Lady Lions aim to bounce back with Badgers

After a tough double-digit loss to No. 22/23 Michigan State on Thursday night, Penn State women’s basketball wants to rebound in a big way.

Literally.

The team was minus-15 on the boards against the Spartans, as Michigan State’s smaller guards crashed hard and often beat out Penn State’s forward and center, Candace Agee. It was what initially jumped out on the stat sheet to head coach Coquese Washington after the lopsided loss — Penn State has been out-rebounded 559-539 on the season, which doesn’t seem like a devastating differential, but is when the difference comes in large chunks, as it did against Michigan State.

And while the Lady Lions’ guard production has been productive behind redshirt sophomore Lindsey Spann, true freshman Teniya Page (who leads the team in scoring with 14.9 points per game and was recently named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week) and veteran fifth-year transfer Brianna Banks, Washington said it best herself after Thursday’s loss:

“I think, for the most part, they were shots that we took against Northwestern (and) shots that we took against Minnesota, and they didn’t fall tonight. When you’ve got your leading scorers taking shots, and when your leading scorers are guards and they start off the game and they don’t shoot well, sometimes it can be deflating.”

Her point, that a slow start without any relief from a very inconsistent group of four-and-fives is a hindrance to the team, was backed up by the Lady Lions’ stat sheet as Agee didn’t hit her 10th point until late in the fourth quarter and freshman Ashanti Thomas got muscled around by Spartans’ center Jasmine Hines.

Wisconsin will offer a similar challenge on Sunday at the Kohl Center in Madison on Sunday, with strong guard play from Nicole Bauman to try to tie up Penn State’s front two and consistent play down low from Michala Johnson.

The Badgers are 5-8 on the season and have a conference record congruent to the Lady Lions’ at 1-2. Washington and her players expect a fast, physical game highlighted by strong guard play as the team has seen, and will continue to see, throughout the Big Ten.

The game will be the 43rd meeting between the two programs in history; last season the Badgers swept the Lady Lions in two matchups. However, Penn State still leads the series 29-13 and hopes to get its 30th series win and seventh win of the season.

Tipoff is at 3 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 6:57 PM with the headline "Lady Lions aim to bounce back with Badgers."