UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State women’s basketball team defeated Bucknell 94-51 in its season opener on Tuesday at the Bryce Jordan Center, led by sophomore guard Shea Chesky with 18 points and six different players. Recorded a digit score.
PSU’s perfect record against Bucknell continued after the 14th meeting between the two programs.
The Lady Lions improved to 14-0 against the Bison in their first meeting in 10 years.
Redshirt junior Ali Campbell, a former Bellwood Aunties High School star, hit a 3-pointer and had a steal and an assist for the Lady Lions in her brief appearance in the game.
Campbell suffered two serious knee injuries in college, but left the court and returned to the bench with his teammates.
PSU dominated in almost every aspect of the game, outscoring the Bison by 24 percentage points. The Lady Lions finished the night shooting 35-of-59 from the floor and 12-of-25 from beyond the arc, shooting 59 percent from the field overall and 48 percent from 3-point range.
Penn State forced 26 turnovers and their opponents turned them into 31 points. Penn State dominated the rebound battle, outscoring Bucknell on the boards by a 37-25 margin.
Ceski led PSU’s offensive line, making 6 of 13 shots and making four 3-point buckets. The second-year guard added four rebounds, four assists and sank two free throw attempts in a team-high 27 minutes of action. Senior guard Makenna Marisa had 14 points and four assists, moving her to ninth on Penn State’s all-time scoring list, and sophomore forward Kylie Lovell had a perfect 5-of-5 shooting with 13 points. Recorded the score.
Graduate guard Tay Valaday, redshirt freshman guard Moriah Murray and junior guard Jayla Oden rounded out the six Penn Staters with double-digit scoring, while redshirt junior guard Leilani Kapinas scored in the game. He recorded a high of 9 rebounds.
The Lady Lions’ signature full-court press resulted in three Bison turnovers in the first two minutes of the game, and Marisa drove into the paint for a layup from the right side for PSU’s first points of the year. Gave me a chance.
The Lady Lions went on an 8-0 scoring run starting at 6:20 of the opening frame and quickly built a 10-2 advantage. Auden’s consecutive driving layups increased the Lady Lion’s early lead to 14-4.
Bucknell (0-1): King 4-9 4-4 14, Sullivan 1-6 3-4 5, Theodorson 2-7 0-0 4, Dingler 3-7 0-2 6, O’Connor 1- 3 0 -0 3, Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Lineborg 0-3 1-2 1, Sofirkanić 3-7 2-4 8, Kulesa 1-1 1-2 4, Sabino 1-1 0- 0 3, Scognamiglio 1-4 0-0 3, total 17-48 11-18 51
Penn St. (1-0): Brigham 2-3 3-4 7, Ceski 6-13 2-2 18, Capinas 2-4 0-0 4, Marisa 6-12 0-0 14, Valade 5-7 2-4 12, Hall 0-1 1-2 1, Lovell 5-5 0-0 13, Pinto 1-2 0-0 2, Campbell 1-1 0-0 3, Murray 2-6 4-4 10, Auden 5- 5 0-1 10, total 35-59 12-17 94
Bucknell 17 14 13 7 — 51
Penn Street 26 22 27 19 — 94
3-Point Goals – Bucknell 6-19 (King 2-7, Teodorson 0-1, Dingler 0-2, O’Connor 1-2, Linebaugh 0-2, Creza 1-1, Sabino 1-1, Scognamiglio 1-3) , Penn Street 12-25 (Chesky 4-9, Capinas 0-1, Marisa 2-4, Hall 0-1, Lovell 3-3, Campbell 1-1, Murray 2-6) ). Assists – Bucknell 11 (Dingler 2, King 2, O’Connor 2, Theodorson 2), Penn St. 22 (Murray 5). Foul Out – None. Rebounds – Bucknell 25 (Dingler 7), Penn Street 37 (Capinas 9). Total fouls – Bucknell 13, Penn Street 16. Technical Foul – None. A–1,977.