There’s not a lot of stock one can put into Penn State’s season-opening 85-66 win over Long Island at Bryce Jordan Center on Tuesday night.
The Lady Lions are supposed to beat teams like the visiting Sharks, who were picked ninth in the 10-team Northeast Conference in the preseason.
It remains to be seen how Carolyn Kieger’s 2-3 zone plays in Peoria – or Columbus, Ann Arbor, Iowa City, Bloomington or College Park. Or whether transfer pivot Ali Brigham is as imposing a presence against Big Ten posts and speedy guards as she was against Long Island.
“We’re really good and we have a lot of potential,” junior point Makenna Marisa said. “We did a lot of good things, but I also think there’s a lot – a lot – to work on.”
Brigham led the Lady Lions with 20 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots, while Marisa finished with 19 points, six assists and six rebounds.
Super senior Kelly Jekot, seeing her first action since a knee injury in January, came off the bench, scoring 11 points in 14 minutes and making three 3-pointers. On what Kieger said is the deepest team she’s had, nine of the 11 players who saw the floor scored and, surprisingly, one of the ones that didn’t was reigning Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year Maddie Burke.
The Lady Lions forced 21 turnovers, made 13 steals and held Long Island to 38.5% shooting.
In spite of that, Penn State really wasn’t able to fully put the Sharks away, leading by only 11 when Kiara Bell hit a jumper with 7:07 left. The Lady Lions shot 45.5% but, considering the quality of shots they were getting, it seemed the percentage should be higher.
Kieger, in general, though, was pleased as first games go. Consider the Long Island game a fact-finding mission.
“Obviously, early on in your first couple of games, you’re going to try to find your subbing patterns and you’re going to find what lineups work well together. Obviously, we’re playing a different zone than we have in the past, so it’s going to kind of (take) getting used to who is playing the guards, who’s playing the forward, who’s playing the center for us,” Kieger said. “I thought our team did a great job of stepping in there and playing two-or-three-hard-minute stretches and having each others’ backs.
“We didn’t shoot that well tonight, and we still had 11 3s.”
A couple of things are sure, though. First, if Brigham can carry this kind of performance over into Big Ten action, Penn State is a lot more formidable. The sophomore who came through the transfer portal from George Washington was a plus-21 in 28 minutes, went 8-for-13 from the floor and even when she wasn’t blocking shots, she was making the Sharks alter them or affecting their attacks of the basket.
“I have a really big presence, so I wanted to use that,” Brigham said. “Being that last line of defense, that block should be my goal, so that’s something I’m going to work on. Using my size on the offense and defensive side is going to be my goal for every game.”
Penn State’s zone also played well against Long Island. The Lady Lions covered, contested and recovered well all game long.
“We’re obviously longer this year to get in the passing lanes. We’ve got guards that can wreak havoc up top, and I think that they like it. They like to try to create turnovers and steals,” Kieger said. “I think it fits our personnel and I don’t want to say it hides our vulnerabilities, but it plays to our strengths.”
Jekot went 4-for-7 from the field and 3-of-6 beyond the arc, tying Marisa for most made 3s for Penn State. She was a plus-10 in limited action as Kieger is cautious with the swing player who led the team in scoring when she got hurt last season.
“I thought she was great,” Kieger said. “We’re going to play it slow and safe with her, but I thought she looked phenomenal.”
Erykah Russell led three scorers in double figures for Long Island with 15 points.
Marisa hit a 12-foot fallaway off the break with a couple of seconds on the clock to put Penn State ahead 41-30 at the half. Brigham had 14 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots for the Lady Lions. Penn State scored 14 points off 11 Shark turnovers and led by as many as 14.
Penn State increased its lead to as many as 19 in the third quarter on a Kapidus layup off a Maddie Burke assist at the 5:43 mark.
Despite struggling to knock down open shots early, Penn State went on an 11-2 run over the last 3:38 of the first quarter to surge ahead, 23-14. Brigham and Camden combined for 11 points over the first 10 minutes, while the Sharks committed six turnovers – two directly caused by Brigham’s presence inside.
