Box Score Cleveland, Ohio -- The Youngstown State women's
basketball team had its best defensive game of the season and made
a late run before falling 57-43 to Cleveland State on Friday at the
Wolstein Center.
The Penguins held the Vikings to 28.3 percent from the floor,
and Cleveland State's 57 points were the fewest scored against YSU
this season.
YSU, however, was held to 30.4 percent from the floor, hit four
fewer 3-pointers and was outscored 25-13 off turnovers. Cleveland
State has now won four straight and five of its last six contests.
Youngstown State freshman Brandi Brown notched her eighth
double-double of the season and fifth in Horizon League play,
finishing with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Maryum Jenkins added
eight points, all of which came in a five-minute span as the
Penguins made their run in the second half.
Angel Roque and Shalonda Winton had 13 points apiece to lead the
Vikings.
Cleveland State took its largest lead of the game, 41-25, when
Destinee Blue hit two free throws with 9:22 remaining. Maryum
Jenkins hit YSU's first trey of the contest to spark a 12-2 run for
the Penguins, which also ended with a Jenkins triple that made the
score 43-37 with 5:15 remaining. Cleveland State ended the game on
a 14-6 run.
YSU held Cleveland State without a field goal from 11:57 to
4:15, but the Vikings hit three straight shots after Winton ended
the drought on a breakaway lay-up.
The Penguins held Kailey Klein, the Horizon League's leading
scorer at 16.5 points per game, to five points on 1-for-11
shooting.
Neither team started out well on the offensive end in the first
half as both missed seven of their first eight attempts. Cleveland
State had three turnovers in the first two minutes and didn't hit
its first field goal until Jessica Roque hit a triple at the 16:43
mark. The Guins, however, were held scoreless for five-and-a-half
minutes after Brown's bucket at the 18:33 mark put them ahead 2-0.
Both teams continued to commit turnovers, but Cleveland State
started limiting its miscues and made six of its next nine field
goals to go ahead by 14. The Penguins' 11th turnover - and the
Vikings' eighth steal - in the first 11 minutes allowed Roque to
score on a fast-break lay-up to make the score 20-6 with 8:29
remaining.
Brown scored the first six points for the Penguins and had 13 of
their 17 points in the first half. Her 12th point of the half came
when she grabbed a long rebound, drove down to the middle of the
paint and hit a pull-up jumper on a fast break. She had the only
five field goals in the first period for the Guins until Rachael
Manuel's jumper from the left elbow at the 1:06 mark. Manuel's
bucket cut Cleveland State's lead to 30-17 at the break.
Five of Cleveland State's 10 field goals in the first half were
from 3-point range, but the Vikings hit just 33.3 percent from both
inside and outside the arc. YSU was 6-for-24 the field and had 16
turnovers, which CSU converted into 16 points, in the first period.
Cleveland State shot 23.3 percent in the second half and was
1-for-11 from behind the arc. The Vikings attempted 26 treys and 34
deuces in the contest.
Youngstown State will continue its three-game road stretch on
Thursday at Detroit at 5 p.m.