Lady Lions look to beat Sacred Heart in first-ever program meeting

The Lady Lions have a shot to begin digging themselves out of a hole before their upcoming holiday break, and hosting Sacred Heart could be it.

The programs will meet for the first time for the game, which will tip at noon on Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Despite a lopsided 3-6 start to the season, the Lady Lions’ scoring has continued to develop behind senior transfer Brianna Banks. Banks scored a career-best 26 points in Penn State’s last game, a road loss to St. Bonaventure. She averaged 21 points per game before getting sidelined for two weeks with an ankle sprain, but continues to progress back toward full health.

Freshman Teniya Page has shown the most consistency of any player on the roster, with at least 10 points in eight of her first nine games as a collegiate athlete. She also continues to spread the court and has led the team in assists in seven of nine games.

Page has been complemented by redshirt sophomore guard Lindsey Spann, who, after opening the season cold, has heated up offensively and contributed an average of 13.8 points per game over her last five.

On their end, the Pioneers have been led by redshirt junior Hannah Kimmel, who has five double-doubles on the season. She scored 22 points and 12 rebounds to lead the team to victory in its last outing against Binghamton. Kimmel is helped offensively by Alissa Tarsi and Adaysha Williams, who both average double-figure scoring, while Shelby Hickey lends 8.2 points per game.

Sacred Heart (2-7) has allowed opponents to score over 70 points per game just twice this season, and Penn State cannot afford to drop the contest to a Northeast Conference that, all teams combined, has only one win against the Lady Lions in 12 attempts through program history.

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 10:22 PM with the headline "Lady Lions look to beat Sacred Heart in first-ever program meeting."