The Youngstown State women's basketball team went on a 21-2 run in the second half and played tough defense throughout to top Milwaukee 58-50 on Thursday evening at Beeghly Center.
In a game that was 15-14 at halftime, the Penguins scored 43 points in the second half to improve to 6-0 overall, 3-0 in Horizon League play and 3-0 at home. YSU, playing without leading scorer and rebounder Lilly Ritz, led by double digits the entire fourth quarter until Milwaukee's Alyssa Moore hit a 3 at the final horn.
Paige Shy scored 12 of her 16 points and made three 3-pointers in the second half, and Megan Callahan scored a season-high 13 to lead the Penguins. Chelsea Olson had eight points and five rebounds, and Lindsey Linard had eight points and two steals in her first career start.
Megan Walstad had 16 points as the only Panther in double figures.
Neither team had its best night offensively as YSU shot 34 percent from the field and Milwaukee shot 26.7 percent. The Penguins improved to 50 percent in the second half, and they were 5-for-8 in the third period as they seized control of the conference affair.
Mady Aulbach made the first field goal of the game for either team at the 4:02 mark, and the 3-pointer gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead. At that point, the teams were a combined 0-for-11 from the field. After that, YSU didn't score for the rest of the period as Milwaukee closed on a 7-0 run
Miquela Santoro hit a 3-pointer on Milwaukee's second possession extended the run to 10 and push the lead to 14-6, but the Penguins held the Panthers scoreless the rest of the half.
Callahan hit a 3-pointer at the 8:02 mark for YSU's first points of the quarter, and she followed with a back-door layup with 7:39 remaining to get the Penguins back within a possession at 14-11. That's the score remained until Olson made two free throws with 1:20 left, and Shy scored on a drive the basket in the final seconds to give the Penguins their one-point halftime advantage.
That basket sparked Shy, who then hit a 3-pointer 33 seconds into the second half to give the Penguins an 18-14 advantage. Walstad scored six points in the first three minutes for the Panthers to give them a 23-20 lead at the 6:59 mark, but that's when Youngstown State went on its decisive 21-2 run.
Callahan hit a 3-pointer 19 seconds later to knot the score at 23, and the lead reached double digits for the first time in the game on a Jen Wendler basket at the 1:13 mark. Milwaukee's Emma Wittmershaus scored on the next possession to end the Panther drought, but Shy hit a 3 in the final seconds to push the lead to a dozen at 37-25.
Shy and Callahan scored YSU's first two possessions of the fourth period to complete the 21-2 run, and the Penguins led by a dozen until the final 45 seconds. The largest margin was 17 when Linard made two free throws at the 1:51 mark to make the score 56-39.
The Penguins had a season-low 10 turnovers, which helped offset a 48-33 deficit in rebounding. Even without Ritz, Youngstown State held an 18-16 scoring edge in the paint.
YSU will try to finish a sweep of the Wisconsin teams as it hosts Green Bay on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Beeghly Center.
