Youngstown, Ohio — Jewel Watkins scored 17 points in the final 10:08 to lead Youngstown State's women's basketball team to a 69-52 victory over Clarion on Friday at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
The Penguins are now 3-0 after beating the Division II Golden Eagles, who fought to stay close until Watkins got hot in the final quarter.
YSU's margin was 43-40 entering its final possession of the third quarter, and Watkins drove through the lane for a layup and her first points of the second half. The senior from Columbus, Ohio, made two free throws at the 8:52 mark of the fourth to push YSU's lead to 48-40, and she blew the game open by scoring 13 points in a five-possession stretch from 5:52 to 2:49 in the period.
Watkins finished that personal 13-3 run with a reverse layup that turned into a three-point play, and the Penguins held a 64-48 lead.
Watkins 9-for-14 overall from the field, 3-for-6 from 3-point range and 3-for-3 at the free-throw line. She was joined in double figures by Malia Magestro, who finished with 11 after being recognized before the game for scoring 1,000 career points.
Hannah Wilkerson led Clarion with 16 points, and Autumn Taylor finished with 14.
The Penguins faced their first deficit of the season when Taylor hit a 3-pointer at the 7:09 mark of the opening quarter, and that was the first of six lead changes in the game. Youngstown State reclaimed the lead at 7-5 when Watkins hit a 3-pointer 20 seconds later, and the Penguins held a 15-9 lead after two Bella Samz free throws with 3:57 on the clock. Clarion scored six straight to tie the score at 15, and the Golden Eagles reclaimed the lead at 18-17 when DayLynn Thornton split a pair of free throws with 44 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Watkins gave the Penguins a 19-18 lead at the 8:40 mark of the second quarter, but YSU went more than three minutes without its next field goal. Clarion held a 20-19 lead for a two-minute stretch before Erica King made two free throws at the 5:50 mark, and Sarah Baker's basket from Magestro gave YSU a 23-20 lead. Zoe Guice tied the score at 23 on a three-point play with 4:59 on the clock, but the Penguins went on an 8-2 burst that started with a Baker bucket and a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions. Taylor hit a 3-pointer just before the buzzer for her first points of the quarter to trim the margin to 33-28.
King scored the first four points of the second half to give YSU a 37-28 lead and force a Clarion timeout, and the margin was nine again when Burch scored at 7:59 to make it 39-30. After that, the Penguins did not have a field goal in the quarter until Watkins scored on their final possession.
YSU held its first double-digit lead at 41-30 on two free throws by Magestro at 6:05, and it did not score for nearly five minutes until Magestro made two more free throws with 1:14 remaining. Taylor made two free throws to make the score 43-40 and set up Watkins' blistering stretch.
Youngstown State will host Mercyhurst on Tuesday in the Annual School Day Kids Game presented by Chick-Fil-A Tiffany Square Plaza. Tipoff against the Lakers will be at 11 a.m.
