Youngstown, Ohio — The Youngstown State women's basketball team made four straight 3-pointers early in the third quarter to make a run at Green Bay, but the Penguins fell 71-59 to the Phoenix on Saturday at the Beeghly Center.
The Penguins, who celebrated their six fifth-year seniors prior to the game, dropped their first game in February and saw their four-game winning streak come to a close. YSU is now 12-15 overall and 8-9 in Horizon League play, while Green Bay remained tied atop the standings with a 21-5 overall mark and a 14-2 record in conference play.
YSU fifth-year senior Emily Saunders had one of the best games of her career, posting game highs of 19 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks, and she added three assists. Haley Thierry scored nine points, and Dena Jarrells and Shay-Lee Kirby both had eight.
Saunders, Jarrells, Kirby, Mady Aulbach, Paige Shy and Jen Wendler each played their final regular-season weekend game in Beeghly Center. In addition to the 35 points that Saunders, Jarrells and Kirby combined for, Aulbach scored five points, and Shy assisted on a bucket by Wendler in the final seconds. Wendler has missed her entire final season with a knee injury, and Green Bay took a shot clock violation and allowed YSU's fifth-year senior from Wisconsin to have an open look near the basket on the final play of the game.
Green Bay had four players score in double figures, and Natalie McNeal added 10 rebounds to her 18 points. Bailey Butler had 14 points and a game-best nine assists.
The first quarter was full of runs, and the Phoenix led 17-10 at the end of the period. Green Bay scored eight straight points to take an 8-1 lead, and Youngstown State followed with a 9-0 run to go up 10-8. That ended up being the Penguins' final advantage of the afternoon, as Green Bay scored the final nine points of the first quarter and held a 16-9 advantage in the second.
The Phoenix led 33-19 at halftime, and McNeal scored on the first possession of the third period to up the margin to 35-19. That's when the Penguins made their charge behind four straight 3-pointers that forced a Green Bay timeout.
Jarrells buried two within a stretch of 25 seconds, and Kirby followed at the 7:29 mark to trim the margin to single digits at 35-28. Aulbach then nailed a 3-pointer to make the score 35-31, and the timeout followed. On the Penguins' next possession, Saunders converted a three-point play to bring the score to within 35-34, but that's as close as YSU would get.
McNeal had a three-point play on Green Bay's next possession to end YSU's 15-0 run, and the Phoenix got their lead back to double digits at 46-36 after making five free throws during an 11-2 run. The Penguins worked the margin back to six with 2:41 left in the quarter, and Green Bay led 50-41 after three periods.
The Phoenix then started the fourth quarter on a 10-2 burst to take their largest lead at 60-43 with 7:13 on the clock. Green Bay matched the 17-point margin twice, and YSU scored the final four points on two free throws by Kirby and the field goal by Wendler.
Youngstown State shot 37.9% for the game, and it went 6-for-21 from 3-point range and 9-for-11 at the free-throw line. YSU was match better in the second half, making 14 of its 27 attempts from the field after going 8-for-31 in the first half.
Green Bay shot 41.9% overall while also making six 3s and going 13-for-15 from the charity stripe.
Youngstown State's next contest will be at Northern Kentucky on Feb. 24 at 2 p.m.
