Youngstown, Ohio — Youngstown State's women's basketball team had seven players score at least nine points and had its highest-scoring output in more than 26 years in a 104-33 win over Thiel in the 2025-26 season opener.
Transfers Casey Santoro and Paulina Hernandez led the Penguins in scoring with 14 points apiece, and Danielle Cameron scored 12 in her first game since a season-ending injury less than 12 months ago. Faith Burch added a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, while Sophia Gregory, Erica King and Brooke Adkins contributed nine points each.
YSU played its opening game in front of more than 2,000 area students as part of the 12th Annual School Day Kids Game presented by Chick-fil-A Tiffany Square Plaza. The 104 points were YSU's most since Jan. 5, 1998, and the eighth-highest total in program history. The 71-point margin of victory was the third-largest in school history and the largest since Dec. 29, 1990.
All 12 players on YSU's roster scored at least three points, and 10 of them had steals as the Penguins combined for 23 steals as a team. That was the highest since Jan. 8, 1998, and tied for the fifth-highest total in program history.
Emily Betsinger, Madison Pfleger and Kayley Rissser had seven points for Thiel, a Division III school located less than 40 miles from YSU's campus.
Youngstown State's offense was sluggish at the outset, and Thiel held a 6-4 lead more than four minutes into the game. Cameron's 3-pointer at the 5:54 mark of the first quarter sparked the Penguins, who outscored the Tomcats 14-2 the rest of the period and 28-5 in the second.
Santoro's second 3-pointer of the first quarter gave YSU its first double-digit lead at 17-6 with 1:39 on the clock, and Cameron made a free throw 30 seconds later to extend the Penguins' lead to 18-6. Youngstown State led 18-8 at the end of the period, and an 11-0 run put the Penguins ahead by 21 midway through the second quarter. The margin reached 30 on a Cameron triple with 1:13 on the second-quarter clock, and Hernandez scored on a putback with seven seconds left to give Youngstown State a 46-13 advantage. Hernandez scored seven points in the second period.
The Penguins then shot 66.7% from the field and scored 35 points in the third quarter to tie its highest total ever for a period. Santoro and freshman Brooke Adkins each scored eight points in the quarter while going a combined 5-for-5 from the field, and YSU led 81-21 heading into the fourth.
Ashlynn Van Tassell's first career bucket came on YSU's second possession of the fourth quarter, and the Penguins' lead reached 70 at 96-25 on a 3-pointer by Hayden Barrier with 4:25 remaining. The largest margin was 102-25 with 2:23 left.
Youngstown State shot 52.1% overall and 40% from 3-point range, making 10 of its 25 attempts. The Penguins recorded 23 assists on 38 field goals, and they outrebounded the Tomcats 57-21 with a substantial size advantage.
The Penguins will play their next two games on the road, starting with a game at North Dakota on Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern.
