Erie, Pa. — Casey Santoro tied her career high with 21 points, and Erica King scored a career-best 19 to lead Youngstown State's women's basketball team to a 64-50 win at Mercyhurst on Thursday night at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center.

Santoro was 6-for-11 from the field and made four 3-pointers, and King scored 13 points in the second half to help the Penguins hold off the Lakers. Youngstown State improved to 4-1 overall and 2-1 on the road, while Mercyhurst dropped to 0-4.

The Penguins led for nearly 38 minutes, and they scored 15 of the final 17 points of the game.

Santoro played all but 32 seconds while matching her career high in scoring from Jan. 5, 2022. King was 5-for-10 from the field, 2-for-6 from beyond the arc and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line to surpass her previous high of 16 points set last season. Sophia Gregory scored nine points while battling four fouls, and Danielle Cameron made two 3s as part of an eight-point night.

Lena Walz led Mercyhurst with 16 points and made three of the Lakers' seven 3-pointers.

Both teams got off to a slow start as YSU's lead was 3-0 four-and-a-half minutes into the game, and Erica Hall's 3-pointer at the 5:28 mark gave Mercyhurst its first points and created the only tie of the game. The Lakers' only lead came on a Jenna Van Schaik triple with 3:48 remaining in the opening quarter, and Santoro followed with her first 3-pointer two possessions later to give YSU a 7-6 advantage.

The Penguins protected that lead the rest of the night, and they built it to 16-11 at the end of the quarter behind seven points from Santoro.

Mercyhurst scored the first four points of the second quarter to get within a point, but the Penguins went on an 8-2 burst to go up 24-17 on a Cameron 3-pointer. The lead increased to 27-19 on a Santoro 3-pointer with 4:28 left, and the Penguins took a 31-24 advantage at halftime.

The margin ranged between nine and four points in the third period, and Mercyhurst went on an 8-2 run from the 1:15 mark of the third quarter until the 6:16 mark of the fourth. That's when King's 3-pointer sparked the Penguins' 15-2 run to close the game, and Mercyhurst did not make another field goal.

Cameron followed King's 3 with a steal and layup, and Santoro and Gregory later scored within 13 seconds of each other to boost the lead to double digits for the first time at 59-49 with 2:48 left. The 14-point final margin was the biggest of the game.

Youngstown State shot 45.7% from the field, and it was 8-for-21 from 3-point range and 14-for-18 at the free-throw line. Mercyhurst shot 33.3%, and the Penguins limited them to 2-for-10 in the fourth quarter.

The Penguins will return home to host Toledo on Tuesday at 6 p.m. inside Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.