STATE COLLEGE — Despite a late comeback attempt inspired by senior guard Jayla Oden, the Penn State women’s basketball team experienced its first setback of the 2024-25 season in a 72-67 loss to the St. John’s Red Storm on Monday night inside the Bryce Jordan Center. 

Monday’s result against the Red Storm brought the Lions overall record to 8-1, PSU’s first home loss against a non-conference opponent since early in the 2022-23 campaign. Penn State started the year on an eight-game win streak, marking the third 8-0 start in PSU program history while setting the program’s all-time record for consecutive victories against non-conference challengers with 17 in a row.

The Lions faced off against St. John’s for the third time in program history and experienced their first defeat to the Red Storm, with PSU winning each of the last two meetings away from University Park. Following the result, SJU improved to 7-1 overall with a 2 p.m. matchup against Wake Forest in Queens scheduled for Sunday, December 8.

On the final box score, St. John’s picked up a win in the field goal battle by a 50-48 percentage point margin, with the Red Storm picking up an additional 22-14 win in the turnover battle.

The Lions hauled in a 33-25 victory in the rebounding battle, outrebounding their opponent for the ninth consecutive game. Individually, Oden led the way a career-high 24-point outing while redshirt sophomore center Gracie Merkle poured in 13 points and graduate guard Gabby Elliott contributed 12 to round out a trio of Lions in double figures.

The Lions hauled in the opening tipoff, but neither squad was able to find the bottom of the net on their opening possession. The Red Storm were able to get the scoring going moments later, with Murray responding with a short-range jumper to deadlock the score at two apiece.

With around seven minutes remaining in the opening stanza, St. John’s rattled off back-to-back steal-and-score layups to take a 6-2 lead, but a driving layup from Oden pulled PSU back within two. The Red Storm were able to find the bottom of the net just before the media break, with SJU hitting a mid-range jumper to take an 8-4 edge with five minutes to play. From there, Penn State responded with an 8-2 scoring run aided by an and-one opportunity off a Red Storm goaltending call to take their first lead of the night by a 12-10 differential.

St. John’s replied with a triple from long range and booked a 1-for-2 trip to the stripe moments later, but a dead-on 3-pointer from Oden saw the Lions lurch ahead once more. The Red Storm deadlocked the contest at 15-all with less than a minute to go in the frame with a split trip to the line, but buckets from Steele and Merkle gave the Lions a 19-15 edge heading in to the second.

St. John’s opened the second quarter with a pair of triples to put the Red Storm ahead by a two-point margin, with both squads exchanging buckets on the ensuing possessions to make it a 24-21 St. John’s lead with eight minutes to go in the period. Penn State matched SJU’s energy on the defensive end over the next two minutes and was able to generate a 4-0 run with back-to-back baskets, but the Red Storm preserved their advantage with a short-range jumper to make it 26-25 with six minutes left in the half. Penn State pulled ahead once again in the early back-and-forth affair thanks to a perfect trip to the line from Oden, culminating in a 27-26 PSU edge at the second quarter media break.

Penn State and St. John’s traded baskets over the next two minutes, but a patented turnaround jumper from Campbell inside the painted area gave the Lions a three-point advantage. Savvy defensive decision making sparked a 6-0 Red Storm run, but Oden temporarily halted the SJU momentum with a driving layup.

A straight-away 3-pointer for the Red Storm helped St. John’s extend their lead to four points, with the final 90 seconds resulting in a pair of points in both directions, resulting in a 39-35 SJU edge at the half.

ST. JOHN’S (7-1)

Kylie Lavelle 4-7 1-1 10; Phoenix Gedeon 1-4 0-0 2; Skye Owen 2-5 0-0 4; Lashae Dwyer 10-215 5-6 25; Ber’Nyah Mayo 4-7 1-2 10; Jailah Donald 5-8 0-0 11; Ariana Vanderhoop 3-13 0-0 8; Jade Blagrove 1-1 0-0 2; Nevaeh Wingate 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-60 7-9 72.

PENN STATE (8-1)

Gracie Merkle 6-7 1-1 13; Gabby Elliott 5-10 0-0 12; Moriah Murray 2-6 0-0 5; Jayla Oden 8-13 7-8 24; Alli Campbell 3-8 2-2 8; Tamera Johnson 0-2 3-6 3; Talayah Walker 0-1 0-0 0; Grace Hall 0-4 0-0 0; Shaelyn Steele 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 25-52 13-17 67.

St. John’s 15 24 19 14 — 72

Penn State 19 16 17 15 — 67

3-point goals: SJ 5-19 (Vanderhoop 2-7, Donald 1-3, Mayo 1-2, Lavelle 1-2, Owen 0-1, Gedeon 0-1), PSU 4-13 (Elliott 2-4, Murray 1-4, Oden 1-2, Hall 0-1, Campbell 0-2). Fouled out: SJ-Owen; PSU-none. Rebounds: SJ 25 (Dwyer 6), PSU 33 (Elliott 7). Assists: SJ 15 (Dwyer 5, Lavelle 5), PSU 12 (Murray 5). Technical fouls: SJ-none; PSU-none. Total fouls: SJ 19, PSU 17. A: 1,759.