The Youngstown State women's basketball team got 26 points from Lilly Ritz and was strong defensively throughout to beat Canisius 75-50 on Saturday afternoon at Beeghly Center.
The Penguins have now won five straight games to improve to 6-3 this season, and Canisius dropped to 3-6.
Ritz, who scored 20 points and went 8-for-8 from the field in just 6:35 in Tuesday's win over WVU Tech, controlled the post again Saturday against the Golden Griffins. Ritz scored 26 points in 29 minutes, and she was 12-for-16 on field-goal attempts. She helped the Penguins hold a 40-20 scoring advantage in the paint.
Megan Callahan and Malia Magestro were also in double figures for YSU. Callahan scored 15 points on three 3-pointers while going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, and Magestro added 10. They combined to go 4-for-9 from beyond the arc, but YSU cooled down collectively from long distance and was 6-for-23. That's where the strong defensive effort came in as Canisius shot 32.7% overall and committed 21 turnovers. The Golden Griffins made 14 3s and shot 54.7% in their last contest.
Callahan hit a 3 on the opening possession of the game, but neither team had its best offensively in the early part of the first period. After a Ritz basket put the Penguins up 7-4 three minutes into the contest, there were just four points scored over the five minutes. Canisius had all four of those points, and the Golden Griffins held an 8-7 lead when Lydia Gattozzi made a free throw with 2:05 on the clock. That was their only advantage of the afternoon.
Two offensive rebounds led to a Magestro basket on YSU's next possession, and the Penguins went on to outscore the Golden Griffins 31-8 for the rest of the half. Ritz ended the first period in a five-point run to put YSU up 14-8, and she had seven points during a 17-0 run by the Penguins in the second quarter to push the margin to 33-12. YSU led 38-16 at halftime, and its advantage was at least 17 the rest of the day.
Ritz had 16 of her 26 points at halftime, and Callahan had a dozen as the duo combined for 28 of YSU's 38 points.
Magestro, Shay-Lee Kirby and Dena Jarrells each hit 3s in the third period as YSU's advantage grew to 57-33, and a Ritz basket from Callahan with 8:22 left in the fourth quarter gave the Penguins their largest lead at 26.
YSU shot 45% offensively, and it was 21-for-37 (56.8%) on two-point attempts. The Penguins held a 41-28 rebounding advantage, and they grabbed 15 offensive rebounds.
Youngstown State will have final exams this week, which gives the Penguins five days away from competition to focus on academics. YSU will be back in action on Friday, Dec. 16, at 5:15 p.m. against Saint Francis (Pa.) in the first basketball doubleheader of the season at Beeghly Center. The YSU men will follow with a contest against Southern.
