Lady Lions look to snap losing streak at No. 23 USF

The Lady Lions have found themselves in a bit of an early-season slump, and hope to shake it off with a win over No. 23 USF on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Tampa, Fla.

After back-to-back wins against Holy Cross and Fordham, a tight loss to No. 4 Tennessee followed by a double-digit win over Central Connecticut State, Penn State women’s basketball has yet to snap a losing streak that now spans three games.

Missing top player Brianna Banks has hurt the Lady Lions.

The senior transfer rolled her ankle against Tennessee and sat out all but three minutes of the next three games. She started against Virginia Tech last Thursday, but rolled her other ankle and is now a day-by-day decision.

Before she got hurt, Banks was averaging 21.5 points per game as the team’s leading scorer, and lent her fierce style of play to a team that often struggles to come out of the gates hot.

In Penn State’s loss to the Hokies on Thursday, redshirt sophomore guard Lindsey Spann picked up where Banks was needed, scoring 20 points and hitting all six of her attempts from the free throw line. Freshman guard Teniya Page continued her hot streak with 16 points and is now leading the team in scoring on the season.

But early turnovers have hurt the Lady Lions’ opportunities for shots and fast starts, and has translated in opponents outscoring the team 122-88 in first quarters this season. Against Virginia Tech, 17 first-half turnovers were detrimental.

“I think it’s turnovers in every game,” said Washington. “I don’t think we’re getting enough shot attempts. If you’re in the 20s with turnovers, it’s hard to win. It’s hard to be successful offensively. And so we’ve got to get that under control. When we haven’t turned the ball over, we’ve been pretty good. So we’ve got to practice, and stay working at completing passes and getting shot attempts.”

Penn State averages 18.1 turnovers per game, but does force 19.3 per game for a plus-1.2 turnover margin.

The Lady Lions will need to minimize giveaways against USF, a team that is thus far undefeated at home on the season, because they’ll need to keep the ball out of the hands of senior Courtney Williams.

Williams is the No. 2 scorer in the nation with an average of 26.3 points per game, and is one of just four players nationally that averages over 25 points per game. She’s complemented by senior Alisia Jenkins’ 14.8 rebounds per game. Jenkins also tallied a double-double, with 27 points and 20 boards, against Harvard last week.

The meeting will be just the second in the programs’ history. Last year, the Bulls beat Penn State 90-87 in overtime.

This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Lady Lions look to snap losing streak at No. 23 USF."