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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- The seventh-seeded Penn State women's basketball team rode a fast start -- and a full-team effort -- to a dominant 80-56 rout of 10th-seeded Wisconsin Thursday night in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.
The Lady Lions now advance to the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals tonight to take on second-seeded Iowa at 6:30 on the Big Ten Network.
Penn State booked its first trip to the quarterfinals since 2014 by controlling the Badgers from start to finish as the Lady Lions led by 12 at the end of the first quarter.
The Lady Lions depth was on full display as Penn State rode 44 points in the paint and 37 bench points to the victory. The Penn State defense limited the Badgers to a 35.1 shooting percentage and forced 13 Wisconsin turnovers.
Sophomore Kylie Lavelle led a balanced offensive attack with 14 points behind a 6-for-7 shooting performance. Guard Ashley Owusu contributed 13 points and a team-high six rebounds. Makenna Marisa had 10 points, five assists and four rebounds, while Leiliani Kapinus also finished in double figures with 10 points for the fourth-straight outing.
Teammate Alli Campbell added five points, four rebounds and an assist off the bench.
Baskets from Marisa, Shay Ciezki and Owusu helped Penn State race out to a 6-2 lead two minutes into the game. The Badgers were within one at 6-5 at the 6:42 mark before a Lavelle triple sparked a 14-6 Lady Lion run that ran from 5:29 to 2:50. The streak saw seven points from Owusu, five from Lavelle and a Chanaya Pinto driving layup as Penn State pulled ahead 20-11.
Following a Wisconsin layup, the Lady Lions closed their strong opening quarter on a 7-2 spurt as Penn State wrapped up the quarter with a 27-15 lead.
The teams exchanged baskets through the opening five minutes of the second quarter as the score sat at 36-27 in favor of the Lady Lions with 4:54 on the clock. Strong defense and five points from Marisa helped fuel a 9-2 Penn State run to close the half.
Penn State allowed just one Wisconsin field goal in the final 5:33 as the Lady Lions took a 16-point lead, 45-29, into halftime.
The Badgers were within 14 at 54-37 just over four minutes into the second half. Penn State used baskets from five different players to rattle off 11 of the next 14 points as the Lady Lion lead reached 22 at 62-40. The Penn State defense held Wisconsin to just one field goal from the 5:45 mark to the 1:02 mark before the Badgers scored the final bucket of the stanza and the Lady Lions carried a 62-42 lead into the final quarter.
Four-straight points from Pinto opened the fourth term and helped the Lady Lions score eight of the first 10 points of the quarter to extend their lead to 70-44 with 5:30 to play. The Badgers were able to pull within 19 at 72-53 with 2:38 left, but Penn State closed strong with eight of the final 11 points of the game as the Lady Lions walked away with the dominant 80-56 win.
WISCONSIN (13-16): Williams 5-8 0-1 10, Copeland 2-9 2-4 8, Leuzinger 1-10 5-6 8, Porter 6-12 2-2 15, Schramek 4-5 0-1 9, Grady 1-1 0-0 3, Guillen 0-1 0-0 0, Douglass 0-5 0-0 0, Jimenez 1-5 1-2 3, Krahn 0-0 0-0 0, Patibandla 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 20-57 10-16 56
PENN ST. (19-11): Brigham 4-7 0-0 8, Ciezki 1-6 0-0 2, Kapinus 4-5 2-2 10, Marisa 2-5 4-4 10, Owusu 5-11 2-3 13, Hall 1-2 2-2 4, Lavelle 6-7 0-0 14, Pinto 3-6 0-0 6, Campbell 2-6 0-0 5, Murray 0-3 0-0 0, Oden 4-7 0-0 8, Totals 32-65 10-11 80
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Wisconsin 15 14 13 14 — 56
Penn State 27 18 17 18 — 80
3-Point Goals--Wisconsin 6-26 (Copeland 2-8, Leuzinger 1-8, Porter 1-4, Schramek 1-2, Grady 1-1, Douglass 0-2, Jimenez 0-1), Penn St. 6-22 (Ciezki 0-4, Marisa 2-4, Owusu 1-2, Lavelle 2-2, Pinto 0-2, Campbell 1-3, Murray 0-3, Oden 0-2). Assists--Wisconsin 11 (Douglass 3, Leuzinger 3), Penn St. 20 (Marisa 5). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds--Wisconsin 29 (Williams 10), Penn St. 44 (Owusu 6). Total Fouls--Wisconsin 10, Penn St. 19. Technical Fouls--None. A--18,392.