Penn State Lady Lions’ close loss to Rutgers shows progress but not satisfaction
Lauren Ebo slid along the block, set her feet, took the contact and fell to the floor.
The referee blew the whistle and immediately pointed to the far end of the court, signaling a charge.
Immediately, first-year coach Carolyn Kieger jumped up from her crouched position along the Lady Lions’ bench and applauded the effort from her forward.
This charge led to a run in the third quarter from Penn State and allowed the Lady Lions to hang around for the remainder of the contest, even making it a one-point game with under two minutes to play. But Penn State was unable to complete the comeback, falling 62-57 to Rutgers.
“We talked in the locker room that close doesn’t cut it,” Kieger said. “We’re getting there, but at the end of the day we have to approach these games with some confidence that we can get the W.
“I’m proud of the progress we made this year but now we have to expect to win, not play to not lose.”
It was the fifth loss in the past six games for the rebuilding Lady Lions, but this one was a little different.
Penn State continued to battle and showed flashes of a team that could hang with the very best in the Big Ten, in the Scarlet Knights.
Siyeh Fraizer led the way for the Lady Lions with 14 points and while the comeback came up short, she said it showed her one thing about the team.
“To me, it just says that we are capable,” Fraizer said.
Kieger admitted the Lady Lions showed moments of the team she wants them to be, and one of these was the hustle play made by Ebo in the third quarter.
“That’s who we are trying to be. We are trying to make hustle plays and we call them pride plays,” Kieger said. “I think that is the second one that she has had on the year and we’ve been really instilling that in practice to sprint to the low help side … for Lauren to be buying in enough to do that says we are getting there but we need to make quicker strides than we are.”
Kieger also pointed to how the team rebounded during the comeback and how it aided Penn State’s goal to get out and run on the break, to push tempo.
But ultimately on Thursday night, these positives, these signs of growth, were canceled out by the many improvements the Lady Lions still need to make.
And the biggest one for Kieger is executing down the stretch.
Penn State put itself in position to pull off the upset of the now 15-2 Scarlet Knights, but turnovers, forced shots and allowing offensive rebounds all hurt the Lady Lions in the final moments of the game.
“Executing plays at the end, running the options that we draw up and that’s making sure we stay focused and stay locked in,” Kieger said. “So obviously we are going to go to Northwestern, we’re going to practice and fix those late-game scenarios.”
Penn State also has strides to make in its half court offense.
The Lady Lions shot only 37 percent from the field and struggled from beyond the arch going 5-for-18.
“We talked about in the locker room that we can’t keep using the fact that we are young as an excuse anymore,” Kieger said. “We have to learn, we have to grow and we have to learn how to set people up and we have to learn how to make the extra pass and run offense and execute.”
The Lady Lions had five team assists coupled with 19 turnovers, a ratio that often isn’t going to produce positive results.
And this lack of cohesion was present on the offensive side of the court as Penn State had multiple scoring droughts of two, three or four minutes throughout the contest.
“We have to stop trying to do it by ourselves,” Kieger said. “We have to stop over dribbling and we have to reverse the ball and get more post touches. We’ve got to get more inside, outside looks.
“I mean there are several different problems that result to scoring droughts obviously and that’s my job to fix it and teach them.”
And for Kieger, these scheme problems can be taught, can be easily corrected, but she is ready to see her team take that next step as the Lady Lions continue to rebuild.
And that next step involves the mentality of her players, something that isn’t as easy to teach.
“We have got to come into the game ready to take W’s because we can play,” Kieger said. “Rutgers is at the top of the league and I thought we played them pretty well at the defensive end, but we have to have a little more confidence and a little more grit and come away with some big plays at the end.”
This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 10:50 PM.
