The Penn State women’s basketball team completed the 2025 calendar year on Wednesday, falling by a 97-61 differential to the fourth-ranked UCLA Bruins inside Rec Hall on New Year’s Eve.

Redshirt junior center Gracie Merkle and sophomore guard Kiyomi McMiller led the way for Penn State in its final game of the calendar year, with the Mount Washington, Kentucky, native Merkle finishing as PSU’s leading scorer with 15 points. The nation’s leader in field goal percentage continued her momentum on the offensive end against the Bruins, connecting on all six of her field goal attempts to notch a perfect 100% finish from the field.

McMiller, a native of Silver Spring, Maryland, notched 13 points with six rebounds in a team-high 33 minutes of work.

Following Wednesday’s year-end action in University Park, UCLA improves to 13-1 overall and 3-0 against Big Ten Conference competitors while the Blue & White drop to 7-7 overall and 0-3 in B1G matchups heading into the new year. Following the fifth all-time meeting between the two programs and second fixture as conference opponents, UCLA improved on its all-time series lead to mark a 4-1 margin against the Lady Lions since the first contest in 1978. UCLA returns home to Los Angeles on Saturday, January 3, to face the archrival USC Trojans, while PSU christens the new year at Wisconsin on January 4.

Mendelson hit a jumper to get the scoring started in the final frame and immediately made a dominant defensive play on the other end moments later to help give the Blue & White a jolt of momentum. Both teams mustered made field goals in a three-plus minute exchange to the tune of an 81-44 Bruin score. Merkle and McMiller both booked impressive buckets in the painted area, and despite a quick reply by UCLA, Murray connected on a fallaway right-corner 3-ball to make it 83-51 with four minutes left in the final game of 2025.

The Bruins capitalized on multiple opportunities at the free throw line down the stretch and managed to hold on to their advantage as the nation’s fourth-ranked team came away with a 97-61 result in Happy Valley on Wednesday afternoon.