Youngstown – Youngstown State got off to a red-hot start from the field but cooled off and couldn't keep up with Milwaukee while suffering a 75-54 loss on Friday night at Beeghly Center.
The Penguins fall to 18-8 overall and 12-5 in the Horizon League while the Panthers improve to 9-16 overall and 7-10 in the league.
Megan Callahan led the Penguins with 18 points and scored the 1,000th point of her career on a 3-pointer in the first period. Lilly Ritz recorded her 15th double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Leading Milwaukee was Angie Cera with a game-high 20 points while Megan Walstad had a double-double with 17 points and 11 boards. Cera went 6-for-7 from 3-point range and 7-for-9 overall from the field, and Walstad was 6-for-10 from the field and 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.
The Panthers, who came into the game averaging five made 3s per game and shooting 27.1 percent from behind the arc, made nine 3s in the first half and a season-high 14 on 24 attempts for the game. Milwaukee had its most 3s in a game since 2017.
Youngstown State shot even better than Milwaukee for the first 15 minutes and started 10-for-11 from the floor. But the Penguins made just six of their next 27 field-goal attempts into the third quarter as Milwaukee started to pull away.
YSU led by 12 twice and by 10 with 5:01 left in the second quarter, but the Penguins went scoreless for from the 5:01 mark of the second quarter to the 2:38 mark of the third. During that stretch, Milwaukee went on a 23-1 run.
As the Penguins began cooling off the Panthers started to heat up. After shooting 43.8 percent in the first quarter, Milwaukee made 22 of their final 40 field goals through the final three quarters.
The Penguins jumped out to a hot start scoring 13 of the first 15 points of the game, including eight by Callahan, in the game's first four-and-a-half minutes.
YSU made 10 of its first 11 shots, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range, and pushed its lead 25-13 with 2:15 left. Milwaukee, which made five 3-pointers in the first stanza, scored the final six points of the quarter to cut the Penguins' lead to six, 25-19.
The Panthers scored the first four points of the second quarter to extend their run to 10-0 and get within two, 25-23, before Callahan hit her second 3-pointer of the game to push the lead back to five, 28-23 with 8:12 mark. Youngstown State rebuilt a 10-point advantage, 38-28, with 5:01 left in the second quarter keyed by 3s from Paige Shy and Malia Magestro and a layup by Ritz.
Milwaukee, however, continued its assault from beyond the arc and used an 11-0 run over a 3:13 span sparked by 3s from Hallie Majoros, Kamy Peppler and Walstad to take a 39-38 lead. Ritz split a pair of charity tosses to tie the score at 39-39 at the intermission.
Milwaukee scored the first 12 points of the third quarter to extend its run to 28-1 to take a 51-39 lead at the 2:52 mark.
The Penguins broke a scoring drought of 9:10 after a Ritz free throw with 2:38 on the third-quarter clock, and Callahan hit her third 3-pointer to get within 10 at 53-43 with 1:49 remaining. Milwaukee took a 55-43 lead into the final quarter.
Milwaukee outscored the Penguins 20-11 and made 8-of-12 from the field in the fourth quarter while YSU was just 5-of-15 from the floor. Mady Aulbach's 3-pointer with 6:03 remaining kept the Penguins within striking distance at 64-52, but Cera made two more 3s and Peppler banked one in at the end of the shot clock to push Milwaukee's lead to an insurmountable 73-52. After Aulbach's 3, YSU didn't score until Tenleigh Phelps' basket with 19 seconds remaining.
Youngstown State will play its regular-season home finale on Sunday as it hosts Green Bay at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN and ESPN+, and seniors Megan Callahan, Lindsey Mack and Lilly Ritz will be recognized prior to the contest.
