Valparaiso, Ind. -- Kenya Middlebrooks scored 13 second-half points, and the Youngstown State women's basketball team battled for a 55-48 victory at Valparaiso on Saturday afternoon at the Athletics-Recreation Center.

The Penguins led just 47-45 and had four seconds on the shot clock with 1:40 remaining when Brandi Brown hit a bucket in traffic from an inbounds pass. Valpo hit a free throw on its possession, and YSU went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final 1:09 to pull away.

Youngstown State improves to 8-6 overall, which is its best start since the 1999-200 season, and 2-1 in Horizon League play. Valpo, which dressed seven players and played just six, dropped to 4-11 and 0-4.

YSU trailed 20-17 at halftime, and the Guins needed a Middlebrooks bucket in the final five seconds to get to 17 points. They then scored 11 points in the first four minutes of the second half to go up 28-26, but they went on a scoring drought for nearly six minutes. Valpo scored 10 straight points in that stretch to go up 36-28 with 10:34 remaining.

The Crusaders still led by eight with 9:30 to go when Middlebrooks got hot. She hit a trey and a jumper on back-to-back possessions to close the gap to three, and she tied the score at 40 with another 3-pointer with just inside of eight minutes left. YSU's defense held Valpo without a field goal for more than seven minutes, and Middlebrooks' third triple of the half capped a seven-point run that gave the Penguins a 47-41 lead with 5:42 on the clock.

Valpo made 4-of-6 from the free throw line to cut the margin to two points with 1:40 left, and that's when Brown scored on the inbounds pass from Nortey to put YSU up 49-45. Laura Richards made 1-of-2 from the line after a steal to make the score 49-46, and Nortey was sent to the line with 1:09 left. The senior point guard hit both tosses on a one-and-one, and she made two more with 37.6 seconds left to put YSU ahead 53-46. Middlebrooks made two charity tosses with 13.5 ticks remaining, and Valpo got a lay-up with five seconds left for the final score.

Middlebrooks finished with a team-high 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting, including 4-of-9 beyond the arc. Brown ended up with nine points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the third straight game. YSU was 9-for-9 from the free-throw line and shot 36.5 percent for the game.

Valparaiso's Tabitha Gerardot led all scorers with 21 points, and Gina Lange added 13. Valpo was 18-for-26 from the free-throw line and shot 30 percent. The Crusaders made just 21.4 percent in the first half and was 0-for-13 from 3-point range for the game.

Both teams struggled offensively in the first half as Valpo built a 20-17 lead at halftime. Valpo had a field-goal drought for nearly nine minutes, and YSU went without a bucket for seven-and-a-half minutes. Despite going 6-for-28 from the field, Valpo was 8-for-12 from the free-throw line in the opening period.

Middlebrooks hit a triple on the opening possession of the game, but YSU didn't score again until a Tieara Jones lay-up with 12:06 left. Valpo was only able to go up 7-3 in that stretch, and YSU reclaimed a 15-14 lead on a Brown steal and lay-up with 4:41 remaining. Valpo scored the next six points to go ahead 20-15 in the final 30 seconds, but Middlebrooks closed the gap to three with a bucket with four seconds remaining.

Youngstown State returns home to host Loyola on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN.