Box Score
Butler's Mandy McDivitt made a deep 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds remaining to end another late comeback attempt by the Youngstown State women's basketball as the Penguins dropped a tough 65-63 decision on Saturday afternoon at the Beeghly Center.
YSU, which trailed by nine with 14 minutes left, battled back to go ahead 63-62 on two Brandi Brown free throws with 28.7 seconds left.
The Penguins stopped the Bulldogs on their ensuing possession when Devin Brierly drove the lane and lost control of the ball when she collided with Brown. The Penguins grabbed the rebound, and Heidi Schlegel was fouled.
Schlegel missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Butler's Sarah Hamm grabbed the board. She gave the ball to Brierly, who drove the court and found McDivitt just in front of the Butler bench. McDivitt, who came into the game 27-for-101 from 3-point ragne from the season, hit her sixth triple of the contest to give the Bulldogs the lead with 2.3 seconds left.
On the final inbounds play, Brown caught the ball at midcourt and passed to Macey Nortey. Nortey drove to near the 3-point line and passed to Kenya Middlebrooks, who couldn't get a shot off as time expired.
Butler improves to 10-12 overall and 6-5 in the Horizon League while the Penguins drop to 10-12 and 4-7. Brierly scored 22 points to lead Butler while McDivitt finished with 18.
Brown led YSU with a game-high 23 points while Schlegel had 13.
After Butler scored the final 10 points of the first half, the Bulldogs took a 42-33 lead with 13:59 remaining. At that point, the Penguins were struggling against Butler's zone and had scored just six points in 12 minutes, but Brown started to assert herself. She scored YSU's next 10 points, and her two free throws at the 10:38 mark left the Guins down just 47-43.
Two Schlegel free throws with 3:16 left got the Penguins to within one for the third time, and YSU finally took the lead on a Middlebrooks triple with 1:18 left. Sarah Hamm scored for the third straight possession for Butler to put the Bulldogs back up 62-61, and Brown's two free throws with 29 seconds left set up the final sequence.
Brierly and McDivitt both matched career highs with 22 and 18 points, respectively. Butler, which came into the afternoon averaging 5.6 3-pointers, hit 12 for the game. Its previous season high for 3-pointers was eight.
YSU shot 57.9 percent in the second half and 46.7 percent for the game. The Penguins were 11-for-22 from the 3-point line but just 10-for-17 from the free-throw line. YSU was outscored 17-8 off turnovers despite committing just one miscue than Butler.
An 11-0 run by Youngstown State in the first half gave the Penguins an eight-point lead, but Butler scored the final 10 points of the half to take a 29-27 advantage into the locker room. Butler was 7-for-17 from beyond the arc in the first half while YSU was 6-for-15.
Both teams were sluggish in the early going, and Butler led 13-9 with 11 minutes left. Tieara Jones had a steal and breakaway lay-up to spark YSU's offense, and the Penguins scored 11 straight points to go up 20-13. A triple by Devan Matkin and back-to-back treys from Brown completed the run.
YSU led by eight twice in the first half, both after Schlegel triples, before Butler made its comeback. The Bulldogs scored the final 10 points of the period and held the Penguins scoreless for the final six minutes. A Haley Howard 3-pointer tied the score with 1:41 left, and she had a put-back bucket with 30 ticks remaining to give the Bulldogs their first lead since 13-11.
Schlegel had nine points to lead YSU, and Brown was 3-for-4 with eight points. Brierly scored 10 of Butler's first 16 points in the opening period but didn't score in the final seven minutes.
YSU goes on the road for the first time since Jan. 21 when they take on UIC on Feb. 9. Tipoff for the contest against the Flames is set for 8 p.m. on Thursday in Chicago.
