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INDIANAPOLIS - Redshirt junior guard Leilani Kapinus and graduate guard Ashley Owusu both cracked double figures, but the Penn State women's basketball team's 2023-24 campaign ended with a 58-53 loss to the Villanova Wildcats in the semifinals of the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament Monday afternoon from Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The 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 the winner of Illinois and Washington State's matchup in the WBIT Championship on Wednesday. In the all-time series between the Wildcats and Lions, Villanova improves to 6-8 overall.
Penn State was effective in transition, outscoring Villanova by a 10-6 tally in fastbreak opportunities, also outpacing the Wildcats in second-chance points with an 8-5 differential in the statistic. PSU shot at a 36% rate from beyond the arc, holding their Philadelphia-based opponents to a meager 28% clip from long distance. PSU also called on its bench to provide consistent offense, outscoring the Wildcats off the pine by a 12-6 margin.
Individually, Kapinus put together another all-around effort, dropping an 18-point, 13-rebound double-double in PSU's final game of the season. Kapinus mustered her ninth career double-double and second such performance in the 2024 WBIT, joining her 13-point, 15-board outing against George Mason in Penn State's first-round victory. Owusu cracked double digits in the scoring column for the 19th time in her Lion career and 92nd time overall, dropping 11 points and two rebounds in 23 minutes of work. Veteran guard Makenna Marisa closed the book on her illustrious Penn State career Monday, finishing with eight points, two rebounds and an assist in her final game wearing the Blue & White.
Villanova opened the contest with a quick layup down low in the first four seconds, but back-to-back Lion buckets from 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 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 before Villanova took a 12-10 advantage with a long two. 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.
Villanova 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 Lions. A dominant defensive rejection from 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 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 and take the semifinal.