Blue White Illustrated

Sandwiches • Salads • Spuds • Soups • Sweet Tea HUB-Robeson Center • On-Campus mcalistersdeli.com he ic w nd a S • s ad al S • s u o S • s ud Sp T t ee w S • s p u a e T the sophomore guard won first-team All- Big Ten honors from both the coaches and media after averaging 19.9 points per game. Page scored in doubles in each of the Lady Lions' final 16 games, and with two years remaining in her career, she al- ready ranks 31st in school history in scor- ing (1,107 points) and 20th in assists (240). But the team's improvement didn't bring the kind of postseason success that coaches and players were aiming for. The Lady Lions lost to Minnesota, 70-64, in the first round of the Big Ten tourna- ment, their third one-and-done showing at the conference tourney in the past four years. And thanks in part to that quick exit, they missed out on the NCAA tour- nament for the third consecutive season, settling for the WNIT, where they beat Ohio (74-65) and Fordham (70-51) in the first two rounds before falling to the Hokies. Coach Coquese Washington said she thought the Lady Lions matured over the course of the season. Following the Vir- ginia Tech game, she pointed to her team's last 10 games, in which it went 7- 3, including a road win at Northwestern and a home victory over No. 24 Michigan in the regular-season finale. "As disappointing as this loss is right now, when you look at the totality of our season, this team has accomplished a lot," she said. "I'm really proud of how this program has grown over the course of one year. Where we were last year as com- pared to where we are now, there's no way I'm going to sit here and bemoan the way this program has grown within the past 12 months." The Lady Lions will have a chance to continue that process next year. While they lose three experienced seniors in Sierra Moore, Kaliyah Mitchell and Pey- ton Whitted, they return most of their major scorers. In addition to Page, they will welcome back guards Lindsey Spann, Amari Carter, Jaida Travascio- Green and center Ashanti Thomas. Carter was the only player to start all 32 of Penn State's games this past season, averaging 7.9 points to rank fourth on the team. Spann made only 14 starts but still finished second on the team with a 10.5- point scoring average. Travascio-Green made 15 starts and averaged 5.8 points in her debut season, while Thomas started 29 games, averaging 3.7 points and 3.1 re- bounds. Washington is hoping that the team will be able to parlay its WNIT experience into an NCAA tournament-worthy season in 2018. "I'm really proud of what this team ac- complished this year, especially with our team being so young," Washington said. "I think our future is really bright, espe- cially with the players returning. The team learned a lot about what postsea- son play means, what it's going to feel like and how you have to perform during the season, to perform better at this point in the season. I'm really proud of the kids." ■

• Cover