The Youngstown State women's basketball team edged Horizon League-foe Robert Morris in an impromptu conference game on Saturday at the Beeghly Center, 59-53.
With the win, the Penguins improve to 14-1 overall and remain an unbeaten 8-0 in conference play, while the Colonials fall to 6-7 and 4-4 in the league. The victory marks the third time in school history YSU has started 14-1 or better through 15 games, with the last occurrence coming during the 1997-98 season. Saturday's win also marks the first time the Penguins have accomplished an 8-0 start to conference play in program history.
Lilly Ritz led the Penguins' offensive attack, scoring a game-high 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting while adding eight rebounds. Chelsea Olson was the YSU's second-leading scorer, finishing with 15 points and adding a game-best nine assists and four rebounds in 39:15 minutes of play. She had just one turnover against those nine assists. Megan Callahan was the final Penguin to reach double figures, tallying 12 points while knocking down two 3-pointers.
Robert Morris was led by Ashya Klopfenstein, who posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Following a scoreless first minute in the contest, Malia Magestro assisted Olson on a 3-point bucket that gave YSU an early 3-2 lead. Olson would go on to score six of the Penguins' first eight points of the first quarter. Costly turnovers halted the Penguins' offensive attack, as YSU coughed up the ball eight times in the opening 10 minutes. The Penguins were much better the final three quarters and had just four turnovers the rest of the game and won the turnover battle 17-12.
With a 3-pointer at the 8:20 mark of the second quarter, Callahan ended nearly an eight-minute field goal drought that stretched back to the 6:35 mark of the first quarter. The basket sparked a quick 9-0 scoring run that spanned a minute and a half of play and put YSU ahead 17-9.
After RMU knotted the game up at 17 apiece, Ritz muscled home a contested lay-up and ended a scoreless streak that lasted just over four minutes with 2:26 to play in the half. On the ensuing possession, Mady Aulbach connected from long range, scoring her first points of the afternoon. With 15 ticks left in the quarter, Olson would hit a pull-up jumper in the paint to give YSU the 24-20 edge heading into the halftime locker room.
Out of the break, Callahan became the first Penguin to enter double figures as she knocked down her second three of the game at the 9:28 mark to up the Penguins' lead back to five, 27-22.
In a back-and-forth battle for much of the third quarter, the Penguins would match their biggest lead of the afternoon and take a 40-32 advantage following a Ritz layup in the paint at the 33-second mark of the third. Answering, Natalie Villaflor of Robert Morris connected from long range with five seconds on the clock to send the game into the fourth with YSU leading 40-35.
Robert Morris guard Simone Morris made the first field goal of the final quarter of play for either team at the 7:53 mark. At that point, the teams were a combined 0-for-6 from the field. After that, YSU's first point of the quarter came just seconds later from Ritz at the charity stripe. The Penguins' first basket of the fourth came on an Olson layup with 6:40 remaining.
YSU's lead reached double digits for the first time in the game on a Ritz put-back at the 4:12 mark. Following a Lexi Wagner bucket, the Colonials would put together a 6-0 run to get the YSU advantage down to five with 2:13 on the clock. However, Wagner kept the hot hand to knock down a 3-ball to extend the lead back to eight.
YSU would end the game shooting 5-of-10 from the free-throw line in the final minute of play, scoring enough to hold on for the victory.
YSU outscored RMU 30-22 in the paint, and it held a 23-9 edge in points off turnovers. The Penguins were 22-of-50 (44 percent) from the field and just 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) from the foul line. Robert Morris was 38.5 percent from the field, burying 20-of-52 attempts, including going 6-of-15 from three-point range.
YSU is back in action at the Beeghly Center on Friday, Jan. 14, to take on UIC. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
