Crucial Run for Lady Lions Begins After Clark Test

Never mind what happens when the Penn State women’s basketball team plays second-ranked Iowa and superstar Caitlin Clark on Thursday.

It does not matter, and it might be ugly.

While Penn State appropriately carries some confidence and optimism into the game in Iowa City, and while the Lady Lions might be back-ish as a competitive women’s basketball program, the Hawkeyes are playing on a different level.

Plus, they’ve been dominant against Penn State, winning eight games in a row. Although coach Carolyn Kieger cited her team’s improvement against Iowa in recent seasons when talking to the media earlier this week, game scores do not always reconcile with memories.

Iowa put a 44-point beatdown on Penn State last season, and that was the most lopsided game in the teams’ last six meetings. Here’s a look:

Likely without injured point guard Tay Valladay, Penn State has a tough assignment in front of a sellout crowd of hyped-up black-and-gold fans — along with anyone willing to pay secondary market get-in prices ranging from $87 to an extremely hopeful $1,026 for a single seat in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It seems unlikely that this more defensively skilled and top-to-bottom talented Penn State team will lose by 44 points. The team has gone 16-6, 7-4 in Big Ten play because it’s good. It’s just not elite or maybe even Iowa good at this point.

Still, none of that matters either.

What matters is what happens after Iowa, during the final half dozen games of the season.

After Thursday, the team can do something no Penn State team has done since the 2016-17 season. It can win 20 games — and that’s something.

Kieger points to that plateau, along with playing better on the road (the Lady Lions are 4-3 this season), as an important point of pride and success for the program. With 20 wins, a team can ensure itself a spot near the top of the conference standing and, more importantly, a likely spot in the NCAA Tournament.

That’s really something.

“Every year we’ve won more games and we’re approaching that 20-win mark,” Kieger said. “You’ve got to get 20 wines to make the tournament. For me, that 20 wins is a huge benchmark.”

Penn State has already played four of its six remaining opponents and has a 3-1 record in those games. Three of the final six opponents have winning records. Here’s what remains:

Penn State won previous games against Maryland, Purdue and Minnesota.

It dropped an overtime decision to Ohio State in December, long before Ashley Owusu joined the team, and before the Lady Lions had found some consistency and maturity. The rematch comes in Rec Hall.

If Penn State can get 20 victories, and especially if it gets it before the regular season ends and it adds another W or two in the conference tournament, that would be big, important and in so many ways more important than almost anything that could happen against Iowa.

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