Box Score Dayton, Ohio -- Wright State used runs of 10-0
and 13-0 in the second half to pull away and defeat the Youngstown
State women's basketball team 84-62 on Thursday evening at the
Nutter Center.
After 14 lead changes and nine ties in the first half, Wright
State led the entire second half and outscored the Penguins 43-23.
That included an 18-5 edge in the final six minutes.
The Raiders, who improved to 18-9 overall and 11-4 in Horizon
League play, had three players reach the 20-point plateau. Courtney
Boyd led all scorers with 24 points while Kim Demmings had 22 and
Molly Fox posted 20. Brandi Brown led YSU with 18 points, 12 of
which came in the second half. Heidi Schlegel added 14 points and a
team-high seven rebounds.
YSU trailed just 52-48 with 15 minutes left, and the Penguins
had a turnover in transition that seemed to jump-start the Raiders.
Wright State scored the next 10 points, the final six of which were
on back-to-back 3-pointers from Boyd, to go up 62-48.
Brown scored the next five points to cut the margin to nine, and
YSU still trailed just 66-57 with under six minutes left. That's
when the Raiders scored 13 straight points to take a 79-57 with
2:43 remaining. Schlegel's bucket at the 1:57 mark ended a
five-and-a-half minute scoring drought for the Penguins.
Wright State did not have a field goal for nearly five minutes
in the second half, but YSU was only able to score four points in
that stretch and did not trim anything off the deficit.
After a back-and-forth first half, Wright State made four free
throws in the final minute to take a 41-39 lead at halftime.
Wright State scored the first six points of the game, and that
was its largest lead of the opening period. YSU scored the next
five points, and Kenya Middlebrooks' third triple in the first five
minutes gave YSU its first lead at 11-9. Wright State did not lead
by more than two the remainder of the period.
YSU's largest lead came at 30-25 with 5:34 remaining following a
7-0 run. Devan Matkin started the run with a 3-pointer, her second
of the half, while Kelsea Fickiesen and Brown both had two points.
Wright State scored the next five points to tie the score for the
fifth time at the 4:55 mark, and neither team led by more than two
the rest of the period.
Boyd had 15 points in the first half, which was nearly seven
above her average coming into the game. Schlegel and Middlebrooks
had nine apiece for YSU, which hit seven triples in the first 20
minutes.
YSU finished with 10 3-pointers in 30 attempts, which included a
3-for-18 effort from distance in the second half. Wright State
outshot the Penguins 45.5 percent to 34.4 percent.
YSU will stay on the road and play at Detroit on Saturday at 2
p.m. The game will be broadcast live on 1390 WNIO.