Northwestern Wildcats at Penn State Lady Lions

No. 9 Penn State knocks off Northwestern

However, the ninth-ranked Lady Lions' speedy, savvy backcourt came up clutch just in time to help hold off Northwestern, 73-69, on Thursday night.

Dara Taylor had a layup with 1:26 left off a length-of-the-court outlet pass from Alex Bentley, and Penn State (11-2, 1-0 Big Ten) converted a late turnover into another key bucket to take control late. Maggie Lucas, the third member of the Lady Lions' quick backcourt trio, had a game-high 24 points.

"The Big Ten Conference is tough. It's competitive," coach Coquese Washington said. "We grinded out a win against a good team."

Still, few people expected Northwestern (8-6, 0-1) to hang around all night, especially with two of their top players in Dannielle Diamant and Kendall Hackney on the bench the final six minutes after fouling out.

But it took a late flurry for the Lady Lions to finally take control in a game in which they never led until midway through the second half.

Lauren Douglas missed a layup under the bucket and Bentley tracked down the loose ball before darting a pass to Taylor. She skipped around a defender for the bucket and a 66-65 lead.

Penn State then double-teamed the Wildcats' Kelly Roser at midcourt. She lost the ball and Ariel Edwards hit a layup on the ensuing possession for a 68-65 lead with 52 seconds left.

Penn State held on from there, despite getting outrebounded 50-36.

"To me that was a huge play," Northwestern coach Joe McKeown said about Taylor's bucket following the Wildcats' miss. "We just turned the ball over too much at the wrong time I the last four minutes."

Northwestern led 60-54 with 4:47 left after Alex Cohen's improbable 3 off the backboard with 1 second left on the shot clock. Roser finished with 16 points.

But the lead slowly slipped away from there.

"When you bank in a 3, you feel like it's your night," McKeown said. "Still, we've got to play 40 minutes."

Mia Nickson had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Taylor finished with nine points, while Edwards had six points and four rebounds off the bench.

The Lady Lions looked sluggish after a 10-day layoff during the holidays, shooting just 20 of 67 (29 percent).

Lucas finished 5 of 16 from the field, but 5 of 7 from 3-point range. An 88 percent foul shooter for the season, Lucas was even a little off from the free-throw line after sinking 9 of 12.

"It was just one of those nights. You're going to have those off-shooting nights," Lucas said. "It just wasn't falling for us."

Northwestern controlled the boards, too, with the 6-foot-2 forward Hackney posting a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the first half alone. Hackney was held scoreless and grabbed one more rebound the rest of the way before fouling out.

With 6-foot-4 center Nikki Greene on the bench barely 3 minutes into the game with two early fouls, Penn State never led in the first half. Every Lady Lions surge was met by a Wildcats spurt or defensive stand, and even 13 first-half turnovers couldn't hold back Northwestern early.

Washington did think that the long holiday break may have contributed to the Lady Lions' sluggish play.

"I'm happy we got a win and I'm happy we got stops when we needed to," she said. "We had some miscues defensively (early) and that's a product of the rust and not having played."

How can I watch Wildcats vs. Lady Lions?

• TV Channel: Wildcats vs Lady Lions 2021 College Basketball, week 9, is broadcasted on .
• Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Location: University Park, PA
Capacity: