NASSAU, Bahamas — Penn State women’s basketball suffered its first loss of the season to Princeton in the first game of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament. Princeton secured a 100-93 victory despite three double figure scorers for the Nittany Lions. Redshirt-junior center Gracie Merkle guided the team with a career best 39 points while surpassing the 1,000 career point mark.

Merkle posted 39 points on 19-of-23 shooting from the field to go with seven rebounds. She was joined in double-digit scoring by sophomore guard Kiyomi McMiller with 19 points in addition to eight assists, four rebounds and three steals. Redshirt-junior guard Moriah Murray combined for 20 points, 18 of which came from beyond the arc on six-of-nine shooting from the three-point line.

The Nittany Lions outscored the Tigers 54-38 in the paint while shooting 58.5% from the field. Penn State outrebounded its opponent by a 33-27 clip.

The Tigers put the first set of points on the board following the opening tipoff, but a 9-2 run for the Nittany Lions led by Merkle gave PSU a 9-4 advantage at the 7:40 mark in the first stanza. Princeton added two points to threaten, but Penn State strung together five consecutive points using three free throws from Viktoria Ranisavljevic and a basket from McMiller to extend its advantage to 14-6. The Tigers put up two points, but Murray had the answer with a shot from long range. A combination of McMiller’s pullup jumper and Murray’s second three-pointer of the quarter ballooned the Nittany Lions’ advantage to double-digits at 22-10. The Tigers managed to put up back-to-back baskets for the first time to crawl within eight, but Merkle had the final word of the quarter to give the Nittany Lions a 24-14 edge after 10 minutes of game action.

Princeton narrowed its deficit to three after firing off seven-straight points over the first two minutes of the second frame. Murray broke the PSU silence with a shot from beyond the arc on the fast break following a defensive stop. The Tigers added another three points as a response before a scoring draught for both squads. Tèa Clèante was the first to add points following the break in scoring, driving to the rim for a layup and widening the gap to 31-25. Princeton squeezed in one shot from the charity stripe before Penn State turned defense into offense while putting up five points. Merkle used a Princeton turnover to find the basket off a pass from McMiller and Murray drained her fourth three-pointer of the afternoon to give PSU a 34-25 advantage. Princeton dominated the remaining three minutes, adding nine points to Penn State’s four to decrease the margin to 38-34 at the halftime break.

In the fourth quarter, the Tigers widened their lead to 69-63 to begin the final stanza. The Nittany Lions added a basket from Merkle but a three-point play for Princeton extended the margin to seven points. Penn State inched closer with back-to-back makes from Merkle and McMiller but the Tigers were able to maintain their edge using a three-point play and a forced turnover.

Princeton 100, Penn State 93

PENN STATE (4-1)

Gracie Merkle 19-23 1-1 39, Moriah Murray 7-10 0-0 20, Viktoria Ranisavljevic 0-1 5-6 5, Tea Cleante 3-7 0-0 8, Kiyomi McMiller 8-19 1-2 19, Amiya Evans 1-1 0-0 2, Shaelyn Steele 0-2 0-0 0, Vitoria Santana 0-0 0-0 0, Rachael Okokoh 0-0 0-0 0, Nyla McFadden 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 38-65 7-9 93.

PRINCETON (4-1)

Olivia Hutcherson 2-7 4-4 8, Fadima Tall 8-13 4-4 22, Skye Belker 9-13 5-5 27, Ashly Chea 5-11 1-2 13, Madison St. Rose 8-14 5-6 23, Taylor Charles 0-1 0-0 0, Toby Nweke 3-5 0-0 7, Emily Eadie 0-0 0-0 0, Gracie O’Sullivan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-64 19-21 100.

Penn State 24 14 25 30 — 93

Princeton 14 20 31 35 — 100

3-point goals: PSU 10-23 (Murray 6-9, Cleante 2-6, McMiller 2-4, Steele 0-1, McFadden 0-2, Ranisavljevic 0-1), Princeton 11-20 (Belker 4-6, Tall 2-3, Chea 2-5, St. Rose 2-3, Nweke 1-3). Fouled out: PSu-none; Princeton-Hutcherson. Rebounds: PSU 33 (Merkle 7), Princeton 27 (St. Rose 10). Assists: PSU 25 (McMiller 8), Princeton 18 (Chea 7). Technical fouls: PSU-none; Princeton-none. Total fouls: PSU 19, Princeton 15. A: 218.