Box Score
Youngstown -- The Youngstown State women's basketball team turned in a gutsy performance to overcome a 16-point second-half deficit to tie the game late, but it dropped a 73-61 decision to IPFW on Saturday afternoon at the Beeghly Center.
Sophomore Brandi Brown scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds while sophomore Maryum Jenkins and junior Macey Nortey each posted eight points for the Penguins, who fall to 0-3.
Brown's 29 points are the most scored by a YSU player since Heather Karner scored 34 against Cincinnati on Nov. 10, 2006.
IPFW's Stephanie Rosado led four Mastodons (2-1) reaching double figures with 22 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the field. Rosado also posted a double-double with 12 rebounds. Jordan Zuppe scored 15 points while Chelsey Jackson and Kayla Drake added 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Trailing 45-29 with 15 minutes left in the game, the Guins clawed their way back by outscoring the Mastodons 26-10 over the next 10 minutes to tie the game at 55-55 with 4:41 to go.
Brown, who connected on 11-of-19 from the floor, scored 16 of the Guins 26 points over that span. The sophomore forward scored 23 of her points in the second half, going 8-for-13 from the field and 6-for-7 from the free-throw line.
With the Guins down six, 54-48, Brown drilled a 3-pointer at the 6:06 mark to cut the lead to three, 54-51. After an IPFW turnover, Brown hit another jumper at the 5:31 mark to bring the Guins within one, 54-53.
A made free throw by IPFW's Drake pushed the lead back to two, but Brown delivered the game-tying score at 4:41.
IPFW, however, scored the next nine points and outscored the Penguins 18-6 over the rest of the game to seal its second win of the season.
For the first 10 minutes of the game, the Guins and Mastodons played pretty evenly and neither team built a lead of more than four points.
The Mastodons built a four-point lead, 8-4, just minutes in the game before freshman Monica Touvelle buried the 3-pointer to bring the Guins within one, 8-7, at the 14:06 mark.
IPFW's Jordan Zuppe, who made three 3-pointers in the first half, answered with a triple to push the Mastodon lead back to four, 11-7, with 13:12 to go.
Coming out of a media timeout, Brown made a layup at the 11:32 mark, and Jenkins' steal and layup knotted the contest at 11-11 at the 10:19 mark.
Jenkins added another layup to tie the contest at 13-13 at the 9:20 mark, but the Mastodons went on a 14-2 run over the next 4:40 to take a 27-15 lead with just 4:41 to go. During that span, the Penguins made just one of 10 field-goal attempts
Bojana Domitrov nailed a 3-pointer at with 2:31 left to trim the deficit to nine, 29-20, but IPFW scored five of the next seven points to take a 34-22 lead at the intermission.
In the first half, the Guins shot shot 27.3 percent from the field and 15.4 percent from behind the 3-point line, while IPFW connected on 40.6 percent from the floor and 40 percent from behind the arc.
YSU upped its shooting to 38.2 percent in the second half, and the Guins made 12-of-15 from the line in the final 20 minutes. YSU held advantages of 25-14 in points off turnovers and 12-2 in fast-break points. The Penguins had 12 turnovers in the first half and five in the second half.
The Penguins continue their homestand when they host Bucknell, Wednesday, Nov. 24, at 5:15 p.m. at the Beeghly Center.
