The Youngstown State women's basketball team built a 15-point halftime lead and played well defensively all afternoon to beat Purdue Fort Wayne 60-44 on Saturday afternoon at Beeghly Center.
The Penguins improved to 9-4 overall and 3-1 in Horizon League play, while the Mastodons dropped to 5-9 and 2-2. YSU finished the 2022 calendar year with 22 victories, its most in a year since 2014.
Lilly Ritz led the Penguins on the box score with 20 points and 14 rebounds to record her seventh double-double, and Malia Magestro made four first-half 3-pointers in a 16-point effort. But it was the defense that carried YSU to victory, and Megan Callahan led the charge by holding Purdue Fort Wayne leading scorer Amellia Bromenschenkel to four points on just seven shot attempts. Bromenschenkel came into the game ranking fourth in the conference in scoring at 14.7 points per game, and she had scored 25 and 21 points in her last two outings against Maryland and Robert Morris.
YSU held the Mastodons to 28.6% shooting from the field, and Purdue Fort Wayne was 6-for-25 from beyond the arc. The Penguins shot 44.2% and went 8-for-23 from long distance, and they outrebounded the visitors 46-27. That helped offset 25 turnovers and YSU being minus-10 in turnover margin.
Abbigail Stephens led Purdue Fort Wayne with 14 second-half points, and she gave the 'Dons a spark as they scored 22 points in the final 14 minutes after having 22 in the first 26.
The Mastodons scored the first four points, and their last lead of the afternoon came at 6-5 on one of Bromenschenkel's two field goals at the 7:04 mark of the first quarter. Emily Saunders made two free throws to put YSU ahead with 5:42 remaining, and Magestro's second triple of the quarter gave YSU a 16-11 lead with 1:52 left. Shayla Sellers countered with a 3 for the Mastodons to make the score 16-14, and Magestro went coast-to-coast after a defensive rebound in the final 10 seconds to give the Penguins an 18-14 lead.
Magestro's third 3 of the half gave the Penguins a 25-16 advantage just under 90 seconds into the second quarter, and YSU outscored the Mastodons 17-6 in the period. Ritz scored in transition to create the first double-digit margin with 5:45 on the clock, and Magestro hit another 3 with 2:21 on the clock to push the difference to 35-16 with 2:21 remaining. YSU's lead was 35-20 at the break.
Paige Shy's 3-pointer at the 8:21 mark of the third period increased the lead to 40-20, and YSU's largest lead came at 44-22 on a Ritz basket with 5:06 on the clock. That finished a 31-11 run for the Penguins going back to when their lead was 13-11 with less than two minutes left in the opening quarter.
Stephens scored five points during a 7-2 Purdue Fort Wayne run to end the quarter, and her basket three minutes into the fourth quarter cut YSU's lead to 48-36. The Penguins didn't allow any points over the next three-and-a-half minutes, and Jen Wendler's bucket with 4:00 on the clock got the margin back to 19 at 58-39. YSU led by at least 14 for the rest of the afternoon.
Dena Jarrells had seven assists in her first start as a Penguin, and Ritz blocked four shots. Callahan had four steals while locking down Bromenschenkel.
Youngstown State will begin 2023 with two road games in Michigan next week. The trip starts with a contest at Detroit Mercy on Thursday at 7 p.m.
