Posts Tagged ‘Heidi Schlegel’

The Youngstown State women’s basketball had three tries to force overtime in the final seconds, but could not connect on any dropping a hard-fought 59-56 decision to Cleveland State in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament on Monday night at the Wolstein Center.

With 8.9 seconds left, the Penguins setup Monica Touvelle for the first try from straight on, but her shot glanced off the left side of the rim. Brandi Brown grabbed the board, but her off-balance 3-pointer from the wing bounced out. Heidi Schlegel grabbed the second rebound and alertly dribbled out to the 3-point line, but her shot at the buzzer didn’t fall as the Vikings advanced to play at Detroit on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals.  The Penguins finish the season 10-20 while Cleveland State improves to 12-18.

YSU turned up the defensive pressure to have a chance to force overtime. The Penguins tied the game early in the second half on two occasions, before the Vikings went on top 27-25 with 17:55 remaining.  At the 8:42 mark, the Vikings went ahead 52-45 on a 3-pointer by Shalonda Winton. YSU pulled within 52-47 on a couple of free throws by Kelsea Fickiesen. However, the Vikes pushed their advantage back to seven at the 7:08 mark on two free throws by Honesty King.

From that point, the team’s struggled offensively down the stretch. Touvelle broke the scoring drought for both teams with a base-line jumper at the 3:03 mark. Brown answered over a minute later driving to the bucket and converted a layup with 1:49 remaining cutting the deficit to 54-51.

Kenya Middlebrooks split a pair of free throws with 1:07 left and with 26.5 seconds left, Melissa Thompson‘s putback of a Middlebrooks missed triple got the Penguins within 56-54.  With 24.4 ticks left, Janelle Adams sank a pair of free throws to push the CSU lead up to 58-54.

Fickiesen quickly drove to the hoop scoring with exactly 18 seconds left.  With 16.6 seconds left, Thompson fouled Honesty King who made the first, but missed the second free throw.  The Penguins quickly moved the ball up the court, but Fickiesen was whistled for a charging foul with 9.8 seconds remaining. The YSU pressure then forced Adams to travel setting up the final 8.9 seconds.

For the game, YSU shot 30.4 percent making 21-of-69 shots, but went just 3-of-22 (13.6 percent) from behind the 3-point arc. All three 3-pointers came in a five-minute span of the second half. CSU shot 36.5 percent from the field converting 23-of-63 attempts.

Fickiesen led the Penguins with 11 points while Middlebrooks and Touvelle each finished with 10. Coleman had game-high honors with 17 points while Shalonda Winton had 15 and King added 13.

Both teams struggled offensively in the first half, shooting a combined 27 percent and committing 26 turnovers, and Cleveland State held a 23-21 lead at halftime. YSU’s defense forced 10 steals as a catalyst to Cleveland State’s 15 first-half turnovers, but the Penguins were 7-for-34 overall from the floor and 0-for-9 from 3-point range offensively.

YSU scored the first four points of the game, but Cleveland State scored six straight points for the first of three lead changes in the opening period. Middlebrooks put the Guins back up 9-8, and her steal and lay-up gave them a 16-12 lead with 6:10 left.

Schlegel’s bucket put YSU up 18-14 with 5:22 remaining, but YSU did not score for nearly five minutes as Cleveland State scored the next nine points to go ahead 23-18. Schlegel made a free-throw with 30.9 seconds left to end the drought, and Fickiesen made a lay-up with less than three seconds left to make the score 23-21 at halftime.

The Youngstown State Lady Penguins fought back after putting themselves in an early hole, but ultimately came up short, falling to Cleveland State.  Over the final seven-and-a-half minutes, the Vikings outscored the Penguins 20-9 and walked away with a 79-69 victory.  YSU committed 28 turnovers, matching a season high, and attempted a season-low 14 3-pointers in the loss.

The loss shook things up for the Horizon League Women’s Tournament.  Had the Penguins (10-19, 4-14) been able to nab the road win, they would have hosted a game Monday night in the first round.  Because of the way it ended, the Lady Penguins will head straight back to the Wolstein Center for a do-over with their local rivals.

The Penguins trailed by as many as 14 in the first half, but were was able to chip away and pulled themselves into the lead midway through the second half.  The Penguins outscored the Vikings 15-7 in the first five minutes of the second half to cut the margin to three, and they took their first lead of the contest when two Macey Nortey free throws at the 9:47 mark made the score 58-57. Cleveland State made two free throws to re-claim the lead, and a Kenya Middlebrooks bucket put YSU up 60-59 with 7:34 left. The Vikings made six of their next seven shots, and YSU missed six free throws in the final 6:37.

Cleveland State shot 63.3 percent in the first half and 50 percent for the game. The Vikings scored 22 of their 33 points in the second half in the final 8:30. YSU shot 40.7 percent and posted a season-high 16 steals.  Cleveland State made 10 of its first 13 shots and ended the first half on a 9-3 run to take a 46-35 lead at halftime. The Vikings led by as many as 14 in the period, and their 9-3 run to end the period came immediately after YSU had cut the deficit to five.

Heidi Schlegel registered her second career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Kelsea Fickiesen added a career-best 14 points.  For Cleveland State, Shalonda Winton finished with 25 points, and Takima Keane and Cori Coleman both had 14 points.

The Penguins will enter tournament play as the #10 seed, while Cleveland State will host as the #7 seed.

Wright State used runs of 10-0 and 13-0 in the second half to pull away and defeat the Youngstown State women’s basketball team 84-62 on Thursday evening at the Nutter Center.

After 14 lead changes and nine ties in the first half, Wright State led the entire second half and outscored the Penguins 43-23. That included an 18-5 edge in the final six minutes.

The Raiders, who improved to 18-9 overall and 11-4 in Horizon League play, had three players reach the 20-point plateau. Courtney Boyd led all scorers with 24 points while Kim Demmings had 22 and Molly Fox posted 20. Brandi Brown led YSU with 18 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Heidi Schlegel added 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

YSU trailed just 52-48 with 15 minutes left, and the Penguins had a turnover in transition that seemed to jump-start the Raiders. Wright State scored the next 10 points, the final six of which were on back-to-back 3-pointers from Boyd, to go up 62-48.

Brown scored the next five points to cut the margin to nine, and YSU still trailed just 66-57 with under six minutes left. That’s when the Raiders scored 13 straight points to take a 79-57 with 2:43 remaining. Schlegel’s bucket at the 1:57 mark ended a five-and-a-half minute scoring drought for the Penguins.

Wright State did not have a field goal for nearly five minutes in the second half, but YSU was only able to score four points in that stretch and did not trim anything off the deficit.

After a back-and-forth first half, Wright State made four free throws in the final minute to take a 41-39 lead at halftime.

Wright State scored the first six points of the game, and that was its largest lead of the opening period. YSU scored the next five points, and Kenya Middlebrooks‘ third triple in the first five minutes gave YSU its first lead at 11-9. Wright State did not lead by more than two the remainder of the period.

YSU’s largest lead came at 30-25 with 5:34 remaining following a 7-0 run. Devan Matkin started the run with a 3-pointer, her second of the half, while Kelsea Fickiesen and Brown both had two points. Wright State scored the next five points to tie the score for the fifth time at the 4:55 mark, and neither team led by more than two the rest of the period.

Boyd had 15 points in the first half, which was nearly seven above her average coming into the game. Schlegel and Middlebrooks had nine apiece for YSU, which hit seven triples in the first 20 minutes.

YSU finished with 10 3-pointers in 30 attempts, which included a 3-for-18 effort from distance in the second half. Wright State outshot the Penguins 45.5 percent to 34.4 percent.

YSU will stay on the road and play at Detroit on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on 1390 WNIO.

*Story courtesy of YSU Sports Information, John Vogel.

Youngstown State University and Butler came into a basketball game with nearly identical records.  They played nearly an identical first half on the stat sheets, and consequently, this game went right down to the wire.  When the dust cleared and the threes finally finished flying, Butler came away with a 65-63 win.  Mandy McDivitt hit a big three with 2.3 seconds left to provide the difference in the game that could have really gone either way.

“Give her [McDivitt] credit”, exclaimed Boldon after the game.  ”She made, in my opinion, a very tough shot.  From a purist perspective, it is a nice moment that she will remember for the rest of her life.  From my perspective, it stinks.”

In the first half, YSU opened the lead to as big as eight, but the Bulldogs erased the deficit and took a halftime lead of 29-27.  Heidi Schlegel had nine points to lead the Lady Penguins scoring attack.  Brandi Brown had eight on 3-4 shooting and a pair of free throws.  Butler got ten first half points out of Devin Brierly and nine more out of Mandy McDivitt.  Statistically, the first half stats showed that the records of these two teams wasn’t the only thing they had in common.  Butler chucked up 17 threes, while the Penguins attempted 15.  Neither team attempted more than four first half free throws and both seemed reliant on the long ball.

In the second half, Butler changed up the defensive scheme and they were using a full-court press to slow YSU down.  It worked as the Penguins scrambled to cross mid-court and had about half of the normal time on the shot clock to run their half court offense.  Butler opened the second half with an 11-3 run and by the time the second half was below ten minutes, the Bulldogs held a 50-43 lead.    Brierly and McDivitt were getting their threes to fall to increase the lead over that period of time.

Macey Nortey connected on a three with 9:20 to go in the game to make it 50-46.  Sarah Hamm hit a bucket for Butler with just over two minutes to go in the game that stretched the lead to 58-55, but the next trip up the floor, the Lady Penguins tied the game at 58 on a three from Monica Touvelle.  Hamm regained the lead fo Butler with another layup to make it 60-58.

Kenya Middlebrooks, aka ‘Miss Clutch’ lately, drilled a three with just over a minute to go in the game to give YSU their first lead since the first half, but it was short-lived as Butler was able to work the post for another easy deuce to regain a 62-61 lead.  With 28 seconds left in the game and the Penguins trailing by just one, Brown drove to the hoop and was fouled.  The Horizon League Preseason Player of The Year promptly swished two charity tosses to give her team the 63-62 lead.  Butler failed to score and with nine seconds left in the game, Schlegel was fouled.  Schlegel missed the front end of the one-and-one.  Butler rebounded and McDivitt hit a big three to give the Bulldogs a a two-point lead with 2.3 seconds remaining.

YSU inbounded to half court where Brown caught the ball and quickly dished it to Nortey on the right between the circles.  Nortey, with pressure in her face, could not get the ball to an open Middlebrooks in the right corner with enough time to get a shot off and Butler survived the last-ditch effort.

The Penguins got 23 points from Brown, who again provided the majority of the spark for the Penguins offense.  Schlegel (above) finished the game with 13 markers. Kenya Middlebrooks had a balanced effort for the Penguins as she scored 7 points, had 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

Butler got good production out of tgeir senior guard, Brierly, who finished the contest with 22 points.  McDivitt played big off of the Bulldog bench, contributing 18 points.

“We wanted to take Hamm out of the game”, said Boldon.  ”We were successful in doing so but we were not able to stop everything else, they beat us in other ways.  You pick and choose your battles and it this loss is still a part of the process.”

The Lady Penguins hit the road for a pair of games, heading to UIC and Loyola.  They return home to face Milwaukee on February 16.

The role players have arguably been responsible for the dramatic turnaround for this years Youngstown State Lady Penguins basketball team.  Everyone knew that Brandi Brown was good, and Coach Bob Boldon said at the beginning of the year that others will have to step up as teams sharpen their focus on shutting down Brown.  Kenya Middlebrooks, a senior, has done exactly that.  Middlebrooks now holds the record for three-pointers made in a game with eight treys and finished with 30 points against Detroit, not too shabby for a ‘role player’.

Paneech: Let’s start out by talking about this season.  Has it been as big a success as you and your fellow Lady Penguins would have hoped for?

Middlebrooks: I think that season has been a successful one because we have a little more experience.  This is the coaches second year and we were able to adapt to what he wants from us and pass that along to the incoming players.

Paneech: You played under Cindy Martin.  It was not a productive period in YSU basketball history.  Enter Coach Boldon, new assistants, and a new system.  How hard is it to buy in with a changing of the guard?

Middlebrooks: It’s very difficult because you went two years putting all of your trust into a coach and a system.  Our record did not reflect what we wanted to accomplish. With Coach Boldon, I kind of took on a different role and had to learn to shoot threes because that is what his system incorporates.  It was difficult to learn, but it is nice to see results.

Paneech: You mentioned three-pointers.  You have that big square net device that rebounds the ball and you shoot sometimes 100 of those threes toward that thing before or after any given practice.  Do you ever see that apparatus in your mind during a game?

Middlebrooks: (laughs) No, we don’t visualize it during a game.  We have a couple of different things that we use including that particular piece of equipment.  We also use a machine that will measure the arc of our shots to make sure we are getting the right amount of height on a shot.  I never really thought about arc a couple of years ago, it was more ‘shoot if you are open’, now we concentrate on threes because we are more reliant on them.

Paneech: How “in-tune” is this staff with the players? I know if I ask Coach Boldon why Brandi sneezed in the second half, he would give me an accurate and honest answer.

Middlebrooks: We are very in-tune.  This second year has been much easier.  We have gotten to know all of them a bit better during the offseason.  During the season, we work very hard with them on different drills.  I would say that we know them pretty good and they know us just as well.

Paneech: In high school, were you the best player on your team?  Also, do you think when people get to the college level that they can’t all be the best player on a team anymore?

Middlebrooks: I played my high school ball in Toledo and was a pretty decent player. It wasn’t really that difficult of a transition because when players get to the college level, I don’t feel that they come with a big ego.  You adapt to a role and the coaches tell you what contribution they expect from you.  I didn’t even know about this place when I was a senior in high school.  My head coach knew Bernard Scott and sent him a tape.  I came to see the campus and was offered a scholarship, who was I not to take it? (laughs)

Paneech: This team has been labeled by the Horizon League as a lemon.  Brandi Brown gets named Horizon League Preseason Player of The Year, and your team gets picked to finish last.  Winning games, the role players have been the difference, agree?

Middlebrooks: Brandi is always a key factor because we always get things going through her.  I don’t think it is an issue though, when our shots fall, we are winning games.  When they don’t fall, we have to get back in the gym and continue working on our shots.

Paneech: Who is your best friend on this team and why?

Middlebrooks: I call her ‘babe’, and she is Macey Nortey.  We have grown up together since freshman year in the dorms.  We have been through a lot as far as different coaching staffs and players coming after us and leaving before us.  She is my best friend, and I can tell her anything, I love her.

Paneech: What are your reflections of Youngstown State University?

Middlebrooks: I really love it here.  People say a lot of bad things about this area, but the campus is great, small enough that I can get to class pretty quickly and the weather is the same as Toledo.  There are a lot of different cultures here though and I have really enjoyed my time here.  My grades are in the A-B range, I will be graduating in May.  Then I will try to find a job in social work in the Youngstown area or Toledo.

Paneech: In the past, you had the famous obstruction on your face, the glasses.  Now that Heidi Schlegel and Kelsea Fickiesen are around with their face shields, has the pressure been removed?

Middlebrooks: I have worn the goggles since my freshman year of high school.  I have had plenty of time to adjust and everything is the same, I am used to them.  My last coach wanted me to wear contacts so bad, but I like to be a little different on the court and having the goggles on makes me different.

Paneech: It is a hard balance for today’s student athlete to keep the grades up and to keep the performance level up, a very demanding pair of requirements.  What is a typical day like?

Middlebrooks: Well, I wake up, go to class then go to practice and then get to back to class.  I then go to either the library or the lab in Cushwa to study.  I get done at about nine, then I head to the dorm and continue to do more work.  I am usually up until 11.  I call home everyday and I like to cook a lot.

Paneech: Yeah?  What do you like to cook?

Middlebrooks: Oh man… anything.  Beef stew, steaks, chicken, pork chops — just a whole bunch of fattening foods.  I like to cook greens and cornbread.

Paneech: What are you watching on television?

Middlebrooks: I have shows that I watch weekly or daily.  I watch Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy.  I like Jersey Shore, any real-world show.  I used to watch American Idol, but now I only watch when they have the auditions at the beginning.

Paneech: Interesting, Desperate Housewives.  So if you were to equate the characters on that show to people on your team and coaches you who would play what roles?

Middlebrooks: Susan Delfino (Teri Hatcher) would be Heidi Schlegel.  Liz Hornberger would probably be Bree Van de Kamp (Marcia Cross).  Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) is a tough one, I would say Tierra Jones could fit that role.  Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) would definitely be Brandi.  If you watch Brandi, she loves clothes, nails, all that stuff, just like Mrs. Solice.  Coach Boldon would probably fit the role of a Tom Scavo because he has kids and his life revolves around them and he loves them very much.  Coach Schrader loves to gossip, she is great, but she could be Mrs McClusky.

One Word Answers With Kenya Middlebrooks

Favorite Color: Purple.

Favorite Breakfast Food: Hot Pizza.

Fast Food Order: Smoky Bones – Smoked Wings, Ribs, Fries, and Cornbread.

Favorite Drink: Blue Gatorade.

Worst Class Here: Psychology.

Best Class Here: Human Behavior I & II.

Worst Habit: Biting My Nails.

NBA Player: Dwayne Wade.

Dream Destination: Jamaica.

One Bad Thing In The World Worth Changing: Homelessness.

Biggest Phobia: Snakes.

The Youngstown State women’s basketball team played the 11th-ranked team in the country to within 15 points in the first 30 minutes before Green Bay pulled away to win 75-50 on Thursday evening at the Kress Events Center.  YSU trailed just 53-38 at the 9:56 mark, but the Phoenix went on a 20-5 run over the next 6:46 to separate itself from the Penguins.

YSU’s Brandi Brown led all scorers with 21 points and finished with 10 rebounds.   Kelsea Fickiesen, making her second career start, was next in line with nine points. She also had nine of YSU’s 28 turnovers, which Green Bay translated into a 33-5 edge in points off turnovers.

Lydia Bauer finished with 19 points, and Adrian Ritchie scored 17 points while making three of Green Bay’s eight triples.  YSU shot 45.2 percent overall, and Green Bay shot 49 percent. The Phoenix went 19-for-28 from the free-throw line while YSU was just 6-for-10.

The Penguins opened the second half on an 8-3 run to make the score 39-28 and force Green Bay to call an early time out. YSU still trailed just 56-40 with nine minutes left following a Brown bucket, but the Penguins scored just three points in the next six-and-a-half minutes. By that time, the Phoenix had built a 73-43 advantage.

Youngstown State will play at Milwaukee on Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern. The game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN.

The Youngstown State women are headed into the hardest part of their schedule, and it got off to a rough start at the Beeghly Center on Thursday.  Loyola built an early ten point lead and never led by less than that until very late in the game, cruising to a 82-77 win over the Lady Penguins.

YSU made it interesting late, but the Ramblers weathered the storm for the win.  When asked if his team may have pulled it out if there were a couple more minutes to play, Coach Bob Boldon remarked, “If it would have went twenty minutes longer, they probably would have scored 100, I’m not sure what we would have ended up with.”

In the first half, Loyola continuously took advantage of an aggressive Penguins defense by working the ball to either wing and throwing cross-court passes to wide open shooters.  Three-point shooting was the key to the Penguins woes on offense in the first half.  YSU shot a dismal 3-18 from long range.  Kelsea Fickiesen hustled for the Penguins  in the first half and seemed to be in a higher gear than her teammates.  Fickiesen had seven rebounds, three on the offensive end, to keep the Penguins in the game.

“We were not getting our shots to fall early on”, said Fickiesen.  ”When you shoot and miss a couple of shots, you have to keep shooting.”

In the second half, Loyola’s Monica Albano, who torched the Penguins for over 50 points in two games last season, caught a little fire.  The Penguins did a good job keeping Albano in check with only two first half points.  However, Albano was able to score 15 second half points.  Every time that YSU looked to be making a move, Albano would make a shot or pass that contributed to the lead growing.

The Penguins continued to scratch and claw to that magic ten point barrier but could not get past it. Heidi Schlegel had a nice put back off of an offensive rebound, and then hit a three to cut Loyola’s lead to 50-37 with 14:10 left to go.  With just over nine minutes to go, Monica Touvelle hit a three to pull the Penguins to within ten at 58-48.

Loyola just kept answering everything the Penguins did right on offense with buckets on their next possession, almost on cue.  With 5:07 left, Brandi Brown hit a pair of free throws to keep YSU in the right neighborhood at 69-58.  Typical of the way the night went, the Ramblers scored on their next chance to nullify any Penguin gains.  Simone Law was eating the Penguins alive in the paint.

With the Penguins down 73-60, Brown caught a Kenya Middlebrooks pass on a fastbreak chance and scored.  Loyola again responded when Katie Kortekamp breezed to the hoop for an easy bucket.  Middlebrooks connected on a three with 1:35 left to cut the lead to 77-68.  Fickiesen hit a three with 23.7 left to make it a 79-74 game.

Youngstown State (8-7, 2-2) got 26 points from Brown, including an impressive 12-13 from the free throw line.  Middlebrooks and Touvelle contributed nine points each.

“You can’t make that many mistakes and expect to win”, said Coach Boldon.  ”You get what you deserve.  We lost to a very good team, although their record may not show it.  They exploited our defense.  They were very well coached and their offense was significantly better than our defense..”

Loyola (7-9, 2-3) was led by Law who finished with 21 points.  Albano knocked down 17 points.  Troy Hambric had another 12 for the Ramblers.

The Penguins welcome a talented UIC team to Youngstown for a 2:05 game on Saturday.

Butler used a 19-5 run in the second half and got 14 second-half points from Devin Brierly in a 73-64 win over the Youngstown State women’s basketball team on Thursday evening at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

YSU grabbed its first lead of the second half at 49-48 with 10:08 remaining, but the Penguins did not make another field goal for almost four minutes. By that time, Butler had gone on a 12-2 spurt to take a 60-51 lead. The Bulldogs had one 3-pointer in the first 30 minutes and five in their final stretch, four of which came from Brierly.

Brandi Brown had 23 points and 12 rebounds, both of which were game highs. Heidi Schlegel and Monica Touvelle both finished with 11 points. Brierly had 19 points to lead four Bulldogs in double figures.

Butler led by as many as seven early in the second half and held a 48-43 advantage with 12 minutes left. YSU scored the next six points and took a 49-48 lead on Melissa Thompson’s bucket in transition. Butler called a time out, and Mandy McDivitt hit a trey to start the decisive run.

Butler shot a season-high 50 percent and was one point shy of its highest scoring total of the campaign. YSU shot 35.8 percent and was outscored 32-18 in the paint and 19-8 in second-chance points.

Youngstown State will play at Valparaiso on Saturday at 2:35 p.m. Eastern. The game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN.

The last time Youngstown State University beat Cleveland State was January 27, 2007.  On the last day of 2011, the Lady Penguins put together a good team effort, defeating the Vikings, 70-48, and headed into 2012 tied for first in the conference at 1-0.  It also marked the first time YSU has won a conference opener since 2008.  It’s a shame that 2011 is almost over, a year that will surely be earmarked as a giant step forward for the Lady Penguins basketball program.

In the first half, the Penguins opened up with a 14-2 run with 11:27 left in the half. Monica Touvelle (below) went 4-4 from three-point range and led all scorers with YSU heading to their locker room ahead comfortably, 35-22.  Brandi Brown had seven rebounds and six points in a half that saw all active members of the Lady Penguins see some minutes.

“It’s nice to get everyone involved”, remarked Coach Bob Boldon after the game. “They have all done the work in practice all week and deserve to be on the floor.”

In the second half, the Penguins started strong and held a 48-34 lead with 10:54 remaining in the contest.  Boldon’s offense looked lethal at times with just a couple of lapses in the second half.  Cleveland State cut the YSU lead to eleven at 50-39 with 9:23 left on a Shalonda Winton drive to the hoop.

An earthquake shuttered the Beeghly Center during the second half but play continued. “Was that an earthquake?” said Brown.  ” I am used to those being from California, I just thought someone fell.”

With the score 51-40, Brown drilled a three from the corner that got nothing but net. The Penguins held a 54-42 lead with five minutes to go.  Brown would extend the lead to 63-42 with just under three minutes left draining a pair of free throws after being fouled driving the length of the court with a steal.  The Vikings nevr got closer than 15 after the six minute mark of the game.

Brown finished the game with 23 points and 12 boards to notch her fifth double-double of the season and the 32nd of her career.  YSU also got an array of statistics from everyone including Touvelle’s four three-pointers, 16 points and five rebounds from Heidi Schlegel, and six assists from Macey Nortey.  The Penguins shot 42.6 from the floor and cashed in 28 more points off of Vikings turnovers.

“It feels good to go into a New Year with a win”, said Brown.  ”We really executed well as a team and it was a good win for us.”

Cleveland State got 17 points from Winton and eleven more from Imani Gordon.  The Vikings slipped to 5-7 and 0-1 with the loss.

The Lady Penguins (7-5, 1-0) head West to face Butler on Thursday and Valparaiso on Saturday afternoon.

The Youngstown State women’s basketball team went on a 20-5 run early in the second half and hung on to defeat Ohio, 55-47, on Friday evening at the Convocation Center.  The Penguins hit 10 of their first 13 shots in the second half and outshot the Bobcats 43.5 percent to 31.1 percent in the game.  YSU improves to 5-4 while Ohio drops to 3-5. The Penguins defeated the Bobcats for the third straight time, and YSU has now won four straight road games for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.

YSU’s Heidi Schlegel (above) scored a game-high and team-high 21 points, and both Liz Hornberger and Schlegel hit three triples apiece.  Brandi Brown was held to eight points, ending a stretch of 29 straight games with at least 10 points.  Tenishia Benson had 14 points to lead Ohio.

Youngstown State built a 24-22 lead at halftime, and the Penguins took a 44-29 lead after back-to-back 3-pointers from Schlegel.  Macey Nortey then hit a lay-up to make the score 46-32 with 10:51 left, but YSU cooled down and had to rely on its defense for the rest of the period.  Ohio scored the next seven points to cut the margin to 46-39 on Benson’s back-door basket with 8:19 left.  Schlegel ended a four-and-a-half minute scoring drought for YSU with two free-throws at the 6:20 mark, and Ohio’s first points in four minutes made the score 48-42.

Youngstown State played a sluggish first half in which they committed 13 turnovers and saw two of its top three scorers go scoreless, but the Penguins led 24-22 at the break. YSU was 6-for-13 from 3-point range in the opening period, but it was just 3-for-12 inside the arc.

Schlegel scored all seven of her first-half points in-a-row for YSU, and her 3-pointer at the 6:23 mark gave YSU an 18-14 advantage. That sparked a 9-0 run for the Penguins, which was capped by another Hornberger 3-pointer that made the score 24-16 with 3:42 remaining.

Ohio’s last lead came at 14-13 with 7:25 remaining in the first half, and YSU led for all but 17 seconds in the second half.

After an eight-day break for finals week, Youngstown State will wrap-up its MAC tour with a game at Akron on Dec. 18. Tipoff against the Zips is set for 2 p.m.