Makenna Marisa leads Penn State Lady Lions to a record-setting 120-51 blowout of Delaware Valley
Tuesday night in the Bryce Jordan Center was one for the record books.
Penn State junior guard Makenna Marisa bobbed and weaved through the traffic of Delaware State’s defense to set new career-highs in scoring, assists and steals in a 120-51 blowout victory. She had 30 points, 11 assists, 10 steals and five rebounds for a triple-double, holding a 61 +/- stat on 12-for-16 shooting. She drained five of eight of her 3-point attempts and went 1-for-1 from the free throw line.
Penn State’s 120 points were also the most in program history.
While Marisa’s success was obvious to all who were watching, she was unaware that she was even close to a triple-double. For Marisa, the most important thing was making sure to secure a victory for the team.
“To be honest, I wasn’t as aware as I should have been with that,” Marisa said. “Like Coach [Carolyn] Kieger said, ‘What matters is the team.’ I think our focus on the end should’ve been on getting stops and making the right plays, just like I said. Getting the assists, getting more steals, keeping that energy going —I wasn’t really thinking about it. I was thinking team-first and Penn State before individual.”
Not only did Marisa have a big night, but Niya Beverley and Tova Sabel both shot 7-for-12 with 17 points in the game. Anna Camden went 5-for-8 from the field and shot 3-for-5 from the 3-point line and Shay Hagans went 5-for-7 with 12 points to round out the team’s scorers in double figures. The team as a whole shot 50-for-89 from the floor for 56.2% and added a 13-for-29 stat from 3-pointers (44.8%) for their highest point total as a program.
Penn State had just 12 turnovers to Delaware State’s 37. Much of those came from the Lady Lions’ ability to get into passing lanes, generating 25 steals. Penn State beat the Hornets on the glass too, grabbing 41 rebounds to their 32.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Penn State G Makenna Marisa: Marisa was seemingly unstoppable at each point throughout the night. Her stat sheet shows it with 30 points on 12-for-16 from the field. She had five rebounds, 11 assists and 10 steals. It was the program’s first triple-double since joining the Big Ten in 1993.
TURNING POINT
Delaware State never held the lead. From point A to point B in the game, Penn State led. It took 1:40 seconds for the Nittany Lions to score and they eventually had a 71-point lead with 2:05 left in the game. Their best scoring run against Delaware State was 16-0 with 0:47 remaining in the opening half. There were only five times that the game was tied and Penn State controlled in the points from turnover (58-10), points in the paint (66-14), second chance opportunities (21-6), fast break points (46-4) and the bench outscored the Hornets bench 47-2.
UP NEXT
@ Clemson. The Lady Lions will head down to Littlejohn Coliseum to take on the Tigers on Sunday, Nov. 21. Clemson is 1-1 on the year, winning their first matchup with USC-Upstate 64-47 on Nov. 10. They lost their second game 82-78 in a home game against Columbia on Nov. 14. Delicia Washington is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 15.5 points per game and Kiara Lewis is trailing her with 15 points per game. Eno Inyang leads the team with nine rebounds per game.
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 10:35 PM.
