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PHILADELPHIA -- The Penn State Lady Lions used a key 17-3 third-quarter rally and a hot hand to emerge with an 89-77 non-conference victory over Saint Joseph's on Sunday afternoon at Michael J. Hagan '85 Arena, in Philadelphia.
Gracie Merkle led the Lady Lions with 25 points, including an 11-of-18 performance from the floor. Merkle also grabbed 11 rebounds to go with three assists and two blocks.
Tea Cleante added 23 points as Penn State (4-0) put four players in double figures. Cleante hit on 9-of-11 shots in the ballgame, while recording four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Kiyomi McMiller had 15 points to go with 10 rebounds and three steals, and Vitoria Santana added 11 points.
Gabby Casey led Saint Joseph's (3-1) with 24 points, while teammate Aleah Snead added 21 points.
The Hawks led for the entire first quarter, buiildng a 22-14 lead after a 3-pointer by Emily Knouse with 1:39 remaining. Free throws by Markle and Santana and a three by McMiller whittled the Penn State deficit to two as the Lady Lions closed out the first stanza on a 6-0 run.
Penn State continued to hit from the outside as a three by Viktoria Ranisavljevic -- off an assist by Cleante -- gave the Lady Lions their first lead of the day at 23-22, nine seconds into the second quarter.
A jumper and layup by Markle and a three by Cleante pushed the margin to 30-22 at the 7:33 mark. A pullup and another long-range bomb by Cleante put the Lady Lions 35-22 less than a minute later.
A layup by Ranisavljevic capped the 17-3 run and left the Lady Lions with a 37-25 lead. Penn State hit 73.3% of its second-quarter attempts, including 5 of 7 threes.
The Hawks weren't done, however; as Gabby Casey sandwiched a pair of treys around a deuce and Faith Stinson added a pair of buckets, including a three, to rally Saint Joseph's within 47-45 at the half.
Penn State maintained the lead the rest of way, although the Hawks hung around. The Lady Lions outscored them 21-13 during the third quarter and 21-19 in the fourth.
Both teams cooled off in the third quarter as Penn State made 52.9 percent of its shots and Saint Joseph's struggled to make 27.8 percent. The Lady Lions bounced back in the fourth to hit 52.9 percent. A three by Moriah Murray put Penn State up 75-58 with 8:29 remaining.
The Hawks had one last rally in them as a free throw by Cecilia Key brought Saint Joseph's within 79-73 with 3:13 to play.
Buckets by McMiller and Santana vaulted that lead back to double digits.
The Lady Lions shot 57.4 in the contest, while holding the Hawks to 35.2 percent. Penn State also won the battles of the boards by a 44-31 margin. The Lady Lions also committed 21 turnovers to just 13 for Saint Joseph's.
Penn State returns to action on Saturday, facing Princeton in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.