Highland Heights, Ky. — Youngstown State's women's basketball team outscored Northern Kentucky 21-5 in the fourth quarter to record a 56-47 victory over the Norse at Truist Arena on Saturday.
Down 42-35 heading into the fourth, the Penguins scored the first 13 points of the period on their way to their first road victory of the season. Youngstown State is now 6-4 overall, and it improved to 2-0 in Horizon League play for the fifth time in the last seven years.
Faith Burch scored eight points during that 13-0 run to start the quarter, and she finished with 12 points in the final 8:40 of the game. She recorded a career-high 16 points, and she matched her highest rebounding total with 13. Sophia Gregory also had a double-double for the Penguins, finishing with career-high totals of 11 points and 12 rebounds. They became the first pair of YSU players to have a double-double in the same game since Jan. 24, 2020.
Jewel Watkins added 10 points in the first half before battling foul trouble for a large portion of the final three quarters. Malia Magestro had six points and five assists in her return from a four-game absence.
Burch and Gregory's performances were huge boosts for the Penguins, who played without Sarah Baker due to a lower body injury.
NKU also battled injuries as leading scorer Halle Idowu went down with an injury just over 90 seconds into the game and second-leading scorer Macey Blevins was inactive. Jaci Jones led the Norse on Saturday with nine points, and she made two of NKU's six 3-pointers.
Watkins scored the first six points of the game on a pair of 3-pointers within a minute of each other, and Youngstown State led 6-0 at the 7:23 mark. The Penguins remained ahead the rest of the quarter, and Watkins' eighth point came on YSU's final possession and made the score 12-9.
The Penguins led by five twice in the first four minutes of the second period, and Burch's two free throws at the 5:54 mark gave them a 16-11 advantage. NKU scored the next 10 points to go up 21-16, and Magestro hit a 3-pointer on YSU's final possession to get the margin back to two and end a field-goal drought of more than nine minutes.
NKU stretched its lead to 28-19 on an Abby Wolterman bucket at the 8:25 mark of the third quarter, but YSU regrouped out of a timeout and started to chip away. Gregory scored five straight points for the Penguins and grabbed an offensive rebound that led to a Xoe Rosalez 3, and YSU was back within a possession at 30-27 with 5:36 on the clock. A bucket by Magestro with 3:02 remaining cut the deficit to one at 34-33, and Burch split a pair of free throws to tie the score at 34 with 2:19 on the clock. NKU, though, scored the final seven points of the quarter to take a 42-35 advantage.
Rosalez and Burch combined for all of the points during YSU's 13-0 run to start the fourth, and Rosalez's steal that led to a Burch basket at the 5:31 mark put the Penguins up 48-42. Jones converted a four-point play out of an NKU timeout to get the Norse back within two at 48-46, but that's as close as they would get. That 3-pointer by Jones was the only field goal that YSU allowed in the period, and the Penguins demonstrated toughness on the road by finishing the game on an 8-1 run to close out the victory.
Youngstown State will step away from competition for finals week until its game at Ohio State on Dec. 14. Tipoff against the Buckeyes is set for 11 a.m. at Value City Arena in the Schottenstein Center.
