Dayton, Ohio — Wright State got hot offensively in the middle two quarters to beat Youngstown State's women's basketball team 77-62 on Sunday afternoon at the Nutter Center.
The Penguins led 20-12 at the end of the first period after Malia Magestro made two free throws in the final seconds, but Wright State scored 46 points over the next two quarters to come away with the Horizon League victory.
Magestro finished with a team-high 16 points to lead three Penguins in double figures. Jewel Watkins scored 13 while battling foul trouble, and Haley Thierry scored a season-high 12.
Youngstown State went 14-for-15 from the free-throw line for 93.3%, and Wright State's aggressiveness on the offensive end over the final three periods allowed the Raiders to go 22-for-27 at the charity stripe.
Amaya Staton finished with 14 points, 16 rebounds and seven blocks to lead Wright State, which had seven players score between seven and 14 points. The Raiders shot 44.4% from the field, including 51.3% over the final 30 minutes.
After Wright State hit a 3-pointer 70 seconds into the game, the teams traded runs in the opening quarter. Youngstown State went on a seven-point burst over 32 seconds to take a 7-3 lead, and the Raiders answered with their own seven-point run to go up 10-7. YSU then scored nine straight points to claim a 16-10 advantage on two Haley Thierry free throws at the 2:49 mark, and Magestro's free throws with two seconds left capped an extended 13-2 run to end the quarter.
YSU missed its first 12 field-goal attempts of the second quarter as Wright State tied the score at 22 with 4:05 remaining. Faith Burch scored on Youngstown State's next possession, and Macie Taylor's 3-pointer 15 seconds for Wright State created the first of eight lead changes in the period.
Youngstown State led by two twice in the final minute-and-a-half on a three-point play by Thierry and a 3-pointer by Magestro. Magestro's triple gave her 10 points and put YSU ahead 34-32 on its final possession, but Wright State's Abbie Riddle got a bucket to fall just before the horn to knot the game at 34.
Wright State scored 13 of the first 17 points in the second period to take a 47-38 lead with 5:37 on the clock, but the Penguins answered with eight straight points to get within one. Watkins started the run with a three-point play, and she followed that with a straightaway 3-pointer on the next possession. Thierry's layup with 4:20 left made the score 47-46, but Wright State scored nine points on the next three possessions and reclaimed its nine-point advantage at 55-46.
Wright State's lead reached double digits for the first time late in the quarter, and Erica King's 3-pointer with 20 seconds left brought the Penguins to within 58-49 heading into the fourth.
Thierry's three-point play on the opening possession of the final quarter cut the deficit to 58-52, but the Penguins didn't make another field goal for three minutes as Wright State went on an 8-0 run to take a 14-point advantage. YSU got no closer than eight, and the final score was the largest margin of the game.
Youngstown State will play a pair of games at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center next week, starting with a contest on Wednesday against Northern Kentucky. Tipoff against the Norse is set for 6:30 p.m.
