Posts Tagged ‘Youngstown State University’

Sophomore Blake Allen scored a career-high 17 points and sophomore Damian Eargle added 15 points with eight rebounds and four blocks, but the Youngstown State men’s basketball team dropped a 79-55 decision to Valparaiso on Friday evening at the Athletics-Recreation Center.

The Penguins fall to 6-8 overall and 1-4 in the Horizon League while the Crusaders improve to 11-5 overall and 3-1 in the Horizon League.  Allen connected on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor and converted 5-of-6 of his 3-point field goal attempts, including four treys in the second half.

After falling behind 15-5 in early in the first half, the Guins used their own 15-5 run to knot the game at 20-20 after a 3-pointer by junior Ashen Ward with 5:15 to go before halftime.  After a 3-pointer by Valparaiso’s Jay Harris, Eargle hit a jumper to cut the Crusaders’ lead down to one, but Harris drained another 3-pointer to put Valpo up four, 26-22, with 4:15 to go.

The Crusaders pushed its lead by to eight points, 34-26, but a free throw by Ward and another jumper by Eargle trimmed the deficit to five, 34-29, at halftime.  Valparaiso opened the second half on a 20-4 run over the first seven minutes to take a 21-point lead, 54-33, with 13 minutes left.

Allen hit three 3-pointers over the next minute-and-a-half and junior Devonte Maymon made a layup to cut the Crusader lead to 12, 56-44, with 10:34 to go but the Guins would get no closer.

The Penguins visit Butler, Sunday, Jan. 9, at 2 p.m. at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

When the YSU women play Green Bay is equal to when the YSU men play Butler.  Green Bay has been the power of the Horizon League the last couple of seasons.  This season, the Phoenix come to Youngstown ranked #20 in the country and Coach Matt Bollant had never lost to a Penguins team.  Conversely, new YSU Coach Bob Boldon had never lost to Green Bay, so something had to give.  Unfortunately for Boldon, his young Penguins took one on the chin while facing a monumental challenge, falling 71-57  to Green Bay.

In the first half, Julie Wojta scored 20, and YSU scored 20.  Unfortunately, the other Green Bay players chipped in 18 additional points and YSU trailed 38-20 at the half.  Wojta (pictured above) was dominant in the paint.  The Phoenix had 22 rebounds (ten offensive) in the opening half, YSU had ten (zero offensive).  Green Bay also scored an impressive 23 points off of 18 YSU turnovers.

In the second half, Green Bay showed no signs of letting up.  Kayla Tetschlag and Celeste Hoewisch offered an alternative to Wojta with a couple of buckets on consecutive possessions.  The good news for YSU fans was that this team never hung their heads or quit.  YSU cut the lead to 16 with 15:04 left in the game at 47-31 when Boki Dimitrov hit a three.  Maryum Jenkins (below) hit a three with 11:04 left to cut the lead to 13.  Brandi Brown scored her 11th point with 10:19 left to cut Green Bay’s lead to 11 and the Penguins deserve a big pat on the back for showing a lot of heart.

The last three times the Lady Penguins have shot 50% or better , they have lost.  All three of those losses have been to Green Bay.

Green Bay pushed the lead back out to 15 with 7:03 remaining in the game and never looked back building a 68-47 lead with 4:04 left in the game.

Green Bay improved to 14-1, (3-0 HL) and didn’t have their “A” game but enough to win this one.  Wojta paced the Phoenix with 24 points and seven boards.  Hoewisch also knocked in 18 points.  Green Bay converted 32 Penguin turnovers into 43 points.

Youngstown State (2-12, 0-3 HL) played respectfully.  Tieara Jones finished the game with 12 points, Brandi Brown had 15 points, and Dimitrov 13 to lead YSU.

After the game, Boki Dimitrov addressed why the Penguins lost.  “It is not acceptable to have 32 turnovers. Things have changed and we have a good leader.  Coach Boldon inspires us to act on his leads. “

Boldon discussed the monster that is Green Bay.  “They are a great team, very well-coached and what I would want our program to be like someday.  They ran a secondary trap that we have not seen and their girls are very fast and just reload to the ball.  They are the best team that we have played all year and we get to play them again.”

Youngstown State University had just ended 2010 on a high note with a dramatic win over UIC.  Then something happened, 2011 showed up, and so did Loyola.  Unfortunately, the Penguins struggled on both ends of the court in a very lethargic performance to open a new calender year and lost to the Ramblers, 83-53, to drop to 1-3 in the Horizon League.

In the first half, Youngstown State seemed a step slower on the offensive end and at least two steps slower on defense.  Loyola shot 63.6% from the floor, while the Penguins could only muster 32%, including 1-8 on three-pointers.  Loyola opened a seventeen point lead within the first ten minutes of the first half and maintained that margin coasting to a 40-22 lead at intermission.  Tre Brewer had a team-high six first half points for YSU, which just seemed out of sync the entire half.  Ben Averkamp posted 13 first half points for the Ramblers.

The second half started much the same way that the first half ended.  Loyola was ahead 49-26 with 15:58 in the game when DuShawn Brooks did what he could to keep the Penguins in the game hitting a jumper from the top right side of the key.  As luck would have it, the Penguins ran into a buzz saw.  With 13:31 left in the game, Loyola had a 56-31 lead, but more importantly, they were shooting 67.7% in the game to this point.  When a team shoots greater than 55%, they are hard to defeat.  With Youngstown State gasping for straws on offense, they would have had to keep Loyola at bay on the defensive end, but were unsuccessful with either side of that two-fold game plan.

Frustration was evident in the second half.  Vytas Sulskis fouled out with just under ten minutes left in the game.  The Penguins were trying, but were also committing hard fouls and playing out of their comfort zone.  With 6:51 left in the game, YSU was simply playing for respectability and pride.  Loyola was ahead 71-43.  YSU got a decent second half from Brooks who played hard on both ends.  Coach Slocum threw up the white flag with about five minutes left when he emptied the cupboard and let some of the low-minutes guys get some experience.

Brooks (above) was top scorer for YSU with 13.  Damian Eargle also scored ten points and gathered five boards in the loss.  Josh Chojnacki contributed a career-best seven points for YSU.  The Ramblers got 18 points from Walt Gibler and 17 from Averkemp.  Loyola shot over 60% from the floor as a team.

After the game, Jerry Slocum called the performance “one of the worst losses I can remember.”  Slocum also went on to say that the Penguins showed little heart and character in the loss.  “The energy was bad today, and we got outplayed badly.”

Loyola Coach Jim Whitesell was surprised at how easy the win came.  “Usually when we play here, the games are donnybrooks and go down to the wire. I feel for Jerry, I was just there the other night against Cleveland State.  We challenged our big guys [Averkamp, Polka, and Gibler] to step it up and they responded.”

YSU heads off to Valpo and Butler before returning home to face Wilburforce on January 11.

The Horizon League is probably the most unrecognized conference in NCAA-DI basketball.  UIC was YSU’s opponent on this holiday evening, and UIC had just beaten then-ranked #12 Illinois a couple of games back.  The Horizon League is no slouch, ask Duke.  As the conference rises in prominence, Youngstown State is trying to evolve with it.  The Penguins had not won a conference game in their last 13 chances.  Throw out the records and chalk up a conference win for the Penguins, 71-69, over UIC.

The first half featured good shooting by both squads.  Youngstown State had a lead as big as nine points in that first half, but UIC marched right back into things before half and the Penguins only lead 34-32 at intermission.  The story in the first half was three-pointers.  Both teams shot over 40 percent with YSU connecting on 7-17 and UIC nailing 4-7.

Ashen Ward had a career best night for the Penguins.  Ward was Mr. Instant in the first half connecting on 4-6 threes and finished the half with 14 points on his way to a career-high in points.  Ward hit another three in the opening minutes of the second half, he was on fire.  With 16:24 left in the game, UIC nabbed the lead, 40-39, when Robo Kreps hit a free throw to complete a three point play.  Ward responded with a deuce to give YSU the lead back on their next possession.

With YSU trailing 46-43, DuShawn Brooks hit a runner from the right side of the key coming in to cut UIC’s lead to one point.  Tre Brewer hit a finger roll to put YSU back up by one with just over twelve minutes to go in the game.  YSU was not getting many inside chances and had only attempted one free throw up to the 11:32 mark when Vytas Sulskis hit a pair to put YSU ahead, 49-47.

With YSU ahead 57-53 with UIC’s Paul Carter hit a runner from the left side and was fouled by Sulskis.  Carter hit the free throw to complete the old-school three and the game was tied again with 8:18.  Ashen Ward then hit his sixth and seventh threes of the game to push YSU’s lead to 63-58.  With 3:24 left in the game, and YSU holding a very slim lead of 65-64, Brewer gathered an offensive rebound and was fouled trying to put it back.  Brewer was unable to connect with either charity toss and UIC ended up taking a two point lead when Carter was fouled while shooting a three.

With 1:41 left in the game, YSU trailed 67-65.  Sulskis hit a spinning layup to tie things up at the 1:31 mark.  UIC could not score on their end and with less than a minute to go and the score tied at 67 apiece, Ward was fouled and hit one of two to put the Penguins up a point at 68-67 with 41.3 seconds remaining.  Carter hit a 15-foot jumper with 24 seconds left to put UIC back up by one in this see-saw battle.

Sulskis was fouled, a blessing for YSU fans because he nails his free throws, hit a pair to give YSU a 70-69 lead with 15.9 seconds to go in the game.  Kreps drove the hoop but threw up a wild prayer that barely drew iron.  Blake Allen hauled in the rebound with 2.9 seconds to go and was immediately fouled and put to the line.  Allen hit one of two to put the Penguins ahead 71-69 with 2.2 seconds to go.  UIC inbounded the ball but could not get better than a three-quarter court look and YSU held on for the dramatic win, 71-69.

Youngstown State (6-6, 1-2) was led by Ward, who posted a career-high with 26 points.  Ward answered every time the UIC seemed to gain momentum by hitting a huge bucket.  Ward finished the game 9-14 from the floor and 7-10 from three-point land.

UIC (5-9, 0-2) got 19 points from Carter who did all he could to keep the Flames in the game down the stretch.

After the game, Jerry Slocum commented on his team’s big conference win.  “We got a huge boost from our bench tonight.  Ash [Ashen Ward] stepped up and hit some big baskets.  They were keeping a close eye on Vytas [Sulskis] and that freed Ash up to get some good looks.  We have been asking Ashen to do a little more offensively and to take more shots.  The whole team battled hard and we came out with a big win.”

Ward commented on his holiday success.  “We took some extra shooting practice and it paid off tonight.  Give credit to our bench, they played well and everyone played hard.”

To sit at the media table at Youngstown State basketball games has been awesome.  To take pictures along the baseline at Beeghly Center when the YSU Penguins have a home game is a different kind of awesome.  You hear both sides of everything because you are real close to the YSU bench, but you hear the commentary of the fans also.   People are very critical of Jerry Slocum and quite frankly, I’m sick of hearing the criticism.  Here are some reasons why Slocum is the man, and hopefully stays at YSU for a very long time.

At a recent home game, a Penguin player threw a turnover, a horrible decision.  The Malone player finished the sequence by making a lay-up and then being fouled.  As Jerry Slocum paced the YSU bench area, I looked over and saw the disgust, from the very recent turn of events that just happened on the court,  obvious in Slocum’s face.

Then the heckling starts.  I hear people scream about how poor the coaching is.  I bite my tongue and shake my head and just glance at the stupidity around me sometimes.  Jerry Slocum is one of the most passionate coaches you will find in any sport.  He comes to the press conference drained, he leaves it all on the court just like he encourages his players to do.  Yet, there are hecklers.

Let’s be realistic about a couple of things.  Slocum may not be winning championships, but for the most part his teams are competitive and well coached.  Last year he lost everyone except Vytas Sulskis, Ashen Ward and Dan Boudler.  This year, Sheldon Brogden has walked away and turned in his uniform.  Why?  I’ll tell you why.  Hard-nosed old-school coaching, that’s why.  Slocum works his guys hard.  The lazy players quit or become headaches refusing to conform to a stubborn man who is very set in his ways.

Youngstown State is a football school.  Eric Wolford is doing a great job rekindling the fire that once burned between goal lines at The Ice Castle.  Jerry Slocum has done something Eric Wolford has not done yet, he has won over 600 games. 

Slocum could live without media, in fact, I think he actually despises going to press conferences after a loss.  Go find some Bobby Knight footage on You Tube and tell me that he wasn’t the same way.   Slocum has been a joy to cover and he has never given me any negativity or distress.  I do, however, pick and choose times that feel more appropriate when asking a question.

Jerry Slocum is a very private, family man.  He takes great pride in his personal relationships and glows when he talks about his wife or extended family.  He also takes great pride in what kind of product shows up on the court each game.  He is constantly thinking and his scowl is priceless, he wears his heart on his sleeve.

If I were in charge, which I’m not, I would surely try to find out how much longer he wants to coach and throw the paper down for him to sign.  I suggest keeping an eye on him during the game, it is really entertaining because he is working on so many different things.  He is an ace at riding the refs.  Watch how soon YSU gets a make-good call when Slocum questions something less than a minute before, it happens every game.  When a YSU player misses a free throw, he will just look at the ground like his stomach just turned.  These are admirable qualities you don’t get from a coach.  Consider yourselves lucky YSU fans, and Merry Christmas, Jerry Slocum!

The much-improved Youngstown State Lady Penguins welcomed their longtime geographic rival, the Akron Zips, to town for a finals week matchup.  The game was tied at 55 with just under five minutes to play, but Akron was able to clamp down and improve to 6-4 on the season, as they posted a 70-56 win at Youngstown State.

Akron carried a 31-25 lead into the locker room at the half thanks in part to shooting 44% from the floor.  Rachel Tecca led a balanced Zips attack in the first half with seven points.  Youngstown State got eight first half points from Boki Dimitrov including a couple of threes that kept YSU at a single digit deficit.  The Penguins launched 18 threes in the first half, hitting five.  The Zips also held a 20-14 rebounding advantage at the intermission.

The Penguins cut the Zips lead to 35-33 when Tieara Jones scored inside and was fouled.  Jones scored her tenth point to cut the Akron lead to one point at the 12:49 mark, but but Tecca responded on the Zips next possession to keep the lead at three.  Jones, a product of Rayen High School, again connected with 11:52 left in the game to make the score 41-40 in favor of Akron.  Jones was having one of her best nights as a Penguin.

Sina King gave Akron a 45-40 lead on a layup, but Kenya Middlebrooks hit a three coming back to keep the Penguins close.  Macey Nortey, who seems to hustle her heart out every game, had a steal and drove the court for a layup, and was fouled.  Nortey hit the free throw putting the Penguins in front for the first time in the second half at 46-45.

Middlebrooks was in a zone, hitting threes at will, she had three of them in a six minute span, including one at the 7:15 mark to put the Penguins back in front, 52-51.  Brandi Brown’s presence seemed like enough for Akron to really concentrate on shutting her down, allowing the role players like Middlebrooks, Nortey, and Jones ample chances to score.

Jasmine Mushington stepped up for the Zips and hit a couple of big baskets to give Akron back the lead at 59-55 with 3:54 left in the game.  Akron’s 9-1 run put the Penguins into fouling mode with 1:24 left in the game.  The Zips coasted home holding the Penguins to just one point over the final four and a half minutes.

Akron was paced by Tecca’s 19 points and 11 boards.  Youngstown State got 15 from Jones and 14 from Middlebrooks.  The Penguins finished 9-39 from three-point land.  With the loss, YSU fell to 2-7 and will not play at home again in 2010.

After the game, Coach Boldon spoke about his team’s collapse down the stretch.  “We look at film and see the things we do well, and the things we don’t do so well, and we are doing more things not so well right now.”

Tieara Jones talked about a piece of the machine giving way each possession.  “We play good defense, but if four people are on the same page and one breaks down, it can hurt the whole team and we had some of that tonight.  It wasn’t any one person in particular, just one of the four on the court would break down and it cost us.”

Youngstown State returned home to play a game a few days after being trounced by Robert Morris, 90-60.  To make matters worse, one of the team leaders, Ashen Ward, would be inactive with back spasms.  The Penguins last played Malone in 1963, and won that game 117-81.  Monday night, parody showed 50 years of progress and the Penguins didn’t post such a lopsided number, but managed to win the game behind stellar efforts from Vytas Sulskis and Damian Eargle.

The first half saw a sluggish Penguins team establish their presence inside.  Only four Penguins managed to score in the first half. Damian Eargle and Vytas Sulskis combined for 25 of the Penguins 33 first half points.  The other two Penguins to get any points in the opening half were Tre Brewer with five, and Dan Boudler contributing three.  Malone held their ground and trailed by only two at the intermission with the score YSU 33, and Malone 31.

Coach Jerry Slocum was handed a pretty cheap technical foul (below) with 6:31 left in the first half to help Malone stay in the game on a four-point swing.  Malone was paced by Eric Coblentz’s 12 in the opening half.

Coblentz gave Malone a 41-39 lead when he buried a three for his twelfth point as the Pioneers, who shot 45% from long distance in the first half stayed red hot.  Eargle responded with a bucket giving him 16 points, a new career high, to tie the game at 41 with 15:49 left in the game.  Sulskis and Eargle continued to propel the offense which pushed the lead to five with 12:00 remaining.  Sulskis hit a thunderous running dunk off of the right baseline to force the Pioneers to use a timeout to regroup.

Eargle was a man possessed and created problems for the Pioneers all night long.  He was blocking shots, making passes, and scoring. Sulskis hit his season-high 20th point to put YSU up 57-51 with 9:45 left.  The pesky Pioneers were surviving behind the arc hitting 50% for the game to this point.  YSU held a 64-54 lead with 7:53 remaining in the game.

The Penguins took their largest lead of the game with 6:11 left when Blake Allen hit a free throw giving YSU a 12-point lead with 6:21 left at 67-55.  DuShawn Brooks was starting to feel it hitting his second three of the night and recording his eighth point to push the Penguin advantage to 14.

Sulskis (above) finished the game with 25 points, one short of a career high on 10-12 shooting.  He also gathered nine rebounds.  Eargle would have his best all-around game as a Penguin.  Eargle finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds, posting his first double-double of the season.  Eargle and Sulskis were virtually everywhere and played scintillating basketball.  Tre Brewer also recorded a career-high in both points (13) and rebounds (14).

Eric Coblentz played very well for Malone and finished with 21 points.

With the win, YSU improved to 5-4 on the season, but more importantly, seemed to pick up the pieces after a disastrous road trip in preparation for North Carolina State and Kent State in the immediate future.

Coach Jerry Slocum was reflective on his team’s effort.  “We got past the shackles of a hard loss and ran a lot of motion.  We played very well and regrouped.  That road trip we just came off of, every one of those teams did well in tournaments last season.  Heading to NC State and playing an ACC team will be tough, but I feel Kent State has their best team this season.  They will both be very hard games for us.”

Vytas Sulskis reflected on the night.  “Me and Damian are roommates and we had good chemistry going tonight.  We were finding each other and it wasn’t planned, it just worked that way.  I was hot tonight.”

Slocum praised the efforts of both Sulskis and Eargle as well. “Vytas played really well on both ends of the court tonight.  He and Damian toughened up on defense and we found a way to get into a rhythm in the second half.”

Youngstown State sophomore forward Brandi Brown has been honored as the Horizon League Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week beginning Nov. 22, the conference announced Monday.

Brown averaged 20 points and 8.5 rebounds in helping Youngstown State snap a 34-game losing streak and win back-to-back games for the first time since the 2007-08 season.

Brown notched her first double-double of the season – and 15th of her career – in Youngstown State’s 71-57 victory over Bucknell on Wednesday. She scored 16 of her game-high 23 points in the second half in just 13 minutes. She added 11 rebounds and two steals, and she was 7-for-8 from the free-throw line.

Brown then scored a game-high 17 points while posting six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal in YSU’s come-from-behind victory over Ohio on Saturday. One of those assists came when she grabbed a defensive rebound and hit Macey Nortey on a fast-break lay-up with 55 seconds remaining that gave YSU its first lead of the second half.

Brown, a native of Pomona, Calif., leads the Horizon League in scoring with 20.2 points per game. She also ranks seventh in rebounding and ninth in 3-point field goals per contest.

Youngstown State’s last Horizon League Player of the Week was Jen Perugini on Feb. 28, 2005.

Last season,  Brown was pretty much robbed for Horizon League Newcomer of The Year as she was voted runner-up despite leading the conference in more statistics than the eventual winner of the award.

The new-look Youngstown State University basketball team welcomed another MAC team to Beeghly Center Wednesday.  Toledo came into this game 0-5 and was searching for answers.  The Rockets left Youngstown scratching their heads, and Coach Jerry Slocum picked up his 632nd career victory.  The Penguins remained undefeated at home and improved to 3-1 on the young season with a 73-67 win over Toledo.

Youngstown State looked sharp at times in the first half, but also looked rough during stretches.  Coach Slocum talked about what he expected out of the gate tonight.  “We had a tough loss the other night, and I was really anxious to see how this team would respond to a tough loss.”  True, it was a bit sluggish, but when this team gets going, they are a force.

Vytas Sulskis showed no ill effects of a hyperextended knee suffered at Akron.  Sulskis hit three times from long distance and finished the first half with 11 points and four rebounds and would finish the contest with 20 points for YSU.  However, the Penguins trailed the Rockets 34-33 at intermission.  Toledo got nine first half points from Malcolm Griffin and the Rockets out-boarded the Penguins 21-14 in the opening session.  Griffin finished the game with 18 points.

In the second half, Sulskis continued to score as he hit two free throws with 14:14 left in the game to put YSU ahead 45-43.  Toledo cut the lead to one when Zack Leahy hit a trey to make it 47-46.  Richard Wonell gave the Rockets a three-point lead with just over twelve minutes remaining with an easy bucket in the paint that made it 50-47, Toledo.

Damian Eargle tied the game at 52 and was fouled on an offensive rebound put back attempt on the Penguins next possession.  Eargle hit one of the two and then scored his fifth consecutive point on a nifty reverse layup.  Eargle made it seven straight points the next trip up the court, and there was no doubt that the Warren G. Harding grad was in the zone.  The Penguins would ride the hot hand of Eargle to take a 57-54 lead with 8:23 left in the game.  Devonte Maymon hit a pair of free throws to extend the YSU lead to 59-54 with 7:49 left in the game.

Eargle was dominating the game on both sides of the court in the second half.  He was scoring, blocking shots, rebounding (on both sides of the court), and passing.  Eargle finished the game with six blocks, a career-high, as well as 15 points and six boards and commented on how he is approaching this season after being stuck on the bench all of last season.  “I feel like I can get better every game, and I can see myself doing more.  We are really feeding off of the energy of the crowd and it seems like there are a few more people coming each time we win.”

With YSU ahead 65-58 with 3:26 left in the game, Griffin stole a pass and drove the floor for a bucket to cut the YSU lead to 65-60.

YSU kept their foot on the gas pedal with a five point lead and 2:42 left in the game.  Ashen Ward drilled a three with just under two minutes left in the game to increase the Penguins lead to 70-63.  Ward has been the guy who hits the big shot in a couple of instances this season.  Eargle also played a key role in preserving the win with a couple of blocks and rebounds in the waning minutes.  Slocum credited DuShawn Brooks after the game as the “unsung hero” pointing out that Eargle was the recipient of some nice passes from Brooks at the high post.

After the game, Jerry Slocum talked about what he would be thankful for, and it wasn’t a win.  “I am very thankful for my family.  I know that all of this can take its toll and it really gets hard sometimes. My wife and my kids have put up with a lot, and I could not be more thankful than to have such a great family.”

Sulskis left the media room with a big smile on his face.  “Man, is my turkey gonna taste good tomorrow.”

With the Holiday Season in the air on the Eve of Thanksgiving, Youngstown State’s Lady Penguins were scraping for reasons to be thankful.  The team had not won a game in its last 34 attempts, or 627 days,  although seem much improved over last season.  Drought Be Gone! The Lady Penguins used 87.5% free throw shooting and some hustle from the role players to get by Bucknell.

Bucknell lost 71-45 the last time these two teams met in 1992.  The margin would not be quite as big but was meaningful in so many ways.  It marked Bob Boldon‘s first victory as new coach.  It broke the drought of 34 losses in a row.  Perhaps the most important thing the win did was give a group of scrappy girls who never quit an inkling of confidence to build on.

In a statistically even first half, the Penguins looked better on offense than they had Saturday against IPFW, yet trailed 30-27. Brandi Brown was doing her best to end the drought with six boards and seven points at intermission.  Newcomer Heidi Schlegel also had seven for the Penguins at the break.  Bucknell was paced by Joyce Novacek‘s nine points and five rebounds.

Monica Touvelle hit a three-pointer at the 15:29 mark of the second half to give YSU a five point lead at 39-34.  Next trip down the floor, Kenya Middlebrooks drilled a three, and at the 13:52 mark, the Penguins were in front by the score of 42-38.  YSU held the lead until the 11:20 mark when Cosima Higham drove the lane to put the Bison up by a point, 45-44.

Liz Hornberger his a three from the corner to give the Penguins back the lead at 49-47 with 10:23 to go.  Hornberger hit her second three of the half to put YSU back on top 52-50.  Middlebrooks extended the lead with her ninth point of the night to extend the lead to 54-50 with 7:06 left in the game, and hold the phones, the chilled champagne might get uncorked in Youngstown.

With 5:36 left, Schlegel kept the Penguins safely ahead with her drive to the hoop that made it 57-53.  YSU was getting some bounces, finally, and upped their lead to 60-53 on a pair of Macey Nortey free throws as the Penguins were 15-18 from the line to this point.

With 1:54 left in the game, Youngstown State enjoyed a 64-55 lead and was just looking to run the clock out.  Free throw shooting was great all night and Schlegel hit a pair to move the lead to 66-55 with just over a minute left in the game.  Nortey stepped up and followed suit with a pair to make it 68-55.  The Penguins went 21-24 from the line to get the win and improve to 1-3 on the season.

After the game, Coach Boldon was complimentary and happy for the team. “They deserved to win tonight because of how hard they worked at practice this week.  I am a believer that hard work at practice should translate over to wins on game day, and they earned this starting two days ago.  I am very happy for the players and they will celebrate this victory, hopefully not too much, because we have practice at nine in the morning.”

Brandi Brown, who finished the game with 23 points and 11 rebounds was happy to get a win.  “It feels amazing.  It’s a humongous reward for how hard we have been working.  When everybody plays their role and listens to Coach Boldon, we can win.“