Box Score
Akron, Ohio -- Kenya
Middlebrooks scored 13 of her career-high 27 points in the
final four minutes as the Youngstown State women's basketball team
rallied to defeat Akron 78-72 on Sunday afternoon at James A.
Rhodes Arena.
The Penguins scored 51 points and shot 60 percent after halftime
and overcame a 13-point second-half deficit to improve to 6-4 on
the season. They've now matched their win total from last season
and have won five straight road games for the first time since
1997-98. Akron dropped to 5-6.
Youngstown State trailed 60-47 with nine minutes remaining and
by eight with five minutes left. Melissa Thompson
hit a 3-pointer at the 4:35 mark to start the rally, and
Middlebrooks made two free throws after the media timeout to make
the score 67-64. Akron upped its lead to 71-65 after two Taylor
Ruper free throws at the 3:30 mark, but Youngstown State closed out
the game by outscoring the Zips 13-1.
Brandi
Brown's 3-pointer cut the deficit in half, and Middlebrooks
scored the next five points to give the Penguins a 73-71 lead with
1:45 left. Ti'eshia Stubbs made 1-of-2 from the free-throw line to
make the score 73-72 with just over a minute left, but Middlebrooks
hit her sixth 3-pointer of the game to push the lead to 76-72 with
50 seconds remaining.
Middlebrooks had a steal on Akron's next possession, and she
rebounded Akron's miss with just over 20 seconds remaining. She
made two free throws with 6.6 seconds left for the final
margin.
Brown finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds, including 10 of
each in the second half. Thompson added a career-high 12 points
after having 11 points total in the first nine games.
Hanna Luburgh had 20 points to lead three players in double
figures for Akron.
The Penguins outshot the Zips 43.5 percent to 35.7 percent and
held the rebounding edge 44-40. Youngstown State made 13
3-pointers, which was two off of the school record. Ten of those
triples came on 16 attempts in the second half. Macey Nortey and Kelsea
Fickiesen combined for 11 of YSU's 19 assists.
Youngstown State battled through a sloppy first half to only
trail by four at halftime. The Penguins scored 10 straight points
early in the period but trailed by as many as nine before closing
the gap late.
Akron hit a triple on the first possession of the game, but the
Penguins scored the next 10 points to take a 10-3 lead on a
Middlebrooks trey with 17:15 remaining.
After the fast start, YSU got out of sync offensively and
committed eight turnovers in the first nine minutes. Akron used
that to its advantage and went on a 12-1 run to go up 15-11 with
8:04 left.
Monica
Touvelle's trey ended a field-goal drought of nearly 10 minutes
to cut the margin to 15-14, but Akron eventually built a 29-20 lead
with 2:19 remaining.
The Penguins closed the half on a 7-2 run, which included four
points in the final minute by Brown.
YSU had 11 turnovers in the opening period and shot 28 percent.
The defense forced Akron into 10 turnovers and held the Zips to 33
percent shooting.
Youngstown State's next game will be at Stony Brook on Dec. 27
at 7 p.m.
