Lady Lions dumped by No. 8 Maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — A 31-point third quarter wasn’t enough to bring the Penn State women’s basketball team back after a rocky first half as the Lady Lions fell at No. 8 Maryland, 87-66, on Jan. 30.
It was the Lady Lions’ fourth loss in five games and dropped them to 12-10 overall. Penn State is 3-8 in the Big Ten.
Penn State also dropped an 86-82 decision at Rutgers in overtime on Jan. 26.
Maryland made 13 of 17 shots from the field in the first quarter to bolt out to a 29-9 lead. Penn State was largely able to play even with the Terrapins from there — Maryland’s largest lead of the game was 25 points — but the early deficit was too much to overcome. After Makenna Marisa’s fastbreak jumper got Penn State within 9-7 at the 6:00 mark of the opening stanza, the hosts scored 22 of the next 24 points.
Maryland shot 53.3% from the field and scored 31 points off turnovers.
Marisa led the Lady Lions with 23 points and four assists, while Taniyah Thompson added 17 points for Penn State. Leilani Kapinus grabbed 10 rebounds, made four steals and dished out three assists.
Five Maryland scorers netted at least 8 points — Abby Meyers led the Terrapins with 24 points.
Penn State had a 2-point lead with 3:20 left in overtime at Rutgers on Marisa’s 3-pointer, but the Lady Lions didn’t score after that, missing four shots and turning the ball over three times as the Scarlet Knights pulled it out.
Penn State only had turned the ball over eight times prior to that.
Penn State had an 11-point lead on Thompson’s 3-pointer off a Marisa pass just before the first-quarter buzzer. Rutgers, however, took the lead and the Lady Lions needed a field goal from Johnasia Cash with 20 seconds left in regulation to push the contest into overtime.
Rutgers led by as many as 8 points in the fourth quarter.
Both teams had five scorers in double figures. Marisa led everyone with 24 points to go along with five assists. Alexa Williamson came up with 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds; Shay Ciezki netted 12 points; Kapinus collected 11 points, five assists, six rebounds and three steals; and Thompson tossed in 10 for the Lady Lions.
Kai Carter scored 17 points off the bench for Rutgers.
Penn State held Rutgers to 2-for-16 from 3-point range but allowed 50 points in the paint.
Guided by former Lady Lion coach Coquese Washington, Rutgers avenged a 90-72 loss at the Bryce Jordan Center on Dec. 30.