UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa- The Lady Lions came out strong with three home wins to kick-off the start of the 2021-22 season.
On Tuesday, Nov. 9 the Blue and White came out hungry for their home opener against LIU coming out on top 85-66. The team celebrated their first win alongside fans who returned to the Byrce Jordan Center for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
"I want to start by thanking the fans, it was great to have some spirit back in the BJC," said head coach Carolyn Kieger in the post-game press conference. "It feels amazing to be back to normal college basketball."
Sophomore Ali Brigham alongside redshirt freshman Leilani Kapinus had strong debuts for the Blue and White. Brigham collected 20 points for the Lady Lions in her Penn State debut after transferring from George Washington, and Kapinus earned herself five.
"It was a really fun environment," said Brigham on her debut. "Using my size to perform both on the offensive and defensive end is something that I want to make my goal for every game, which I did tonight so it felt really good."
Moving on to Thursday, Nov. 11, Penn State came out on top once again defeating Rider University, 83-69. Makenna Marisa, Niya Beverley, and Brigham all individually finished the game with 20-plus points. While the shot-making helped, scoring wasn't the only thing the Lady Lions did well in game two.
Prior to the start of the season, the the group made it a goal of theirs to out-rebound the opposing team every game and have been stressing the importance of rebounding in practice. As a team, they accomplished this goal by out-rebounding Rider 41-21, lead by Kapinus with eight rebounds, followed by Brigham, Beverley, and Anna Camden who each collected six.
"Rebounding is really vital for us as we run our zone defense," said Kieger. "We have to be one and done, we can't give them second chance points. You do the work and you do it early and secure the ball so we can run on offense."
"I have to give the credit to our coaches, they really have been emphasizing rebounding in the past couple weeks," said Beverley. "I just try to do whatever I can to help my teammates with rebounding."
For Brigham, aside from the six rebounds and 23 points, she additionally tallied six assists filling up the stat sheet. In only her second game representing the Blue and White, she is already proving herself as a versatile player all over the court.
"I want to be the teammate that people can rely on," she said. "That comes from their trust in me and I want to prove myself to them."
To close off their opening three home game series, on Tuesday, Nov. 16 the Lady Lions took on Delaware State, dominating them 120-51, the most points in a game in program history.
Aside from scoring the most points in program history, the Lady Lions additionally accumulated the most assists in a game in program history with 37 along with the most steals in a Bryce Jordan Center basketball game with 25.
"We talk a lot about what we like to call 'Lion Mentality' where we attack 24/7." said Kieger after the win. "The score is always 0-0. If you want to become an NCAA tournament team that's what you have to do, that's the mentality we try to get to. Tonight was a great experience for us to mature through that."
The biggest individual takeaway coming out of this game was Marisa recording a triple-double with 30 points, 11 assists, and 10 steals. This was Penn State's first recorded triple-double since 1988, and is the third recorded points-assists-steals triple-double in Big 10 history.
"I'm so excited about tonight and it feels extra special to do it with this team," said Marisa. "I love my teammates, they got me going in this game."
For the Lady Lions, team chemistry is everything and Marisa crediting her triple-double to her teammates is a perfect example of how putting the team first is what is going to get this team far this season.
Moving on to what's next, the Lady Lions will travel to Clemson for their first road match up on Sunday, Nov. 21. Going into playing competitive ACC teams, the team is focused on preparing and being consistent in practice to put out a product that will shock Clemson.
"Moving forward I think we have to get a little more gritty in terms of holding each other accountable," said Kieger. "I think that will come as we have ACC opponents. We have some battles coming up where we are going to have to keep that chemistry alive so that's what we're working on moving onto Clemson."
