The Youngstown State women's basketball team led for more than 32 minutes and scored five of the final six points to beat Green Bay 63-60 on Friday evening at the Kress Center.
The Penguins beat the Phoenix on the road for the first time since 2014, and they snapped Green Bay's 11-game winning streak in the process. YSU improved to 13-5 overall and 7-2 in Horizon League play, and it moved into a tie with the Phoenix for second place in the conference standings. Green Bay is now 14-4 overall, and it lost for the first time since Dec. 1.
It was a tremendous character victory for YSU, which was coming off a disappointing 64-61 loss to IUPUI on Monday.
Lilly Ritz had 14 points and a game-high seven rebounds, but she was limited to 19 minutes because of foul trouble. Malia Magestro scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half, and Megan Callahan and Dena Jarrells both scored 11.
Youngstown State shot 46.3%, which was the highest mark against Green Bay this season. The Phoenix came into the night ranking fifth in the country in field-goal percentage defense at .332. The Penguins were 9-for-30 from 3-point range, and they were 16-for-24 inside it.
Green Bay's final lead came at 59-58 with 2:35 left when Jasmine Kondrakiewicz made a 3-pointer, but Jarrells hit a 3 on YSU's next possession to put the Penguins up 61-59. The final three points of the game came at the free-throw line as Callie Genke split two free throws for Green Bay with 1:54 on the clock, and Magestro and Paige Shy made attempts in the final five seconds.
After Genke's free throw at the 1:54 mark, Green Bay missed its final four field-goal attempts and had two turnovers in the final five seconds. With YSU ahead 61-60, Green Bay's Bailey Butler missed a shot inside the paint with nine seconds left, and the Phoenix got the offensive rebound and called timeout to draw up a play with 5.8 ticks on the clock. Green Bay turned it over on the inbounds play, and YSU called timeout to advance the ball to the frontcourt.
The Phoenix had two fouls to give, and three quick fouls sent Magestro to the line with 4.2 seconds remaining. Magestro made her first attempt and missed her second, giving Green Bay another chance. After a timeout advance the ball with 3.9 seconds left, Butler caught the inbounds pass and stepped on the baseline driving to the basket for another turnover. The Phoenix fouled Shy with 1.8 seconds left, and the senior forward made her first attempt and missed her second, and Green Bay's attempt from 80 feet was wide.
YSU went 9-for-16 from the field in the first quarter, and it led 16-7 when Jarrells hit a 3-pointer with 3:21 remaining. Jarrells was whistled for her second foul 19 seconds later, but the Penguins were able to maintain that nine-point advantage at 20-11 as Callahan scored just before the first-period horn.
The lead was nine again at 22-13 when Callahan hit a long two just over 30 seconds into the second period. Ritz was whistled for her second foul at the 7:18 mark of the quarter and sat the rest of the half, but YSU's lead was still 29-21 when Shy made two free throws with 5:16 on the clock. Green Bay ended the half on an 11-4 run, and the Phoenix actually led on the scoreboard in the final minute on a bucket by Cassie Schiltz. However, the officials overturned a Green Bay 3-pointer at halftime to retroactively make YSU lead 33-32 instead of trail 35-33 as the teams went to the locker room. The triple was taken away from Julia Hartwig with 3:01 on the clock as the replay showed that she did not get her attempt away before the shot clock hit zero.
Ritz had 10 points and four rebounds in just 11 minutes of action in the first half, and she was 5-for-5 from the field. Callahan had all 11 of her points in the opening half. After shooting 38.5% in the first period, Green Bay caught fire in the second half by making 8-of-11, including all three of its attempts from 3-point range.
Ritz scored to give the Penguins a 38-34 lead at the 7:49 mark of the third quarter, but she was whistled for her third foul 26 seconds later and went back to the bench. Kondrakiewcz made two free throws to close the gap to two, and the margin was within a possession for all but one minute over the final 17:26.
Butler hit a 3-pointer to give Green Bay its first lead of the evening at 39-38, and the Phoenix's largest lead was three at 41-38 and 44-31. Magestro hit back-to-back 3s in a 45-second stretch to give the Penguins a 47-44 lead, and Green Bay held a 50-49 advantage heading into the fourth.
YSU scored the first five points of the fourth quarter on a basket by Emily Saunders and another triple by Magestro, and the Penguins didn't trail until Kondrakiewcz hit a 3-pointer to put Green Bay ahead 59-58 with 2:35 remaining. That was the Phoenix's final field goal of the night.
Jarrells answered with her own 3-pointer 23 seconds later to give YSU a 61-59 lead, and the Penguins held on to the lead the rest of the way.
In addition to shooting 46.3%, Youngstown State committed just 11 turnovers. Green Bay shot 39.2% for the game, and it was 6-for-16 from 3-point range. The Phoenix outscored the Penguins 14-4 at the free-throw line, and Green Bay had 16 more attempts than the Penguins until Magestro and Shy went to the line in the final five seconds.
Kondrakiewicz and Schiltz scored 15 points apiece for Green Bay, which played without starter Maddy Schreiber.
Youngstown State will try to improve to 6-0 on the road in conference play and finish the Wisconsin sweep as it travels to Milwaukee on Sunday. Tipoff at the Klotsche Center is set for 3 p.m. Easter, and the game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN and ESPN+.
