Fifth-year senior Chelsea Olson had the highest-scoring home game of her career with 27 points, and Paige Shy scored 11 points in the second half to help Youngstown State beat Northern Kentucky 62-49 on Friday night at Beeghly Center.
The Penguins improved to 22-4 overall and earned an important win for the Horizon League standings as they upped their conference mark to 16-3. YSU is tied with IUPUI for first place with three games remaining. NKU, which came into the game tied for fourth in the standings, dropped to 17-7 overall and 11-6 in league play.
Youngstown State has won 22 regular-season games for the third time in school history and for the first time since 1997-98, and it set a new school record with 16 conference wins that was held by the 1997-98 squad.
Olson scored 11 points in the first half as YSU led just 24-23, and she had 16 in the second half. Then of those points came in the third quarter as the Penguins outscored the Norse 22-13. Her previous scoring high in a home game was 24, and Olson finished one point shy of her career-high of 28 that was set earlier this season at Canisius.
For the game, Olson was 8-for-17 from the field, 1-for-3 from 3-point range and 10-for-10 from the free-throw line in 33 minutes. She added nine rebounds, three assists and a block in what was her second-to-last regular-season game on Rosselli Court.
Lindsey Duvall led the Norse with 13 points, Ivy Turner finished with 10, and Grayson Rose had nine points, 12 rebounds and six blocks.
The score was within a possession for the first 11:40 of the game before the Penguins started to open the gap. YSU led 16-13 at the end of the quarter as Lilly Ritz scored just before the buzzer, and Olson scored six straight points to give the Penguins a 22-15 lead at the 7:49 mark of the second. However, YSU scored just two points the rest of the half.
NKU chipped away and tied the score at 22 on an Emmy Souder layup with 4:14 on the clock, and Ritz scored on the Penguins' next possession to give them a 24-22 edge. An Ivy Turner free throw with 1:57 remaining accounted for the only point until the teams went to the locker room.
Shy scored eight points in the first three-and-half minutes of the third period to ignite the Penguins' offense, and YSU went on to outscore the Norse 22-13 in the quarter.
After a 3-pointer by Duvall tied the score at 30 at the 7:05 mark, YSU held the Norse scoreless for nearly four minutes as it went on an 8-0 run. Shy hit a long two to start the run, and Olson scored the next four and passed ahead to Ritz in transition to make the score 38-30 at the 4:57 mark.
Kailee Davis scored for the Norse at the 3:14 mark to end the drought, but Olson followed with a layup and two free throws to put the Penguins ahead 42-32 at the 2:15 mark and give YSU its first double-digit lead. Youngstown State led by a dozen twice at 44-32 and 46-34 before the end of the quarter. The margin was at least eight the rest of the game.
After Rose scored at the 8:27 mark of the fourth to cut NKU's deficit to 48-40, YSU didn't allow another Norse point until there was 5:00 left on the clock. By that point, Olson, Lindsey Mack and Malia Magestro scored six straight points to push the margin to 14. The largest lead was 62-47 when Olson made two free throws with 43.2 seconds left, and Khamari Mitchell-Steen followed with a bucket for NKU for the final tally.
Youngstown State shot 58.3% in the third period and 41.5% for the game, and it went 13-for-14 from the free-throw line. The Penguins were just 5-for-13 from beyond the arc, and they attempted five fewer 3-pointers than any other game this season.
NKU finished at 35.7% from the field, and the Norse were 2-for-18 from beyond the arc over the final three periods.
Youngstown State will celebrate Olson on Senior Day on Sunday as it hosts Wright State at 1 p.m.
