The Youngstown State women's basketball team allowed the fewest points in a road game in school history and beat Saint Francis 69-32 on Saturday at DeGol Arena.

The Penguins also had their largest margin of victory in a road contest in at least two decades with the 37-point win. Youngstown State outscored the Red Flash by 19 (36-17) in the first half and 18 (33-15) in the second half.

YSU earned its first road win of the campaign and improved its record to 4-6 heading into finals week. Saint Francis dropped to 1-8.

Senior Emily Saunders took advantage of size mismatches in the post and finished with a career-high 23 points in less than 21 minutes of action. She was 11-for-15 from the field, and she helped the Penguins shoot 52.9% from the field. Dena Jarrells made four 3-pointers while filling the stat sheet with 14 points, five assists and three steals, and Abby Liber added a career-high 11 points off the bench.

But the defense was the key for the Penguins in the victory in Loretto, Pa. Youngstown State didn't allow a field goal for nearly the first eight-and-a-half minutes of the game as it built a 10-2 lead, and the margin was at least six points the rest of the way.

Saint Francis was just 10-for-47 from the field for 21.3%, and the Red Flash were 3-for-16 from 3-point range. SFU's leading scorer Kendall Carruthers had scored at least 12 points in five straight games, and YSU held her to seven points on 2-for-10 shooting.

Saunders scored the first four points of the afternoon, and a 3-pointer by Mady Aulbach extended the lead to 8-2 at the 3:29 mark. Saunders made it 10-2, and the Penguins had their first double-digit advantage on Malia Magestro's layup with 51 seconds left. Lindsey Linard made two free throws with 0.2 on the clock to push the lead to 16-4 at the end of the period.

The Red Flash got the deficit to single digits for the final time when Carruthers hit a 3-pointer with 8:19 left in the second quarter to make the score 18-9. Jarrells answered with a 3 20 seconds later to make it a 21-9 lead and spark a 12-2 run that ended with another Jarrells triple. That run extended the advantage to 30-11, and YSU led 36-17 at halftime.

The Penguins then pulled away by scoring the first 16 points of the second half and outscoring the Red Flash 18-4 in the third quarter. YSU's largest lead was 63-24 when Liber scored at the 6:58 mark of the fourth to get to a career-best 11 points.

Destini Ward hit a 3-pointer for the Red Flash, and Saunders followed with a layup on a pass from Liber to reach her career-high total of 23 points. The Penguins used the final four-and-a-half minutes to get reserves some experience.

YSU outscored the Red Flash 34-6 in the paint, and it held a 38-22 rebounding advantage. The Penguins also outscored SFU 20-5 off turnovers despite being even in the turnover column with 16 apiece.

Youngstown State will have six days off for final exam week before returning to action at St. Bonaventure on Dec. 16 at 1 p.m.