Former Penn State women’s basketball player and Penn State Athletics staffer Kathy Drysdale died on Friday, April 12. She was 53.

A native of Southfield, Michigan, Drysdale was a member of the Lady Lions from 1988-92. She scored the 22nd-most points in Lady Lion history with 1,295 and was part of the first team in the Northeast to achieve a top ranking in the Associated Press poll. She earned All-Atlantic 10 honors in 1990 and Atlantic 10 Tournament honors in 1990 and 1991.

Drysdale finished her career with 717 rebounds, 89 blocked shots, 117 steals, and 94 assists. She holds the school record for consecutive field goals made, scoring 10 against Temple on January 8, 1990.

After graduating from Penn State, Drysdale held worked with the Philadelphia 76ers and served as the head coach for Penn State-Abington women’s basketball. In 2011, she returned to Penn State’s University Park campus to work as the women’s basketball marketing director.

Drysdale left Penn State Athletics in 2023. She is survived by her son, Dereck Lively II, a professional basketball player with the Dallas Mavericks.

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Joe Lister

Joe, shockingly, was Onward State's managing editor from 2024-25. It was an honor. He's off employed doing journalism things, hopefully. If you want to complain about anything he's ever written, you can find him on Twitter (iamjoelister), email (jlister2021@gmail.com), or Signal (iamjoelister.93).

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