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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
Penn State women's basketball coach Carolyn Kieger confirmed senior point guard Tay Valladay will miss the rest of the season during a Zoom press conference Tuesday afternoon.
"She's out for the year with a torn ACL," Kieger said. "The team is trying to rally behind her, trying to figure out how to play without her and trying to figure out what it looks like without our point guard and her toughness and physicality. It's been a tough last couple weeks for our team, Taylor and our program."
Valladay has not played in the last three games, all losses, and is averaging 10.4 points through 19 games this season for the Lady Lions, who fell to 16-8 overall and 7-6 in the Big Ten after Sunday's loss to Wisconsin.
"When you're not shooting it well, you have to rely on your defense," Kieger said. "That's something we're really trying to instill in this team with toughness and discipline. That's what Taylor brought the most to our team. We have to figure out by committee who can do that, who can bring that leadership and toughness. It's not going to be one person, it's going to be by committee. We have to regroup and lock in."
Ironically, one of the players Penn State will turn to replace some of the aspects Valladay brought the team is a player that has suffered two major knee injuries in Bellwood-Antis graduate Alli Campbell.
"It's been everybody. Moriah Murray has gotten a lot more minutes," Kieger said. "Alli Campbell, it's going to have to be by committee. We're going to have to go back to everybody playing 20 to 25 minutes a game and go back to using our depth and versatility. I know players like Moriah Murray and Jayla Oden are ready to step up. We have had conversations with them in the last couple days about what we need from them and how they can replicate what Taylor brought and what they can bring individually."
Campbell has played in 13 straight games since suffering an injury in the first game of the year against Bucknell and missing most of the 2023 portion of the season. She returned to action against Central Connecticut State on Dec. 20 and played 15 minutes.
She has been around that range since with a high of 27 minutes at Rutgers and a low of seven minutes against Michigan.
"I think Alli's minutes will continue to increase as the season moves on," Kieger said. "She's starting to get near 100 percent and that's mentally, physically and emotionally. She brings such a high basketball IQ to our team. She's a calm, cooling presence. She obviously has a lot of leadership and talks through a lot of stuff. She helps people in huddles one-on-one."
Campbell is averaging just 3.2 points per game but takes care of the ball with a 19-7 assist-to-turnover ratio.
"An area we are challenging her is to share her IQ a little more," Kieger said. "How to be a leader, not necessarily from that point guard spot but from that point forward swing position she plays for us. We're challenging her to share her IQ a little more and be vocal. She always knows what is happening and always thinks two passes ahead. She always understands from a coaching staff perspective what we're trying to emulate and what we're trying to get out of certain execution plays or defenses. I think you're going to see a lot more of her doing that."
Campbell has 24 rebounds this season, a number Kieger would like to see increase.
"We need her to rebound a little bit more," Kieger said. "She's really trying to latch on to that from her swing position and focus on that lately."
The Lady Lions have five games remaining in the regular season starting with Thursday's home game against Illinois at 6 p.m. Three of the five games are at the Bryce Jordan Center, where Penn State is 11-2 this season.
"This is the moment we play for Tay for the rest of the year," Kieger said. "It's heartbreaking when a fifth-year senior tears their ACL. Obviously it's never good for anyone, but at the end of your career, when someone was playing as well as Taylor was, it's hard. We just have to regroup and help Taylor through it and honor her toughness."