Youngstown — Three players scored in double figures to lead the Youngstown State women's basketball team to a 66-57 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday evening at Beeghly Center.

Dena Jarrells, Emily Saunders, and Paige Shy each scored 16 points to the lead Penguins, who improve to 7-12 overall and 3-6 in the Horizon League.

Defensively, Youngstown State held the Mastodons to just 32.8 percent from the field and limited leading scorer Amellia Bromenschenkel to four points on 1-for-12 from the field. Shy drew the primary assignment against Bromenschenkel, and Haley Thierry also played a big role defensively as Bromenschenkel and Shayla Sellers went a combined 2-for-19 from the field and scored six points.

Leading the Mastodons, who fall to 11-8 overall and 5-4 in the league, was Audra Emmerson with 15 points while Destinee Marshall added 12 points.

The Penguins and Mastodons battled through 14 lead changes and five ties before the Penguins pulled away in the final 12-and-a-half minutes.

Tied at 37-37, the Penguins scored the final four points of the third quarter and led by as many as 11 points late in the fourth quarter to come away with their third straight home victory.

The Penguins went 13-for-24 from the field (54.2 percent) in the second half, including 7-for-12 in the fourth quarter. YSU also went 9-for-10 from the free-throw line in the final 10 minutes.

The Penguins came out of the gate firing on all cylinders going 7-for-8 from the floor in the game's first six minutes. YSU used a 9-0 run to turn a five-point deficit into a four-point advantage, 15-11, with 3:38 left in the first quarter.

The Penguins missed their last six shots of the quarter while the Mastodons answered with five straight points to take a 16-15 lead at the end of one.

The teams exchanged the lead twice before the Penguins used a 7-0 run capped by a Shy layup with 3:37 to go to regain a 25-20 lead. Youngstown State led 27-26 at the intermission.

The back-and-forth continued into the third quarter as the teams battled through four ties and four lead changes before the Penguins scored the final four points of the stanza for a 41-37 advantage. The Penguins also held the Mastodons scoreless for the final 2:29 of the quarter.

Youngstown State built its lead to nine points to start the fourth quarter, 46-37, after a basket by Saunders and a 3-pointer by Shy to force the Mastodons to call a timeout at the 8:32 mark. Purdue Fort Wayne cut the lead down to six, but Jarrells nailed her fourth 3-pointer of the game to push the YSU lead back to nine, 51-42, with 5:54 to go.

The Penguins built its lead to 57-46, its largest of the game, with 1:46 to go, but the Mastodons clawed their way back to a five-point deficit, 60-55, after a 9-3 run.

Thierry broke away from Purdue Fort Wayne's full-court pressure for a layup that pushed the lead to 62-55 with 39 seconds left, and she scored again 15 seconds later after a Mastodons miss to all but seal the win. Shay-Lee Kirby added another layup in the final seconds for the final tally.

Youngstown State hosts Northern Kentucky, Wednesday, Jan. 24. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. at Beeghly Center.