Box Score
Nneka Obiazor hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer in the final minute, and the Youngstown State women's basketball team completed a weekend sweep of UIC with a 66-59 victory on Saturday afternoon at Credit Union 1 Arena.
Obiazor's 3-pointer from straightaway came at the end of the shot clock and gave the Penguins a 62-59 lead with 50 seconds left. Chelsea Olson then blocked Kristian Young on a jumper on the next possession for a defensive stop, and YSU went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 22 seconds to seal the victory.
Obiazor finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, and fellow post Mary Dunn scored 18 points to go along with nine rebounds. They helped the Penguins hold a 36-22 edge in points in the paint, and YSU also had six blocks on the contest.
There were 16 lead changes and nine ties in the game, but Youngstown State trailed for less than six minutes as it consistently answered UIC with big buckets. Twelve of those lead changes came in the second half.
The Flames turned up the defensive pressure in the fourth period and took their largest lead of the game at 49-46 with 6:29 remaining when Daijah Smith made two free throws. Field goals by Olson and Obiazor gave YSU a 50-49 lead with 4:13 remaining, and Shelby Case scored 18 seconds later to give the Flames a 51-50 advantage. That ended up being YSU's final deficit of the game.
Olson converted a layup and free throw on YSU's next possession to give the Penguins a 53-51 lead, and Mady Aulbach hit a big 3-pointer in the corner at the 2:02 mark that put YSU up 59-54. UIC scored the next five points and knotted the score on a Young 3-pointer with 1:23 remaining, but Obiazor stepped up to hit the biggest basket of the game with her 3-pointer that gave YSU a 62-59 lead.
After Olson's block of Young, McKenah Peters hit two free throws with 22 seconds left, and a UIC turnover on the next possession led to two Olson free throws that accounted for the game's final points.
Olson ended up with 11 points, six assists, four steals and four rebounds to follow up her effort on Friday night that gave her 1,000 career points. Aulbach finished with eight points in 28 minutes off the bench, and Peters and Malia Magestro both had five points.
Young filled the stat sheet for UIC with a game-high 25 points, seven rebounds seven assists and four steals.
Youngstown State shot 47.1 percent for the game – its third straight contest shooting at least 47 percent – and shook off a cold start from beyond the arc to finish 6-for-21. The Penguins were 1-for-11 from long distance in the first half, but they were 3-for-8 in the third period and 2-for-2 in the fourth. UIC shot 39.6 percent and went 6-for-14 from 3-point range.
After UIC led 3-2 three minutes into the game, a driving layup by Olson sparked a nine-point run by the Penguins that also featured a basket by Obiazor, a 3-pointer by Aulbach and a layup by Magestro. Magestro's basket on a pass from Obaizor put YSU up 11-3 with 3:59 remaining, but the Penguins went scoreless for the next three minutes as UIC tied the score at 11.
Olson hit two free throws with 52 seconds left in the period to end the drought, and Aulbach added a runner in the lane 20 seconds later to put YSU up by four after 10 minutes.
The Penguins extended their lead to 17-11 on an Obiazor jumper at the 9:07 mark, but Keona Schenck hit two 3-pointers in a 30-second stretch to start a 10-2 burst for the Flames that put them ahead 21-19.
Dunn made a pair of free throws at the 4:37 mark to end YSU's four-minute scoring drought, and she hit field goals on the next two possessions to put the Penguins ahead 25-21 with 3:41 left. UIC tied the game at 25 before Dunn scored just before the buzzer to give Youngstown State a two-point cushion at halftime. Dunn had 10 points at halftime to lead all scorers, and Obiazor had six.
UIC scored the first four points of the second half to go up 29-27, but Obiazor and Peters hit back-to-back 3s to give YSU a 33-29 advantage. That ended up being the biggest scoring difference of the quarter. UIC countered with five straight points to go up 34-33, and the score was within a point for the next 3:40 before a Magestro triple gave the Penguins a 40-38 lead. YSU led 42-39 at the end of the period, and it outscored the Flames 24-20 in the fourth.
Youngstown State returns home next weekend to host Detroit Mercy for a pair of Horizon League games. The Penguins and Titans will play at 2 p.m. on Jan. 22 and Jan. 23 as part of a doubleheader with the YSU men's basketball team. The game on Jan. 22 will be broadcast live on 1390 WNIO and ESPN+, and the contest on Jan. 23 will air on 570 WKBN and ESPN+.
