Penn State’s time in the women’s Big Ten basketball tournament ended just as soon as it started. Penn State came up short in a first-round matchup against Rutgers on Wednesday afternoon in Indianapolis, losing 75-50. Penn State’s season concludes with a record of 11-18 overall, and 5-13 in the Big Ten.
Penn State trailed by six points at halftime but Rutgers pulled ahead by a wide margin in the third quarter by outscoring Penn State 23-11. Rutgers put the game well out of reach with a big 11-2 run to start the fourth quarter, by which time the damage had been done.
Leilani Kapinus recorded a double-double in the losing effort and Makenna Marisa added 15 points to finish off her impressive season.
Penn State’s season may have ended with a thud against Rutgers, but it does so with an improved win total from the previous season. And for the second straight season, Penn State improved its win total under head coach Carolyn Kieger. Penn State won just seven games in Kieger’s first season since being hired away from Marquette. Each of the past two seasons has tacked on two more wins to the season record.
Those small steps forward may be difficult to respect given the current state of the program overall. Losing by 25 points to the 13-seed in the Big Ten tournament is truly a tough pill to swallow, but we will see what comes next for the program in 2022-23. Kieger’s track record suggests Penn State could be due for a major step forward soon. Kieger won 9 and 12 games in her first two seasons as head coach at Marquette before winning at least 24 games in each of the following three seasons, with back-to-back second-round appearances in the NCAA tournament.
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