Youngstown, Ohio -- Canisius hit six 3-pointers in the final 11 minutes to rally for a 65-59 victory over the Youngstown State women's basketball team on Thursday at Beeghly Center. It was the 10th annual School Field Trip Game, presented by Chick-fil-A in the Tiffany Square Plaza in Boardman.
Dena Jarrells scored 13 points during a 19-0 Penguins run, and YSU led 50-34 with fewer than 30 seconds left in the third quarter. She finished with a season and game-high 22 points, and Paige Shy added 20 points off the bench.
Canisius' Brooklyn Thrash hit a 3-pointer after Jarrells' triple to cut the deficit to 13, and the Golden Griffins got another triple in the first minute of the fourth to build momentum.
Jarrells' sixth 3 of the contest pushed Youngstown State's lead back to 13 at 53-40 with 7:26 left, and YSU led 55-43 with less than six minutes remaining. The Golden Griffins scored 14 of the next 16 points and tied the score at 57 when Mackenzie Amalia hit a 3-pointer and was awarded a free throw.
Paige Shy made two free throws on YSU's next possession to give the Penguins their final lead at 59-57 with 2:41 left. Canisius scored the final eight points of the game as Youngstown State's next three possessions resulted in a shot clock violation and two defensive rebounds for the Golden Griffins. Athina Lexa had a three-point play on a sideline out-of-bounds play with 17.3 seconds left to extend Canisius' lead to 64-59, and the Golden Griffins added a free throw for the final tally.
Jarrells finished 7-for-12 from the field overall and 6-for-8 from 3-point range, and she added six assists. Shy scored made seven of her 11 attempts to score 20 points, and she tied for team-high honors with seven rebounds.
Sisi Eleko had a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds while going 6-for-19 from the field to lead Canisius.
Youngstown State scored the first five points of the game, and Canisius held a 17-12 lead later in the period in a back-and-forth quarter. Lindsey Linard's free throw gave YSU a 19-18 advantage with 17 seconds on the clock, and Lexa made a driving layup in the final seconds to give the Golden Griffins a 20-19 lead.
Shy made a 3 with 7:11 on the second-period clock to put YSU back up 22-20 and score the first points for either team, and the Golden Griffins didn't score in the quarter until Jane McCauley's 3-pointer at the 5:19 mark. That 3 sparked an 11-0 run for Canisius, and Jarrells hit a 3-pointer on the final possession for the Penguins that made the score 31-25 at halftime.
YSU then scored the first 16 points of the third quarter and led 41-31 when Emily Saunders made a free throw with 4:34 left. Canisius' first points didn't come until a Lexa basket with 3:41 on the clock, and Shy's 3-pointer in transition with 1:17 left gave the Penguins their biggest lead at 50-34.
After a break for the holidays, Youngstown State will have nothing but Horizon League games on its schedule the rest of the way. The Penguins will resume their season on Friday, Dec. 29, by hosting Wright State at 6:30 p.m.
