Youngstown, Ohio — Redshirt freshman Danielle Cameron scored a career-high 18 points, and the Youngstown State women's basketball team outscored Wright State by 20 points over the last 13:57 to pull away for a 65-46 victory on Tuesday evening inside Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
Cameron's career- and game-high 18 points came on 6-of-12 shooting with three 3-pointers, while senior Casey Santoro posted 15 points with four rebounds and four assists.
Redshirt freshman Sarah Baker added nine points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Sophia Gregory and Erica King each scored eight points. Gregory also collected eight boards, and King posted seven.
Youngstown State improved to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in the Horizon League while the Raiders fell to 5-8 overall and 1-2 in the league.
Down 40-39 after Wright State's Lauren Scott hit a 3-pointer with 3:57 left in the third, the Penguins scored 26 of the next 32 points to secure the 19-point victory.
The Penguins limited the Raiders to just 5-for-24 shooting from the field (20.8 percent) in the second half, including just 1-for-8 in the fourth quarter, and shot 46.7 percent (14-for-30) after halftime.
YSU made its first field goal of the game, then missed its next five shots as the Raiders went on a 7-0 run and kept the Penguins scoreless for nearly three minutes. Cameron ended the YSU drought and drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing to get the score within two, 7-5.
After a free throw by Cameron cut the Raiders' lead to 7-6, a layup by WSU's Olivia Brown extended the Raiders' lead to 9-6 at the 4:14 mark. YSU went on a 5-0 spurt after a steal and layup by Gregory and a 3-pointer by King and took an 11-9 advantage with 2:53 to go. Wright State held a one-point, 14-13, edge at the end of the first quarter.
Wright State scored five of the first seven points to open the second quarter to push its lead to 19-15 and forced a YSU timeout at the 8:13 mark. Coming out of the timeout, Santoro buried a deep 3 to beat the shot clock, but WSU's Abbie Riddle banked a 3-pointer off of the glass to regain a four-point lead.
Wright State's largest advantage was 27-21, and Youngstown State closed the first half on a 10-2 burst to take a 31-29 lead at the break. Santoro started the run with her second 3-pointer of the game, and Cameron scored four points during a 7-0 run over the last 2:14 of the half.
The first half featured two ties and six lead changes, and neither team led by more than six points in the first 20 minutes.
The Penguins missed their first six shots of the second half before Cameron connected on her third 3-pointer of the game to help the Penguins regain a 34-32 lead. Wright State knotted the game at 37-37 after scoring five of the next eight points, keyed by a 3-pointer from Ellie Magestro-Kennedy with 5:03 left in the third.
Scott then hit a 3 to give the Raiders a 40-39 lead, but the Penguins went on an 11-2 run over the final 3:57 of the quarter to take a 50-42 lead into the final stanza. A pull-up jumper by King, a 3-pointer by Paulina Hernandez and a layup by Gregory gave the Penguins a 46-40 lead with 50 seconds remaining.
Magestro-Kennedy hit a jumper for the Raiders before a pair of free throws by Santoro and a buzzer-beating layup by Hernandez accounted for the Penguins' eight-point advantage.
Youngstown State extended its lead to 55-44 following an acrobatic layup and an old-fashioned three-point by Santoro with 6:40 left in the game, and it led by as many as 19 with 1:38 to go. YSU outscored Wright State 15-4 in the period, and it held the Raiders to 5-of-24 from the field in the second half.
Youngstown State will face Florida International on Friday at the FIU Holiday Classic. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. The Penguins will also play UMass on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at the event. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+ and iHeartRadio.
