The Youngstown State women's basketball team won for the seventh straight time by defeating Horizon League foe UIC, 69-46, on Friday evening at the Beeghly Center.
Senior Lilly Ritz posted her fourth double-double of the season with 21 points and a season-high 15 rebounds while junior Paige Shy hit a career-high five 3-pointers and scored 15 points to lead the Penguins, who improve to 15-1 overall and 9-0 in Horizon League play. Sophomore Malia Magestro added 11 points for the Penguins.
It marks the first time in program history that YSU has begun conference play 9-0 and the third time that the Penguins started a season 15-1. The last time YSU won 15 of its first 16 games was in 1997-98.
Leading UIC (2-10, 1-6 Horizon League) was Kristian Young with 10 points.
Youngstown State shot just 33.3% in the game, but it grabbed 25 offensive rebounds that translated to 18 second-chance points. The 25 caroms on the offensive end were the most the Penguins have ever had in a Horizon League contest, and they tied for the most in a game since at least 2001-02. The Penguins were plus-18 in rebounding margin, and they were plus-11 in turnover margin.
After leading by just two, 15-13, at the end of the first quarter, the Penguins dominated UIC in the second and third quarters outscoring the Flames by a combined total of 41-19. Ritz scored the first six points of the second quarter to push the YSU lead to extend the Penguins' lead to 21-13 with 8:15 remaining before halftime. Ritz accounted for YSU's first 12 points – scoring 10 and assisting on a basket by Chelsea Olson – and led the Penguins to a 27-17 lead. Magestro's two free throws put the Penguins up 29-17 before the Flames hit a 3-pointer to get the lead down to nine, 29-20.
Magestro added two more charity tosses to push the lead back to 11, 31-20, with four minutes left. Ritz scored her 12th point of the quarter on a long inbounds pass from Lindsey Mack, and Shy buried her third 3-pointer and Mack added one of her own to extend the YSU lead to 18, 39-21, with 2:10 to go. The Penguins went into the locker room at halftime with a 41-23 lead.
Shy's fourth 3-pointer of the game put the Penguins up 21, 44-23, two minutes into the second half, and a layup by Magestro gave the Penguins a 23-point advantage. The Flames cut the lead down to 18, 48-29, before Olson hit a 3-pointer to recapture a 22-point lead, 51-29, with 4:08 left in the third. The Penguins led by as much as 26 in the period and finished the third quarter leading the Flames, 56-32. The largest lead of the night was 29 when Lindsey Linard scored on a pass from Olson to put the Penguins ahead 64-35 with 5:53 left. That basked capped an 8-0 run by YSU.
The Penguins were cold to start the game missing their first four shots but a Megan Callahan 3-pointer gave YSU a 5-4 lead at the 7:31 mark. Ritz followed with a layup to finish off a 5-0 run that gave YSU a 7-4 edge.
A UIC 3-pointer tied at 7-7 but the Penguins answered with a 3-pointer by Shy to take a 10-7 lead at the 5:56 mark. The Flames scored four straight points to take an 11-10 lead but a Ritz layup put YSU up 12-11 with just over a minute left in the frame. Another 3-pointer by Shy pushed the Penguins' lead to 15-11, and YSU did not trail again.
The Penguins host IUPUI in a Horizon League showdown, Sunday, Jan. 16. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at the Beeghly Center.
