Coach Boldon Postgame Comments | Brandi Brown Postgame Comments

Youngstown State sophomore Brandi Brown scored 22 points, but the Penguins could not dig themselves out of a first-half hole dropping a 65-57 decision to Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon at the Beeghly Center.

With the victory, Milwaukee snaps a nine-game losing streak to improve to 4-11 overall and 1-3 in the Horizon League. The Guins have now lost 10 straight and are 2-13 and 0-4.

The YSU defense harrassed the Panthers into 27 turnovers for the contest. UWM shot 47.8 percent making 22-of-46 attempts while the Penguins converted 33.3 percent from the field (19-of-57).

Brown made eight of the 19 field goals going 8-of-18 for the game and 5-of-11 from the free-throw line. She was the only Penguin to reach double figures.

UWM had four players reach double digits led by Lindsay Laur who finished with 19. Angela Rodriquez scored 13, Sami Tucker added 11 and Courtney Lindfors tossed in 10 for the Panthers.

YSU pulled within 34-33 early in the second half on Brown's 3-pointer. From there, UWM stretched the lead back out to 12 by scoring 12 of the next 13 points.

The Guins kept fighting and twice pulled as close as five points. The first was at 49-44 following a Kenya Middlebrooks 3-pointer and Macey Nortey steal and conversion with 7:53 remaining and the second was with 5:40 left, 52-47 following another Nortey bucket.

However after Laur and Lindfors added baskets the Panthers never looked back using a 12-5 run over the next four minutes to seal the victory.

Both teams traded early leads before the Panthers, who were leading 6-5, scored 10 unaswered points building an 18-5 cushion before Jones' free throws at 12:21 stopped the run. Bojana Dimitrov added the Guins' first field goal in nearly seven minutes to cut the deficit to 18-8.

However, UWM went on another run scoring 10 of the next 12 points to take its biggest lead of the half at 28-10 following Laur's basket with 7:38 left in the opening half.

But the Guins caught fire from the field and picked up the defensive intensity. In the final 7:16, YSU outscored Milwaukee 18-5 to get within five at the break.

The run started when Liz Hornberger came off the bench and drilled consecutive 3-pointers. With 5:09 remaining before the half the Guins were behind 33-18. They scored the final 10 points of the half while the Panthers missed five shots and turned the ball over four times.

Hornberger's third three of the half cut the deficit to 33-21 and Brown converted a three-point play to get within single digits. Brown followed with two more driving layups to close the gap to 33-28 with 2:10 left. The Penguins had three opportunities to pull closer before the break, but could not convert.

In the first half, Brown had 12 points while grabbing six boards. Hornbecker came off the bench to go 3-of-3 from behind the arc and score nine points. Laur had 11 and Angela Rodriquez scored 10 to pace the Panthers who shot 42.9 percent (12-of-28) in the opening half. YSU connected on 10-of-28 shot opportunities (35.7 percent).

YSU returns to the road when they visit Valparaiso on Thursday night. Tipoff for the contest is set for 8 p.m. at the ARC.