It'll be a battle of women's basketball skyscrapers in State College as the 6-6 Merkle has to contend with the 6-7 Lauren Betts.
Gracie Merkle will face her biggest challenge to date against UCLA, literally.
The Penn State women's basketball center, who stands at 6 feet, 6 inches, and the Nittany Lions will contend with the No. 4 team in the country in UCLA, who is anchored by a future WNBA draft pick, the 6-foot-7 Lauren Betts.
Regardless of the opponent, Merkle has usually had the significant height advantage whenever she steps on the court. But against Betts, that advantage won't exist. The post matchup is also between the two best players on their respective team: Merkle averages a team-high 19.7 points and 8.4 rebounds a game. She also still leads the nation in field-goal percentage (73.9%).
For Betts, she leads the Bruins with 15.4 points and 8.2 rebounds a contest. While the shooting percentage isn't as high (57.6%), her 2.2 blocks per game is second in the Big Ten.
"I'm excited for the matchup against one of the top centers in the country," Merkle said about Betts. "I came to the Big Ten to play the best post players, and I couldn't be more excited. She never quits working in the post, so I have to do my work early and be physical with her all game. She's also a great offensive rebounder, so I have to make sure when a shot goes up, I block her out so they don't get easy second-chance points.
"Offensively, she’s the tallest post player I’ve played so far this season, so I have to post up hard and making quick moves to get around her as she is incredibly good at protecting the rim. I need to find my shooters if I get doubled at all and making sure I’m crashing the boards."
This isn't he first time Betts and Merkle have played each other: UCLA defeated Penn State 83-67 in California, where Betts recorded 22 and 14 rebounds. Head coach Carolyn Kieger thought her team did a decent job on her then, however, and she hopes the Lady Lions can build on that now.
"We're gonna have to throw a lot of different bodies at her. Not only Gracie, but Amaya Evans and Maggie Mendelson as well," Kieger said. "I don't think you can guard Betts one way; you gotta change things up. You have to be really disciplined pushing her out of the paint. It hard to over-double her because she passes out of it so well, so you gotta pick your spots."
Kieger also mentioend that UCLA has more than just Lauren Betts; the Bruins also have Lauren's younger sister, 6-foot-4 Sienna Betts, and three other players who average at least 14 points per game (Gianna Kneepkens, Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice).
Penn State will need the best versions of Kiyomi McMiller, Teá Cleante, Moriah Murray and more to combat that, along with Evans and Mendelson to help provide 40 continuous minutes of solid post play.
But this game will start, and end, with the two dominant post players down low, and whoever wins the matchup between Gracie Merkle and Lauren Betts will gain a significant advantage.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Penn State WBB's Gracie Merkle for rematch against UCLA's Lauren Betts
Category: General Sports
