Highland Heights, Ky. — The Youngstown State women's basketball team overcame an 18-point deficit behind clutch efforts across the lineup to win 68-64 at Northern Kentucky on Saturday at Truist Arena.
The Penguins trailed 25-7 13 minutes into the game, and they were down 47-34 with just over 13 minutes left before they rallied. YSU cut the deficit to 48-43 heading into the fourth quarter, and the Penguins outscored the Norse 25-16 in the final period to come away with the win. YSU didn't lead until Dena Jarrells hit a 3-pointer to put the Penguins ahead 64-63 with 1:04 left in the game.
Jarrells tied her career high with 25 points, and Shay-Lee Kirby scored 21 for YSU, which improved to 5-1 in February and won for the seventh time in its last 10 games. Both players scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, and Emily Saunders grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds and blocked four shots.
Youngstown State is now 13-15 overall and 9-9 in Horizon League play following the win, and it earned its fifth consecutive road victory. YSU also kept its chances of securing a first-round bye in the upcoming Barbasol Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship alive, and it moved two games up on the Norse in the standings with two games left. NKU, which had won five of its last seven games, dropped to 9-18 overall and 7-11 against the conference.
While 65 of YSU's 68 points came from its starting five, interim head coach John Nicolais quickly complimented the Penguins' reserves in his postgame comments. The Penguins played without Malia Magestro and Paige Shy, and Abby Liber, Lindsey Linard and Abbie Davidson each played at least 10 minutes off the bench to allow YSU to hang in the game in the first half.
The Penguins trailed just 10-7 with less than 40 seconds left in a low-scoring first period, but NKU's Kailee Davis hit a 3-pointer at the end of the quarter to spark a Norse run. Khamari Mitchell-Steen scored on a driving layup to start the second, and Noelle Hubert hit 3s on the next two possessions to give NKU a 21-7 advantage. The Norse added four more points to extend their run to 15-0 as they took their largest lead of the game at 25-7 at the 7:13 mark of the second period.
NKU's lead was 27-11 after Youngstown State's 12th turnover of the game led to a Macy Blevins bucket with 4:49 left in the second quarter. The Penguins had just three turnovers the rest of the game, and they started to find an offensive rhythm behind Kirby and Jarrells.
Kirby hit her first of four 3s in the game after the Blevins basket, and Jarrells buried two 3-pointers during a stretch when she scored the Penguins' final eight points of the quarter in the final two-and-a-half minutes. She helped the Penguins claw their way to get within 32-24 at the break.
Kirby then hit a 3 on the first possession of the second half to get YSU to within 32-27, but NKU went on an 8-2 run to get its lead back to double digits at 40-29. The Norse then built their advantage up to 13, the largest amount of the second half, when Kalissa Lacy hit a 3-pointer to make the score 47-34 with 3:24 left on the third quarter clock. That was NKU's final field goal of the quarter, and YSU closed out the stanza on a 9-1 burst.
Mady Aulbach answered with her own triple on YSU's next possession, and the Penguins went on to score nine straight points as Kirby and Jarrells hit 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 47-43 with 1:38 left in the period. NKU led 48-43 after Mitchell-Steen hit a free throw with 45 seconds left.
The Norse led by six twice in the fourth quarter, the second tie coming at 58-52 on another 3 by Lacy with 5:02 left. Two free throws by Kirby and a jumper by Jarrells cut the margin to two, and a Saunders block led to a transition bucket by Kirby with 3:57 left that tied the game at 58. It was the first time the score was tied since it was 0-0.
Blevins hit a big 3 for NKU at the 2:45 mark to give the Norse a 61-58 advantage, but Kirby banked in a 3 from the wing 25 seconds later to tie the score. Blevins then scored on the next possession to give NKU its final lead of the afternoon at 63-61, and YSU claimed its first lead of the day when two offensive rebounds led to a 3-pointer by Jarrells with 1:04 left.
Mitchell-Steen split a pair of free throw attempts with 52.4 seconds left to tie the score, and Haley Thierry's driving layup with 31.5 seconds left put the Penguins up 66-64. Kirby then stole a pass on NKU's next possession and made two free throws with 22.1 seconds remaining to push the difference to four, and the Norse had two misses on their next possession.
Youngstown State shot 42.1% for the game despite starting 3-for-17 from the field, and it made a season-high 12 3-pointers on just 23 attempts. The Penguins finished with 15 turnovers after having 12 in the first 16 minutes, and they held a 42-33 rebounding advantage. Northern Kentucky shot 36.1%, and it went 10-for-23 from beyond the arc.
The Penguins will host Cleveland State on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the final regular season game at Beeghly Center.
