Youngstown -- The Youngstown State women's basketball team kept the contest tight against second-place Butler for more than 25 minutes. However, the Bulldogs found their shooting touch at the right time to get past the Penguins 61-42 on Thursday night at the Beeghly Center.
    YSU trailed by just five points at halftime and by eight with 12:33 remaining before Butler found warmed up from the field.
    The Bulldogs used a 17-6 run to push a 35-27 advantage to a 52-33 bulge with 7:22 remaining in the game and the closest the Guins could get the rest of the night was 14.
    With the victory, the Bulldogs improves to 19-10 overall and moves into sole position of
second place in the Horizon League at 13-4. Butler also clinched the No. 2 seed in the upcoming conference tournament which starts next week. The Penguins are now 2-26 and 0-17. YSU will play at either UIC or Milwaukee in the first round on Monday.
    Senior Tiara Scott led the Penguins with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field. Freshman guard Macey Nortey led YSU with a career-best nine rebounds. Scott finished the contest with seven boards.
    For the Bulldogs, Lade Akande had a game-high 16 points while Brittany Bowen and Candyce Brown each scored 12.
    Butler missed all eight of its 3-point attempts in the first half, but in the second stanza made 4-of-10 attempts, two each by Bowen and Brown.
    On the night, YSU shot 30 percent (15-of-50) while Butler hit at a 41.1 percent clip (23-of
56). The Bulldogs shot 56 percent in the second half making 14-of-25 shots.
    Both teams made runs to keep the first half interesting.
    Kelsey Gurganus drained a 3-pointer to tie the contest at nine with 12:04 remaining in the half just before Butler made its run.
    The Bulldogs scored the next nine points to go ahead 18-9 when Lade Akande made a layup at the 7:46 mark.
    A Scott free throw stopped the spurt 30 seconds later, then YSU made its first field goal in six-and-a-half minutes when Scott's desperation 15-foot jumper as the shot clock was about to expire went in.
    Scott scored the Guins' next basket as well to trim the deficit to 18-14 at the 5:20 mark. Akande put the Bulldogs up 20-14 before Scott answered with her third straight field goal. Akande scored Butler's final field goal and Ashley Pendleton's free throw with 1:30 left made the score 22-17 at the break.
    Both teams shot under 30 percent from the field with the Bulldogs hitting 29 percent (9-of-31) and YSU making 25 percent (7-of-28). From the free-throw line the teams combined to go 6-of-13.
    The Penguins close out the regular season on Saturday when they play host to Valparaiso. Tipoff for Senior Day is set for 2:05 p.m. YSU will honor its six seniors and manager Matt Lipcsak in  a ceremony prior to the contest.