Behind a raucous crowd and a feisty will to win, the Youngstown State women's basketball team had to grind through a tough night offensively to defeat Akron 57-55 on Monday evening at Beeghly Center.
In the first game in front of home fans in 631 days, the Penguins played tenacious defense in the battle of Northeast Ohio opponents. Both teams shot below 33 percent from the field, but Youngstown State made four 3-pointers in the fourth period to escape with the win and improve to 2-0 this season.
Malia Magestro, a sophomore playing in front of the Penguin faithful for the first time, scored 13 of her career-high 16 points in the second half. She went 4-for-6 from 3-point range in the game, and Mady Aulbach assisted on all four. Aulbach had nine points and six rebounds off the bench, and Lilly Ritz posted her first double-double as a Penguin with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Akron's Jordyn Dawson had game highs of 19 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.
The Penguins made just two of their first 13 field-goal attempts to start the game, but they kept the Zips within six points and trailed 13-10 as Megan Callahan hit a 3-pointer in the final 20 seconds of the quarter.
Dawson made a 3 on the first possession of the second quarter to push it back to a six-point margin, and she scored on a drive to make it 18-10 just over 90 seconds into the half. She scored Akron's first eight points of the second quarter, and the Zips had their largest lead of the night at 21-12 on her 3-pointer at the 7:43 mark of the quarter.
The Penguins held the Zips to just two points the rest of the half, and Magestro's first 3-pointer of the night gave YSU its first lead at 24-23 with 2:04 left. That same score held until the end of the half.
The teams traded baskets early in the second before the Zips scored seven straight to take a six-point lead. Dawson scored on an out-of-bounds play, and she had assists on a transition layup by Reagan Bass and a 3 by Annika Corcoran to put the Zips up 32-26 at the 7:45 mark.
Neither team scored for the next two-and-a-half minutes until YSU finally ended its long scoring drought on a basket by Ritz on a feed from Paige Shy at the 5:12 mark. Magestro then made two technical free throws to cut the margin down to two, and the Penguins went ahead when the sophomore hit a 3-pointer in the corner with 2:41 left. Aulbach preceded Magestro's triple with an old-fashioned three-point play, and Aulbach had the assist on Magestro's go-ahead basket.
Aulbach scored again to put the Penguins ahead 43-39 at the end of the fourth, and she teamed up with Magestro again for another 3-pointer on the first possession of the fourth quarter to give YSU a seven-point advantage.
After Magestro's 3, YSU didn't score again for five minutes to allow Akron to tie the score at 46. Olson hit a 3-pointer at the 4:55 mark to end the drought, and the Penguins got 3s from Magestro and Callahan over the next three minutes to take a 55-49 lead with 2:14 left.
Dawson made two free throws to cut the score to 55-51, and Magestro split a pair of free throws with 31 seconds remaining to up YSU's advantage to 56-51. Starting with Magestro's split, YSU went 2-for-8 from the free-throw line down the stretch.
Bass made a basket to cut the margin to 56-53, and Rachel Martindale hit two free throws after YSU missed two to close the gap to one. Shy split a pair of free throws with 9.0 seconds on the clock to make it 57-55, and Layne Ferrell missed two free throws with 2.8 on the clock for Akron. Shy was fouled on the rebound with a second on the clock, and she intentionally missed her second free throw. Martindale got the rebound for a final heave from 85 feet, and Shy tipped the Hail Mary.
The Penguins were 19-for-59 overall from the field and 9-for-28 from beyond the 3-point arc. YSU was 4-for-16 from long distance in the first 20 minutes but went 5-for-12 in the second half. Akron was 20-for-62 from the floor and 5-for-26 from 3-point range, and both teams made 10 free throws.
The earliest start to conference play in school history awaits Youngstown State later this week. The Penguins will begin their 21st season in the Horizon League on Thursday at Oakland, and the game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN and ESPN+.
