Fort Wayne, Ind. — Purdue Fort Wayne made 13 3-pointers to fight off the Youngstown State women's basketball team for a 73-64 victory on Saturday in the regular-season finale for both teams.
The Penguins finished the regular season with a 13-17 overall record and a 9-11 mark in Horizon League play, while Purdue Fort Wayne improved to 20-11 overall and 13-7 against the conference. The Mastodons clinched their first 20-win season for the first time since 2010-11.
Youngstown State, which dropped its first road contest since Jan. 31, will be the seventh seed in the 2024 Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship. It will host 10th-seeded IUPUI on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the tournament's first round at Beeghly Center.
Youngstown State had four players reach double figures on Saturday, led by Emily Saunders' 17 points. She was joined by 10 points apiece from Shay-Lee Kirby, Paige Shy and Haley Thierry, and Dena Jarrells added nine points. Saunders added nine rebounds and six blocks.
Destinee Marshall scored a career-high 22 points on her senior day for Purdue Fort Wayne, and she made four of the Mastodons' 13 3-pointers. Shayla Sellers, another senior, also made four 3s while scoring 13 points, and Amellia Bromenschenkel scored 19.
The Penguins scored seven of the first 10 points of the game and led 7-3 after an Abby Liber layup at the 5:49 mark of the first quarter. The Mastodons started making just one of its first six field-goal attempts and had six turnovers in the first six minutes, but Sellers hit a 3 at the 3:55 mark to spark a 9-2 run for Purdue Fort Wayne.
The Mastodons led 14-9 after Marshall scored on their first possession of the second period, and YSU was not able to take the lead again.
Purdue Fort Wayne's largest lead in the opening half was 35-26 with 1:55 left when Sellers buried her third 3, and Saunders scored just over a minute later as YSU got within 35-28 at halftime.
The Penguins scored the first four points of the third period on two-point buckets by Kirby and Malia Magestro, and a 3-pointer by Kirby kept the margin at three points at 38-35 with 7:55 remaining. Sellers and Audra Emmerson hit back-to-back triples on the next two possessions for the Mastodons to stretch the lead back to nine, and the advantage was nine again at 49-40 when Emmerson hit another 3-pointer at the 4:47 mark. She finished with three 3s in the quarter.
YSU had plenty of fight left, and it scored the next seven points to climb to within two at 49-47 when Shy made a layup with 2:59 left in the quarter. The Penguins then tied the score at 51 when Saunders scored with 1:13 remaining, and she scored again in the final 30 seconds after another Emmerson trey to make YSU's deficit 54-53 heading into the fourth.
The Penguins didn't make a field goal for the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter, and Purdue Fort Wayne took advantage with a 16-2 run that gave it a 70-55 advantage with 3:11 left.
Youngstown State shot 41.1% from the field for the game, making 50% or better over the second and third quarters but under 28% in the first and fourth. YSU finished 7-for-21 from 3-point range, and it went 11-for-12 on its free-throw attempts.
Purdue Fort Wayne shot 43.5% overall while going 13-for-34 from beyond the arc.
