Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547107
N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 6 4 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M P enn State reached back to its storied past when it hired Tanisha Wright, one of the women's basketball pro- gram's all-time greats, to lead a revival. Wright was a three-time Big Ten De- fensive Player of the Year who also ranks eighth in program history with 1,995 career points. With a résumé that in- cludes a lengthy stint in the WNBA as both a player and coach, she was a natural choice to try to end an NCAA Tournament drought stretching back a dozen years. Since taking over in March, Wright has surrounded herself with former Lady Li- ons who helped make the program one of the country's best. Kelly Mazzante, PSU's all-time leading scorer with 2,919 points, returned as an assistant coach. Angie Pot- thoff was hired as chief of staff, and Susan Robinson Fruchtl serves as senior director of advancement and strategic relations. All three were All-Americans, and their return was part of a deliberate effort to build the program around people who knew it well and grasped its potential. "Penn State is a special place," Wright said. "You have to have a great under- standing of what Penn State is and what it isn't. Bringing back people who un- derstood what it was, and what it is, was really important. They don't have to learn about it. It's a feeling. It's an aura that they can share from their lived experience, and I think it's really important as we move forward and try to bring in other student- athletes who fit our program." Bringing in student-athletes was Wright's other big task. Penn State re- turned just one player — graduate guard Vitória Santana — after finishing 11-18 overall and 4-14 in Big Ten play during Carolyn Kieger's final season. Wright moved quickly, landing seven transfers and three freshmen. Sophomore guard Skylar Durley gives PSU a promising building block. The Nevada transfer earned Mountain West Freshman of the Year honors after starting all 31 games and averaging 11.8 points and 6.0 rebounds. Graduate guard Enjulina Gonzalez brings a longer record of collegiate pro- duction. She averaged 3.2 points at Geor- gia last season, but her previous stop of- fers a glimpse of her offensive potential. At Miami (Ohio) in 2024-25, she averaged 16.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists while earning first-team All-Mid-Amer- ican Conference honors. Junior guard Devyn Quigley, who averaged 4.3 points and 2.4 rebounds at NC State last season, is another candidate for an expanded role. Inside, junior Petra Božan brings fa- miliarity with Big Ten competition after averaging 6.6 points and 3.4 rebounds at Nebraska. The schedule will challenge that new roster. The Big Ten sent 12 teams to the 2026 NCAA Tournament, and Penn State's 18-game conference slate includes a demanding January stretch: visits to de- fending national champion UCLA on Jan. 15 and USC on Jan. 18, followed by a trip to Michigan on Jan. 27 and a home matchup with Ohio State on Jan. 31. Defense will be a priority after the Lady Lions allowed a Big Ten-worst 82.2 points per game last season. Wright, a seven- time All-Defensive selection during her 14 WNBA seasons, is going to demand better and knows how to get it. As Božan noted, "You can expect a lot of defense from her. Our practices are majority de- fense, which we need." Above all else, Wright wants her play- ers to have the kind of on-court connec- tion that PSU's best teams shared during an era when they regularly competed for conference titles and Sweet 16 berths. "The success of Penn State has always been about the team," she said. "It's never been about one person, it's always been about the whole. [It's a matter of] instill- ing that and building a roster, building a program that knows that and can really exude it." ■ WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Familiar Faces Set To Lead A New-Look Lady Lions Team M AT T H E R B | M AT T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M First-year head coach Tanisha Wright attended Big Ten Basketball Media Days in early October with guard Devyn Quigley (left) and forward Petra Božan (right). COURTESY PENN STATE ATHLETICS 2026-27 Roster No. Name Pos. Ht. Elig. Home High School/Last College 0 Devyn Quigley G 5-10 Jr. Manchester, N.J. Manchester Township/NC State 2 Savannah White F/G 6-2 Gr. St. Paul, Minn. DeLaSalle/Xavier 3 Kamrah Banks G 5-9 Fr. Indianapolis Crispus Attucks 4 Petra Božan F 6-4 Jr. Split, Croatia Nebraska 5 Ashlee Brown G 5-10 Fr. Des Moines, Iowa Example Academy (Ill.) 6 Ava Black G 5-11 So. Auburn, N.H. Tabor Academy/Vanderbilt 9 Irene García F 6-1 Fr. Urnieta, Spain Segle XXI Academy 10 Vitória Santana G 5-8 Gr. Sao Paulo, Brazil E.E. Dr. Carlos de Campos 11 Enjulina Gonzalez G 5-9 Gr. Miami Miami Christian/Georgia 23 Skylar Durley G 5-8 So. Oklahoma City, Okla. Edmond North/Nevada 24 Cristen Carter F 6-4 Sr. Indianapolis Ben Davis/Georgetown/Butler