# 2020–21 Penn State Lady Lions basketball team

The 2020–21 Penn State Lady Lions basketball team represented Pennsylvania State University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Lady Lions were led by second-year head coach Carolyn Kieger and played their home games at the Bryce Jordan Center as members of the Big Ten Conference.
They finished the season 9–15 and 6–12 in Big Ten play to finish in eleventh place. As the tenth seed in the Big Ten tournament, they were defeated by Michigan State in the Second Round. They were not invited to the NCAA tournament or the WNIT.

## Previous season

The Lady Lions finished the season with a record of 7–23, 1–17 in Big Ten play to finish in fourteenth place. They lost in the first round of the Big Ten women's tournament to Minnesota. The NCAA tournament and WNIT were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

## Schedule and results

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 25, 2020* 6:00 p.m., PSSN | | Coppin State | W 84–45 | 1–0 | Bryce Jordan Center (179) University Park, PA |
| November 30, 2020* 6:00 p.m., PSSN | | St. Francis | W 87–54 | 2–0 | Bryce Jordan Center (217) University Park, PA |
| December 3, 2020* 6:00 p.m., PSSN | | Rhode Island | W 70–69 | 3–0 | Bryce Jordan Center (174) University Park, PA |
| December 6, 2020* 2:00 p.m., ACCN | | at No. 22 Syracuse | L 72–82 | 3–1 | Carrier Dome (0) Syracuse, NY |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| December 20, 2020 2:00 p.m., BTN | | Purdue | L 87–91 | 3–2 (0–1) | Bryce Jordan Center (144) University Park, PA |
| December 23, 2020 12:30 p.m., BTN+ | | at No. 17 Michigan | Canceled | Canceled | Crisler Center Ann Arbor, MI |
| December 31, 2020 Noon, BTN | | No. 14 Maryland | L 82–96 | 3–3 (0–2) | Bryce Jordan Center (140) University Park, PA |
| January 4, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN | | at No. 16 Ohio State | L 69–82 | 3–4 (0–3) | Value City Arena (0) Columbus, OH |
| January 7, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | | No. 19 Indiana | L 64–85 | 3–5 (0–4) | Bryce Jordan Center (175) University Park, PA |
| January 10, 2021 5:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Minnesota | W 69–60 | 4–5 (1–4) | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 17, 2021 2:00 p.m., BTN | | No. 22 Northwestern | L 50–67 | 4–6 (1–5) | Bryce Jordan Center (219) University Park, PA |
| January 21, 2021 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Rutgers | Postponed | Postponed | Louis Brown Athletic Center Piscataway, NJ |
| January 25, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN | | Minnesota | L 76–85 | 4–7 (1–6) | Bryce Jordan Center (180) University Park, PA |
| January 28, 2021 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Illinois | W 80–76 | 5–7 (2–6) | State Farm Center (0) Champaign, IL |
| January 31, 2021 1:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Purdue | W 80–70 | 6–7 (3–6) | Mackey Arena (150) West Lafayette, IN |
| February 4, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Nebraska | W 85–74 | 7–7 (4–6) | Bryce Jordan Center (175) University Park, PA |
| February 7, 2021 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Wisconsin | W 98–74 | 8–7 (5–6) | Bryce Jordan Center (176) University Park, PA |
| February 10, 2021 3:00 p.m., BTN | | at No. 15 Indiana | L 65–90 | 8–8 (5–7) | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (0) Bloomington, IN |
| February 13, 2021 Noon, BTN | | Michigan State | L 65–78 | 8–9 (5–8) | Bryce Jordan Center (209) University Park, PA |
| February 18, 2021 4:00 p.m., BTN | | at Iowa | L 78–96 | 8–10 (5–9) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (274) Iowa City, IA |
| February 21, 2021 3:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Nebraska | L 72–87 | 8–11 (5–10) | Pinnacle Bank Arena (0) Lincoln, NE |
| February 24, 2021 5:00 p.m., BTN | | No. 15 Ohio State | W 69–67 | 9–11 (6–10) | Bryce Jordan Center (201) University Park, PA |
| February 28, 2021 12:30 p.m., BTN | | No. 25 Rutgers | L 55–60 | 9–12 (6–11) | Bryce Jordan Center (221) University Park, PA |
| March 2, 2021 5:30 p.m., BTN | | at No. 24 Rutgers | L 56–74 | 9–13 (6–12) | Louis Brown Athletic Center (60) Piscataway, NJ |
| March 6, 2021 3:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at No. 8 Maryland | L 61–88 | 9–14 (6–13) | Xfinity Center (0) College Park, MD |
| Big Ten Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 10, 2021 6:30 p.m., FS2 | (10) | vs. (7) Michigan State Second Round | L 66–75 | 9–15 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (1,064) Indianapolis, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |
| (NR) | Not Ranked and Did not receive votes |
The Coaches Poll did not release a Week 2 poll and the AP Poll did not release a poll after the NCAA Tournament.