For Carolyn Kieger, “maturity” is the word of the day

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The start of the 2023 women’s basketball regular season has looked extremely promising for Penn State.

The Lady Lions sit on a 7-1 record at the moment. The makeup of that record began with three statement homestand wins against Bucknell, Navy and Kansas.

From there, they have remained unbeaten at home, with two more away wins at St. John’s and Oklahoma State. Their only loss was by one point to the No. 8 USC Trojans in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship held in the Bahamas.

Not only do the blue and white want to establish early season momentum, but they want to greatly improve upon last season’s outcome.

The 2022 team started 5-0 but then lost 17 of their last 25 to finish 14-17. Additionally, none of their wins came on an opposing team’s home court.

In her press conference leading up to their match against Kansas, head coach Carolyn Kieger seemed to have a recurring theme in her remarks. She believes that the maturity and experience of the 2023 squad will elevate the Lady Lions.

Kieger mentioned in the press conference that winning on the road is a “maturity thing,” and that experience is going to help make a difference this season.

Only eight games into Penn State’s campaign, they have already notched wins away from home. The maturity seems to be paying off.

While the idea of a mature group defined the outlook on the season, it has come to fruition through the players and the in-game scenarios that they have played in.

In that same press conference, Kieger highlighted redshirt freshman Moriah Murray. The Dunmore, Pa., native has already had three double-digit performances off the bench this season.

“[She] got a lot of great experience practicing every day against our crew last year,” the 5th-year head coach of Murray said.

The 5-foot-8 guard came in at semester last year but sat out due to the NCAA’s rules on midseason transfers. However, her ability to still work with the team has been immensely valuable so far.

Kieger also broke down concrete evidence of Penn State’s maturity on the court following their win over Providence on Sunday.

Even though the Lady Lions won 73-66, Kieger noted that “a lot of great open looks didn’t fall” and that “in years previous we would have dropped that game.”

“We kept our confidence, we kept our composure,” Kieger said about the team’s performance. “That is the biggest sign of maturity for me to see.”

The Lady Lions face off against West Virginia in Morgantown on Monday. They will then travel to Columbus to kick off in-conference play on Dec. 10 against the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Heading into longer road stretches and Big Ten play, it will be very interesting to see how Penn State’s maturity and experience as a unit takes them throughout the season.

Jack Rachinsky is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email jjr6682@psu.edu