Youngstown, Ohio — Youngstown State's women's basketball team had two freshmen reach double figures and played well enough defensively to win, but the Penguins couldn't overcome an early burst by Green Bay in a 58-50 loss to the Phoenix on Thursday evening.
YSU had a cold stretch where it scored two points over 10 minutes in the first half, and Green Bay had a 14-point lead with 3:53 left in the second period. Youngstown State outscored the Phoenix by six the rest of the way but could not get closer than six.
Sophia Gregory scored 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, and Erica King scored 12 to lead the Penguins. YSU shot 42.6% overall, just under Green Bay's 44.2%, and it limited its turnovers over the final 30 minutes after having nine in the first period. The Phoenix came into the game averaging 66.7 points per game and 75.4 points against league opponents.
Natalie McNeal scored a game-high 17 points to lead Green Bay.
The Phoenix scored the first five points of the game to force a quick Penguins timeout, and YSU got within 9-7 on a Haley Thierry triple at the 5:47 mark of the opening quarter. But the Penguins had just two points over the next 10 minutes as Green Bay increased its lead to 19-9 at the end of the period.
Neither team scored in the second quarter until a Jewel Watkins 3-pointer with 5:47 on the clock, and the Penguins trailed just 19-12 at that juncture despite the cool stretch. Green Bay scored the next seven points to take its largest lead of the half at 26-12, but YSU went on a 10-4 burst over the final three-and-a-half minutes to cut into the deficit and be within 30-22 at the break.
Erica King's jumper at the 3:34 mark started the run for the Penguins, and Gregory scored the team's final eight points of the half. She scored six consecutive points in a span of 72 seconds, and her 10th point of the half came with 1:06 on the clock.
Green Bay led by a dozen twice in the third quarter, and the Penguins trimmed it to 39-32 on a King bucket with 3:50 left. Watkins' third 3-pointer of the night made the score 44-36 on YSU's final possession of the third period, and Green Bay's Callie Genke scored just before the buzzer to up the margin back to double digits.
The Penguins held Green Bay without a field goal in the fourth until a McNeal jumper at the 5:03 mark, which upped the gap to 50-36. Faith Burch scored in transition for YSU's first points of the quarter with 4:07 on the clock, and YSU kept battling down the stretch to keep pressure on the defending conference tournament champions.
Green Bay got a big putback at the end of the shot clock with 1:22 remaining to take a 53-42 lead, but the Penguins scored six of the next seven points and got within 54-48 with 29.1 seconds left. Gregory's first career 3-pointer started the run, and King made a driving layup to start a three-point play. That's as close as YSU would get as Green Bay got back-to-back stops and went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line over the next nine seconds to increase its lead to nine.
Youngstown State's next game will be at Wright State on Sunday. Tipoff from the Nutter Center will be at 2 p.m., and the contest will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN and ESPN+.
