The Youngstown State women's basketball team played lockdown defense all afternoon and went on a 29-9 run in the second half to beat Purdue Fort Wayne 64-41 on Thursday at Beeghly Center.
The Penguins improved to 5-0 in Horizon League play for the second time in program history, and they are now 11-1 overall and 7-0 on their home floor. Purdue Fort Wayne is 4-8 overall and 3-2 in conference games.
YSU held the Mastodons to 12 points of fewer in all four quarters, and Purdue Fort Wayne shot just 30 percent from the field. The defense compensated a slow start offensively for the Penguins, who scored 34 of their points in the final 17:33 of the game. YSU's lead was 30-25 with less than eight minutes left in the third period, and the Penguins built the margin to 42-31 at the end of the quarter and outscored Purdue Fort Wayne 22-10 in the fourth.
Lilly Ritz led all scorers with 22 points, and Malia Magestro scored 10 of her 14 points in the fourth quarter to help the Penguins pull away. Chelsea Olson finished three points shy of a triple-double, posting 10 rebounds, 10 assists and seven points. It was the first double-double by a Penguin in rebounds and assists since Rachel Cowley had 11 rebounds and 11 assists against Lock Haven on Feb. 17, 1992.
Sylare Starks led Purdue Fort Wayne with 12 points, and she made two of the Mastodons' four 3-pointers. YSU's Mady Aulbach held Riley Ott to two points, which was 10 below her average.
Ritz scored the first points of the game at the 8:47 mark on a transition layup from Olson, but the Penguins didn't score again for more than three minutes as they started 1-for-7 from the field. Purdue Fort Wayne took its first lead on a three-point play by Aubrey Stupp at the 4:53 mark, and a Shianne Johnson layup a minute later capped a five-point burst by the Mastodons that made the score 7-4. That was the largest lead of the day for the visitors.
YSU scored seven of the next nine points to take an 11-9 lead on two Magestro free throws with 1:33 left in the opening period, and YSU's margin was 13-12 at the end of the quarter.
Neither team scored in the second period until Ritz's layup at the 7:21 mark, which put YSU up 15-12. Ritz was whistled for her second foul on Purdue Fort Wayne's next possession, and Stupp's second three-point play of the half tied the score at 15.
After Stupp's basket at the 6:56 mark, the Penguins held the Mastodons without a field goal for 5:23. YSU went on an 11-2 run during that stretch, which Lindsey Mack started and ended with 3-pointers. Her second one gave YSU a 26-17 lead at the 3:26 mark. The Penguins went without a bucket the rest of the half, and Olson made two free throws in the final five seconds to make the score 28-21 at the break.
After Shayla Sellers scored just over a minute into the third period to make the score 30-25, the Mastodons were held to three points over the next eight minutes as YSU went on a 12-3 run to take a 42-28 advantage. The Penguins' lead reached double digits for the first time on a fast-break layup from Paige Shy with 4:14 on the clock, and Ritz scored on back-to-back possessions to push the margin to 14 points with 1:22 remaining. Ritz was 8-for-10 from the field at that point, and she finished 11-for-18.
Starks hit a 3 for Purdue Fort Wayne with 46 seconds remaining in the third, and she opened the fourth with another bucket to get the margin down to nine at 42-33. The Mastodons didn't score for the next five minutes, and they didn't make a field goal for the next 7:34 as the Penguins pulled away.
Magestro scored YSU's first 10 points of the fourth period. She made two free throws with 7:26 on the clock, and she hit a 3-pointer 36 seconds later to push the lead back to 14. She then drove to the basket at the 5:44 mark, and the sophomore guard polished off the 10-0 run with another triple with 5:12 remaining.
YSU took its first 20-point lead at 54-34 on a Ritz bucket in transition on a pass from Magestro with 4:41 remaining, and Olson assisted on a pair of Ritz baskets later in the quarter to get the forward over 20 points and the guard to 10 assists.
The Penguins shot 46.7 percent in the second half and 41.4 percent overall from the field, and they were 7-for-23 from 3-point range. YSU made all nine of its free-throw attempts. The Penguins held a 36-30 rebounding advantage, they were plus-five in turnover margin, and they doubled-up the Mastodons in points in the paint at 32-16.
Youngstown State will conclude its four-game homestand and begin 2022 by hosting Cleveland State on Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern. The game will be broadcast live on 1390 WNIO and ESPN+.
