Coach Boldon Video | Heidi Schlegel Video

The Youngstown State women's basketball team used a strong second-half effort to pull away for an 80-55 victory over Western Michigan on Wednesday night at the Beeghly Center. YSU outscored the Broncos 50-33 in the second half and after connecting on 12 of its first 16 shots in the stanza, it never looked back.

Leading the way for the Penguins was redshirt freshman Heidi Schlegel who scored a game-high 15 points. Freshman Kelsea Fickiesen scored 12, Brandi Brown finished with 12 and Macey Nortey had 11 as four players reached double figures. Liz Hornberger and Monica Touvelle both finished with nine. Brown also had a double-double finishing with 14 rebounds.

With the win, YSU improves to 4-3 overall while Western Michigan is now 0-5. The Penguins finished November with at least four wins for just the third time in school history.

In the second half, the Penguins shot 53.1 percent making 17-of-32 field-goal attempts, including a 5-of-13 performance from behind the 3-point arc.

YSU led 35-27 just under two minutes into the second half before scoring nine of the next 11 points to go ahead 44-29.

The Penguins broke open the contest with an impressive scoring run from the 14:27 mark to the 9:04 mark. YSU scored 14 of the game's 15 points to seize control of the contest, building a 63-34 lead. During the run, Schlegel drained two treys while Fickiesen and Touvelle each made one. Schlegel also made a field goal and a free throw. Nortey's free throws with 9:04 left gave the Guins their biggest lead of the night.

It was the largest margin of victory for the program since beating Buffalo 78-44 on Nov. 21, 2006 at the Beeghly Center. On the night, YSU shot 43.8 percent (28-of-64) while holding the Broncos to just 31 percent (18-of-58) from the field. Maria Iaquaniello led Western Michigan with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

YSU took a 30-22 lead at halftime, but led by as many as 13 points in the opening period. The Penguins shot 34.4 percent making 11-of-32 attempts from the field, including hitting five 3-pointers. The Guins defense limited the Broncos to just 24.1 percent (7-of-29) in the opening half.

Eight Penguins scored with Hornberger and Touvelle scoring six each. Both of their field goals were 3-pointers.

YSU never trailed in the first half and opened a nine-point lead just seven minutes into the contest. Touvelle's first 3-pointer of the game extended an 8-4 lead to 11-4 and Tieara Jones followed up with a jumper extending the advantage to 13-4 at the 12:58 mark. WMU answered with a 3-pointer before two free throws by Nortey and a fastbreak layup by Matkin gave the Guins their first double-digit lead of the game at 17-7.

YSU's biggest lead of the first half, 24-11, came at the 7:52 mark when Touvelle drained her second three of the half. WMU scored the next eight points chopping the Penguins' lead down to 24-19 on two free throws by Miame Giden with 2:04 left. Nortey made a free throw and Matkin followed with a layup to put YSU ahead 27-19. WMU's Jazmine Windhman knocked down a 3-pointer to get the Broncos within five again, but Schlegel hit a deep three from the top of the key with just four seconds left to round out the scoring for the half.

The Penguins return to action next Tuesday at the Beeghly Center against Bowling Green. Tipoff for the contest is 5:15 p.m. and is the opening game of a doubleheader with the YSU men's team.