Box Score
Youngstown State senior Brandi Brown scored
a season-high 33 points as the Penguins came back to knock off
Cleveland State 73-69 in a hard-fought contest on Thursday night at
the Beeghly Center.
With the victory the Penguins improve to 18-6 overall and 8-3 in
the Horizon League while the Vikings drop to 12-14 and 4-9.
YSU trailed by as many as nine in the first half and faced a
six-point deficit just over three minutes into the second half. But
it kept chipping away and after three ties in a span of 2:23
finally grabbed the lead for good at the 11:47 mark when Brown
broke a 52-all tie on a three-point play (55-52).
For the game, Brown was 13-of-21 from the field, 3-of-7 from
behind the 3-point line and 4-of-7 from the free-throw line. She
also finished with 11 rebounds for her 18th double-double on the
year. Of her 33 points, 21 came in the second half.
Monica
Touvelle scored 13 key points, all in the second half, while Shar'Rae
Davis had 10.
Even though they never gave up the lead, the Guins couldn't
quite shake the Vikings. The largest lead the final 11:47 was six
which came with 20.2 seconds left in the contest.
YSU used some staunch defense to maintain its advantage and a
lot of toughness to hold on.
Brown had scoring streaks of 10 and eight points in the final
14:22 while at one stretch, she and Touvelle combined to score 28
of 29 points from the 15:14 to the 1:14 mark - exactly 14
minutes.
Brown had a dazzling performance on the day she was named a
Capital One Academic All-American. Down the stretch she hit a nifty
step-back jumper as the shot clock expired to put the Guins on top
69-65 with 1:52 left. That was her 32nd point of the night, which
came after she scored her 30th point on a driving layup with 2:40
left.
The Penguins led by six points with 9.7 left before CSU's
Sharlonda Winton made two free throws and intentionally missed two
others, in which she grabbed the rebound. The final time however,
with 8.3 seconds went for naught as the Guins held on to the
four-point win. Winton had 20 points to lead CSU.
For the game, the Guins shot 43.9 percent (25-of-57), including
making 15-of-31 in the second half. CSU finished the game at 45.5
percent (25-of-55). Both teams shot below 62 percent from the
free-throw line - YSU 61.9 percent (13-of-21) and Cleveland State
at 59.3 percent (16-of-27). The Vikings committed 19 turnovers
thanks to 11 Penguin steals.
After the opening five minutes the Penguins were forced to play
catch up and did for a brief moment when Hornberger connected on a
three from the wing at the four-minute mark.
YSU trailed by as many as eight during that 11-minute stretch
and eventually tied the game at 22 on a Thompson basket. The Guins
went on top for 22 seconds at 25-24 on Hornberger's three before
CSU's Cori Coleman answered with a three of her own.
Coleman's triple ignited a 9-0 Vikings run before Brown and Heidi
Schlegel scored the final three points of the half to cut the
deficit to 33-28 at intermission.
In the first half, YSU shot just 38.5 percent making 10-of-26
attempts while the Vikings were a scorching 56.5 percent knocking
down 13-of-23 attempts from the field. The Guins drained five
3-pointers and five from inside the arc during the half.
YSU has a quick turnaround playing at Loyola on Saturday
afternoon. Tipoff at the Gentile Center in Chicago is set for noon
Eastern time.
