The Youngstown State women's basketball team battled Green Bay for 50 minutes but fell 70-69 in double overtime to the Phoenix on Thursday evening at the Kress Events Center.
The Penguins led for more than 38 minutes in the game, and they had possession at the end of regulation and both overtimes but couldn't come up with the winning basket. YSU led 69-64 in the second overtime before Green Bay scored the final six points of the game.
Lilly Ritz scored a game-high 19 points and added eight rebounds, and the other five Penguins who scored each had between eight and 12 points. Lindsey Mack scored 11 off the bench, which was the highest total since transferring to YSU.
Youngstown State is now 18-4 overall and 12-3 in Horizon League play, and it holds a half-game lead for first place in the standings. It is one of five teams in the conference with three losses. Green Bay is one of those five as it improved to 11-5 and 7-3.
Chelsea Olson missed a floater at the end of regulation with the score tied 58, and YSU had one of its 26 turnovers in the game on its final possession of the first overtime. Before that turnover in the first extra session, an official blew an inadvertent whistle with 3.2 seconds on the clock when Ritz had possession in scoring range in the post.
In the second overtime, Shy made two free throws at the 4:39 mark, and Mady Aulbach hit a 3-pointer with 3:00 remaining to put the Penguins ahead 69-64. That accounted for YSU's final points of the night. Hailey Oskey hit a basket on Green Bay's next possession, and Maddy Schreiber scored with 1:05 left to cut the margin to 69-68.
The Penguins took the full length of their possession and had to settle for a long, contested 3 by Shy, and Sydney Levy was fouled near the paint as she and Shy jostled for position. Levy made both free throws, YSU called timeout to advance to the frontcourt, and Shy's game-winning attempt hit the right of the rim.
Youngstown State shot 37.7% percent from the field, made 12 of its 43 attempts from 3-point range and went 11-for-12 from the free-throw line. YSU also held a 40-32 rebounding advantage, but it was minus-12 in turnover margin. The Penguins were also whistled for 10 more fouls, which allowed the Phoenix to attempt 20 free throws.
Youngstown State's largest lead was eight, which occurred at 12-4 at the 4:48 mark of the first period. YSU didn't score again until Aulbach hit a 3-pointer with 7:51 on the clock in the second, and that sparked a 7-0 Penguins run that made the score 19-12. Green Bay got to within 27-25 at halftime.
Green Bay, which was playing its first home game in 45 days, took its first lead of the night at 31-29 when Oskey scored at the 8:13 mark of the third. Mack hit three 3s in the quarter as the teams battled through eight lead changes and three ties in the stanza.
In the fourth, YSU went ahead 52-48 on an Olson 3-pointer with 6:40 remaining. Another scoring drought allowed Green Bay to score six straight points and take a 54-52 lead, but another Olson 3-pointer with 1:09 on the clock gave the Penguins a 55-54 lead. Oskey countered with a basket for Green Bay, and Olson made two free throws with 37.8 seconds remaining to put YSU up 57-56.
The Penguins got a stop on defense, and Ritz went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line to make it 58-56. Levy was fouled with 24.8 seconds left and made both of her attempts to tie the score at 58, and that led to Olson's missed floater at the buzzer in regulation.
Youngstown State will try to recover quickly as it heads to Milwaukee for a game on Saturday. Tipoff against the Panthers at the Klotsche Center is set for 2 p.m. Eastern.
