Game preview: No. 9 Ohio State women’s basketball vs Penn State

The Buckeyes will look to extend their season-opening win streak to 18 games.

Fresh off a road win over the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison, the Ohio State University women’s basketball team (17-0, 6-0) now heads to State College to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions (9-9, 0-7) Sunday afternoon.

The Buckeyes are a perfect 5-0 on the road this season and a perfect 6-0 in Big Ten play. They’ve won their first 17 games of the season, and are inching closer and closer to tying the program record for consecutive wins — 20.

Ohio State has been tested in its last three games in a major way. Against rival Michigan, the Buckeyes trailed in the fourth quarter before pulling away in the final six minutes. They led by single-digits in the fourth quarter of each of their last two games — wins against Oregon and Wisconsin.

Kevin McGuff’s undefeated Buckeyes can’t afford to overlook Penn State. While they do have the 8th-ranked Maryland Terrapins waiting for them later this week, the Lady Lions took Ohio State to overtime last season at home, with Ohio State eventually escaping with a 10-point win.

---

Preview

Year six has been a challenging one for sixth-year head coach Carolyn Kieger. The Lady Lions did not return any of their six leading scorers from a year ago. After starting the year 8-0, Penn State has since lost nine of its last 10 games, with six of their seven Big Ten losses coming by double-digits.

Penn State showed up and competed hard against the top-ranked team in the nation Wednesday night. The Lady Lions held a 19-17 lead against UCLA at the end of the first quarter out west. In an odd twist, the game was played on the campus of Long Beach State University due to the raging wildfires in Los Angeles, and UCLA’s campus being right on the edge of the evacuation zone.

PSU extended their lead to 25-22 a few minutes into the second quarter, but the Bruins answered with a 12-2 run to put them up seven and never looked back. By the end of the third quarter, UCLA was up 16 — Penn State tested the Bruins in the first half of the game, but could not maintain it for four quarters.

Senior guard Gabby Elliott — a fifth-year transfer from Michigan State — and freshman guard Talayah Walker were co-leading scorers against UCLA with 17 points apiece.

On the season, Penn State is led by 6-foot-6 sophomore center Gracie Merkle, who averages 15.9 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, while shooting 64.3% overall. In two seasons, Merkle has recorded a whopping 27 double-doubles, including nine so far this season. Merkle, a transfer in from Bellarmine was second team All-ASUN two years ago and was named the ASUN newcomer of the year. The Mount Washington, Kentucky native missed her entire sophomore season due to an injury, and chose to redshirt.

Penn State’s second-leading scorer is also a transfer that was not with the team last season, the aforementioned Elliott. The 5-foot-10 senior was a top-50 recruit in the 2020 recruiting class, but has battled multiple injuries in her five-year collegiate career. This is her first fully healthy season since her freshman year, and she is averaging 12.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, and is shooting a career-best 41.1% from three-point land.

Sophomore guard Moriah Murray, a Dunmore, Pennsylvania-native, has seen her minutes more than double this season after the mass exodus from last year’s team. After averaging 4.3 points per game in 12.7 minutes per game as a freshman, she has started all 18 games as a sophomore, scoring 10.7 points per game while averaging 30.1 minutes per contest. 78% of her shot attempts come from beyond the arc, where she shoots a respectable 35.4%.

Penn State turns the ball over more than any other team in the Big Ten, handing over the biscuit 20.4 times per game, on average. They turned it over 15 times against UCLA this week, but had 20+ turnovers in back-to-back losses to Oregon and USC before that.

In two games against Ohio State last season, Penn State had a combined 47 turnovers.

On the flip side, Kevin McGuff’s Buckeyes are forcing opponents into an average of 24.6 turnovers per game — the highest mark in the conference, along with Michigan State. Look for Ohio State to press early and often against Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center in an attempt to limit the Lady Lions’ offensive possessions and to maintain the relative state of chaos that McGuff teams seem to thrive in.

Penn State won’t be excited to see Cotie McMahon this afternoon after the junior averaged 21.5 points per game last year in two games against the ‘Nits. As always, she will be a focal point of opposing defenses.

Freshman Jaloni Cambridge played a career-high 36 minutes against Wisconsin this week, scoring 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting and grabbing a career-high eight rebounds as well. The Buckeyes will have to collectively rebound against the Lady Lions since none of their starters are as tall as Merkle.

---

How to Watch

Date: Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
Where: The Bryce Jordan Center, State College, PA
Stream: B1G+

---

LGHL Score Prediction: No. 9 Ohio State 75, Penn State 61