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INDIANAPOLIS -- Despite big games from Leilani Kapinus and guard Ashley Owusu, the Penn State women's basketball team saw its season end on Monday, losing 58-53 to Villanova in the semifinals of the Women's Basketball Invitational at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The Lady Lions close the book on their winningest season since the 2013-14 team rattled off a 24-8 overall record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament regional semifinals. PSU's 2023-24 squad turned in a 22-13 finish with a 9-9 mark in Big Ten regular season action, winning its most postseason games in a single year since the 2003-04 team reached the Elite Eight with a trio of wins in the NCAA Tournament.
With the win, Villanova improved to 22-12 and will face Illinois in the WBIT Championship on Wednesday. In the all-time series between the Wildcats and Lady Lions, Villanova improves to 6-8 overall.
Villanova opened the contest with a quick layup down low in the first four seconds, but back-to-back Lady Lion buckets from Chanaya Pinto and Kapinus brought Penn State to an early 4-2 advantage. The Wildcats replied with the first 3-point bucket of the afternoon, but Kapinus earned a trip to the line and sank both of her attempts.
PSU and Villanova exchanged baskets over the next few minutes, culminating in a 10-10 deadlock with around three minutes to go in the first. The Lady Lions locked down defensively toward the middle portion of the frame, with the Lady Lions keeping the Wildcats off the board for four minutes spanning both sides of the media timeout. That was before Villanova took a 12-10 advantage with a long two. Makenna Marisa snapped back with a deep triple to take a 13-12 lead, but a turnover and fastbreak layup from the Wildcats gave Villanova a 14-13 lead through the opening period.
Shay Ciezki opened the second period with physical play down low, drawing a foul and booking a pair of makes at the charity stripe to put PSU back in control. A defensive stop turned into another Ciezki scoring opportunity, with the sophomore guard drilling a pull-up jumper from the left elbow. Villanova replied with a 5-0 scoring run thanks to back-to-back jumpers, but a straight-away bank shot 3-pointer from Kapinus saw the lead change hands once more. Villanova found the bottom of the net with back-to-back layups, but a Ciezki layup kept it a one-point game. From that point, both offenses ran cold, with neither team able to muster a field goal over a five-minute span toward the end of the period. Owusu rattled in a pair of free throw makes to close out the scoring in the first half, with Villanova managing a 26-24 advantage.
Penn State's offense struggled mightily in thethird quarter. The Wildcats executed a baseline out-of-bounds mid-range jumper on their first extended possession of the second half, and added a fastbreak layup the next time down the floor to take a 30-24 advantage. Owusu contributed a pair of free throw makes moments later, but Villanova connected on another layup to maintain its six-point edge. After two more minutes passed without incident, Owusu found the bottom of the net with a layup at the 5:47 mark. Baskets fell both ways over the ensuing moments, but a Wildcat triple made it a 37-30 game at the media break. Out of the brief intermission, Villanova closed the period out with consecutive layups and took a 10-point lead into the final 10 minutes of action, 43-33, as Penn State scored just nine points in the frame.
Villanova, which was led by Lucy Olsen's 21 points, opened the final frame with a mid-range jumper to take a 12-point advantage with nine and a half minutes to play, but a series of trips to the free throw line culminated in an 8-0 scoring run for the Lady Lions. A blocked shot by Kapinus with a little more than five minutes to play extended the scoreless streak for the Wildcats, and Kapinus drilled a mid-range jumper to punctuate a 10-0 scoring run.
Penn State's defense continued to dial up pressure, forcing Villanova into a five-minute stretch without a score. With just over four minutes to play, the Wildcats managed to find their rhythm offensively once again, connecting on a triple to make it a five-point game. Villanova tacked on three more points at the stripe to close out a 6-0 run, but Jayla Oden kept PSU close with a jumper from the left corner, and Kapinus booked a steal and score to make it a four-point deficit. Owusu hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to two, and both teams traded scores down the stretch, but Villanova was ultimately able to pull away for the win.
Kapinus finished with 18 points to go with 11 from Owusu. Marisa was held to just eight points. Kaitlyn Orihel added 13 for Villanova to go with 10 fro Bella Runyan.
PENN STATE (53): Kapinus 5-12 7-8 18, Owusu 2-11 6-6 11, Marisa 3-9 0-0 8, Brigham 1-3 0-0 2, Pinto 1-3 0-0 2, Ciezki 2-9 2-2 6, Oden 2-5 2-2 6, Campbell 0-1 0-0 0, Hall 0-1 0-0 0, Lavelle 0-0 0-0 0, Murray 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 16-55 17-18 53.
VILLANOVA (58): Olsen 6-16 6-8 21, Orihel 5-9 2-2 13, Runyan 3-9 3-4 10, Dalce 2-5 2-2 6, Jones 1-3 0-0 2, Burke 1-5 0-0 2, McCurry 1-3 0-2 2, Olbrys 1-2 0-1 2. Totals: 20-52 13-19 58.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Penn State 13 11 9 20 — 53
Villanova 14 12 17 15 — 58
3-point field goals: PSU 4-11 (Kapinus 1-1, Owusu 1-2, Marisa 2-2, Ciezki 0-4, Campbell 0-1, Hall 0-1); Villanova 5-18 (Olsen 3-5, Orihel 1-2, Runyan 1-5, Jones 0-1, Burke 0-4, McCurry 0-1). Rebounds: PSU 40 (Kapinus 13); Villanova 32 (Dalce 7). Assists: PSU 10 (Kapinus 4). Villanova 16 (Olsen 6). Technical fouls: None.