El Paso, Texas -- Weber State made eight of its first nine shots in the second half and scored 46 points in the period to defeat Youngstown State 70-51 on Saturday at the UTEP Thanksgiving Tournament.

Weber State shot just 27.6 percent (8-for-29) in the first half, but it rebounded to shoot 72 percent in the second half (18-for-25) and 48.1 percent overall.

After going scoreless in the first half, Ali Thorderson scored 10 points in the first 4:16 of the second half as Weber State outscored YSU 15-7 over that span. The Wildcats hit their first 3-pointers of the half as Ali Thorderson hit two and Abby Thorderson hit the other.

Weber State upped its advantage to as many as 17 points midway through the second half, but YSU scored seven straight points to get margin to 10 at 49-39 with 9:05 remaining. Weber State, though, closed out the game by outscoring YSU 21-12 as it worked through YSU's trap defense.

Caitlin Anderson scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Weber State, which improved to 3-3. Macey Nortey had 15 points and six assists in 34 minutes to lead YSU (0-6). Brandi Brown added eight points and nine rebounds, and Rachael Manuel scored all 11 of her points in the second half.

Weber State took a 24-19 lead into the locker room despite being outshot 33.3 percent to 27.6 in the first half. Weber State was 6-for-8 from the free-throw line, however, and outscored YSU 10-5 off turnovers.

The Penguins scored seven of the game's first nine points and held a 7-2 lead on Bojana Dimitrov's 3-pointer with 17:32 remaining. The Wildcats kept Dimitrov without another bucket the rest of the half, and they scored eight straight points to take and held a 14-9 advantage, which was their first lead of the game. Weber State led by as many as nine when Sarah Conner's 3-pointer put them ahead 24-15 with 3:35 left.

Nortey had eight points on 4-for-6 shooting in the first half, and Brown had six points and six rebounds. They combined to go 7-for-13 from the floor, and the rest of the Penguins went 2-for-14.

Anderson and Woodfield both had eight points in the first 20 minutes for Weber State.

Youngstown State will travel home on Sunday and get ready for a game against Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Tipoff at Beeghly Center is set for 7:05 p.m. as the Penguins welcome the Panthers to campus for the first time since Dec. 5, 1991.