Penn State suffers their first loss of the season to St. John’s

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Lady Lions fell to the Red Storm 72-67 in the annual Wear White game.

After moving to 8-0 on the season for the first time since the 1993-94 season, Penn State couldn’t maintain the same momentum against St. John’s. The Red Storm snapped the Lady Lions 17-consecutive home-court win streak.

Penn State struggled to control the ball over a dominant St. John’s team. The Lady Lions had 22 turnovers on the night resulting in the Red Storm scoring 24 points off of turnovers.

“I thought they were more physical. I thought they played harder. I thought they got more 50/50 balls than us. So I’m disappointed in our toughness. I’m disappointed in our effort tonight,” said head coach Carolyn Kieger.

St. John’s was led by senior guard, Lashae Dwyer, who led the team on both sides of the ball. Dwyer led the team in points, rebounds, assists and steals. Dwyer had 25 points on the night and 7 steals, adding to the team's 16 steals.

“First stat I wrote on the board when we got in the locker room was three to 16,” Kieger said. “And we pride ourselves in defense and getting up and defending, and the fact that it was three steals to 16 says everything we need to know about what we need to fix toughness-wise.”

The match was a homecoming for former Lady Lion Kylie Lavelle who transferred to St. John’s after playing the 2023-24 season at Penn State. The junior forward tallied 10 points and five assists for the Johnnies.

“I mean, Kylie is a great hard worker,” Keiger said. “You know, obviously we wish her good luck in her future.”

The Red Storm halted the Nittany Lions offense in the game.

“We just didn’t execute the plan. We didn’t execute our primary offense,” said senior guard Jayla Oden. “I think we didn’t share the ball as much as we usually do, and obviously it showed.”

Lady Lions star redshirt sophomore, Gracie Merkle was heavily guarded in the match. Merkle ranks second in the Big Ten in points per game with an average of 21.1 points per game. Merkle is top of the Big Ten in points with 169. Merkle was held to 13 points in the contest against St. John’s.

“We got to move the ball east to west, go side to side on the floor, and be patient. It’s not always going to happen in the first five or first 10 seconds,” Keiger said. “I thought St. John’s did a really good job bodying her up.”

Penn State falls to 8-1 on the season and will open Big Ten play on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 1 p.m. at home against 5-3 Indiana.

Anneke Wagner is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email amw7793@psu.edu.