It had been a struggle since Kieger came to Happy Valley in 2019 with the Nittany Lions not posting a winning record in each of the previous four seasons. Coach Kieger credits the improvement on defense as one of the biggest reasons for the turnaround. This year Penn State is allowing 64 points per game where in each of Kieger’s previous four seasons, the Lady Lions were allowing north of 72 points per game.
“We got to keep locking down in our defense. You know, we’re holding teams under 40% field goal percentage, which definitely wasn’t the case last year at this time of year,” Kieger said. “So I think this group is really hungry and focused on the defensive end, which has been a major, major change, a major adjustment for us. So we got to stay locked in on the defensive end.”
Up next for the Lady Lions is a road match with West Virginia before Big Ten play begins against Ohio State.
