UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (WTAJ) — Penn State women’s basketball beat Northwestern 74-64 on Thursday night at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Junior forward Ali Brigham had 19 points for Penn State.

After the game, head coach Carolyn Kieger said she inserted Bringham into Thursday’s starting lineup hoping to get a spark from the junior. After scoring a season-high 19 points, it’s safe to say “mission accomplished.”

“I loved our team’s sharing of the ball and finding Ali,” said Kieger. “You know, she was hot and I think that’s something our team hasn’t been recognizing is finding the hot hand and in one more passes an inside outside basketball. So, I’m really proud of them for that for that.”

Bringham’s impact was instant scoring the first eight points of the game. She had 12 by halftime.

But it wasn’t the only big performance that keyed Penn State to the win. Lelani Kapinis tied a conference career record with seven steal and freshman Shay Ciezeki continues to grow. Her 18 points came on just 12 shot attempts.

“She’s [Ciezeki] a gym rat and she takes ownership of her mistakes and she wants to be a sponge and she wants to grow,” said Kieger. “She’s been phenomenal with keeping her composure in her confidence up. There’s going to be ups and downs and she’s logged a lot of minutes this year. And I keep telling her she has no idea how important these minutes are going to be next year. She doesn’t even know the dividends it’s going to pay.”

Up next, the Lady Lions host no. 6 Iowa at the Bryce Jordan Center on Sunday at noon.