Youngstown, Ohio – The Youngstown State women's basketball team used fast starts to open both halves, and the Penguins held on for a hard-fought 60-53 victory over Bucknell on Sunday afternoon at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
Youngstown State never trailed in the game and improves to 3-1 on the year, while Bucknell falls to 1-3.
Sophomore Erica King led the Penguins with an outstanding all-around performance of 14 points, four rebounds, two assists and three steals. King connected on 6-of-10 from the floor and 2-for-3 from the free-throw line. Sophomore Hayden Barrier reached double figures for the first time with a career-high 11 points with three 3-pointers. Sophomore Danielle Cameron and redshirt freshman Sarah Baker each added nine points, while sophomore Sophia Gregory led the team with 10 rebounds.
Youngstown State got off to a feverish start, scoring on its first four possessions to take a 9-2 lead. Baker hit a turnaround jumper to start the scoring, and, after a Bucknell basket, a layup by King and a 3-pointer by Cameron forced the Bison to call timeout, trailing 7-2. A layup by Gregory gave the Penguins the seven-point lead with 7:10 left in the stanza.
The Penguins also forced five Bucknell turnovers and King recorded three steals during the opening spurt.
Bucknell scored seven straight points to tie the game at 9-9, and a King layup snapped a 6:27 scoring drought, and the Penguins ended the quarter with an 11-9 lead.
The Penguins cooled off from the field to begin the second quarter, making just one of their first seven field goal attempts.
Barrier hit her first 3-pointer of the game at the 6:31 mark to give the Penguins a 15-11 lead before the Bison scored four straight to knot the game at 15-15.
Youngstown State answered with a 7-0 run to take a 22-15 lead with 1:40 remaining. Santoro started the run with two free throws, and Baker extended the YSU lead to five, 20-15, with an old-fashioned three-point play with 2:10 left before halftime.
Faith Burch added a pair of charity tosses to cap the scoring run.
Bucknell hit a 3-pointer and a layup to trim the YSU advantage to 22-20, but Barrier connected on her second 3-pointer of the game to close out the first half scoring, and the Penguins entered the locker room with a 25-20 halftime lead.
YSU scored 15 of the first 20 points of the third quarter, making its first four shots and five of its first seven to expand its five-point edge to double figures by the end of the third quarter.
King opened the half with a driving layup, and Baker connected on two free throws to take a nine-point lead, 29-20. After a Baker layup and a Bucknell 3-pointer, King gave the Penguins their first double-digit lead, 35-25, after consecutive driving layups
Barrier hit her third 3-pointer of the game, and Santoro made a pair of charity tosses to push the Penguins' lead to 15, 40-25. Bucknell scored the next six points to trim the lead down to 40-31 before Burch split a pair of free throws to extend the lead back to double digits, 41-31, with 1:12 left in the quarter.
Santoro hit her first three of the game to extend the YSU lead to 13, 44-31, to close out the third quarter.
Youngstown State built a game-high 17-point lead, 50-33, to start the final quarter after a 3-pointer by Paulina Hernandez and a three-point play by King. Bucknell scored the next seven to cut the lead back to 10, 50-40, and forced a YSU timeout with 6:55 left. Baskets by Bucknell's Elaina Weisman and Reese Zemitis pushed the Bison run to 11-0 and trimmed the YSU lead to 50-44.
A 3-pointer by Cameron, her second of the game, stopped the run and gave the Penguins a 53-44 cushion. A layup by Gregory restored a double-digit lead, 57-47, and Cameron's third 3-pointer with 1:33 left gave the Penguins a 60-49 lead to seal the game.
Youngstown State visits Mercyhurst on Thursday, Nov. 20. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. in Erie, Pa.
