Miami — Youngstown State's women's basketball team scored 20 points in each of the first three quarters and made winning plays when they counted in the fourth quarter to earn a 72-69 victory over UMass on Saturday at the FIU Holiday Classic.
The Penguins enter the holiday break with an 8-4 record after the win over the Minutewomen, who were 8-1 and ranked 63rd in the NCAA's NET rankings coming into the contest.
Sarah Baker led the Penguins with 17 points while going 7-of-9 from the field, and she scored five points in the final 1:10 as YSU fought off UMass. She scored on the block on one of Sophia Gregory's six assists to put the Penguins up four with 1:10 left, and she went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 12 seconds.
After UMass's Megan Olbrys split two attempts with 11.4 seconds remaining, Baker went 1-for-2 from the line with 11.4 seconds left to put the Penguins up 70-66. Allie Palmieri hit a 3-pointer off an out-of-bounds play with 3.8 seconds remaining to cut the margin to 70-69, and Baker was fouled with 2.3 seconds on the clock. The redshirt freshman forward made both attempts, and UMass didn't catch its inbounds pass cleanly as time expired.
In addition to Baker's 17 points, Casey Santoro scored 16 on the strength of five 3-pointers, and Danielle Cameron made three 3s in a 15-point outing. The Penguins went 11-for-25 from beyond the arc, and Cameron was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line as YSU was 13-for-16 as a team.
Yahmani McKayle scored a career-high 25 points and made five 3s for UMass, which was ranked 12th in the CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid-Major Top 25. McKayle's first 3-pointer put UMass up 7-2 at the 7:36 mark of the first quarter, but that ended up being the Minutewomen's largest advantage of the afternoon.
Cameron countered with her first 3-pointer on YSU's next possession, and a 7-0 run gave the Penguins their first lead at 9-7. Santoro's first triple put the Penguins ahead 12-9 at the 4:47 mark, and she buried another 3-pointer with a minute left to tie the score at 20. McKayle scored with four seconds left for UMass as the Minutewomen took a 22-20 lead after the opening quarter.
Hayden Barrier and Santoro made 3-pointers to start the second quarter as YSU held UMass scoreless for nearly three minutes. The Minutewomen took what ended up being their final lead of the game at 27-26 on Ayanna Franks' three-point play with 6:17 left, Cameron scored five straight points during a 7-0 run that put YSU ahead 33-27. Another five-point burst from Cameron gave the Penguins a 40-34 lead in the final minute, and McKayle's 3-pointer on the final possession cut the margin to 40-37 at halftime.
Youngstown State held UMass to one field goal in the first four minutes of the third quarter as it opened the second half on a 12-3 run to build its lead up to 52-40. The margin reached 15 at 58-43 when Baker scored at the 2:36 mark to cap a six-point burst that began when Gregory snatched a rebound in traffic and drove the length of the floor for a transition bucket. YSU's lead was 60-49 heading into the fourth.
Baker scored in transition to give YSU a 62-49 lead 23 seconds into the fourth period, but UMass did not allow allow a field goal for five minutes as it went on a run to get back into the game. The Minutewomen scored eight straight points before Erica King scored four points on one trip down the floor to push the advantage back to nine. She made her first of two free-throw attempts, and Gregory grabbed her miss to keep possession. King then buried a 3-pointer on a pass from Santoro with 4:38 on the clock to make the score 66-57.
UMass kept charging and scored eight of the next nine points to get within a possession at 67-65 with 1:29 remaining. The Penguins called timeout and set up the play from Gregory to Baker with 1:10 left that put them ahead 69-65.
Both teams went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line as the margin remained three, and Paulina Hernandez forced a turnover with 42.6 seconds left by walling up on Olbrys in the post. The Penguins ran the clock down on their next possession that ended with a missed 3-pointer by King, but Santoro stole the ball from Olbrys after the rebound. That forced the Minutewomen to foul, and Baker's free throw with 11.4 seconds left put YSU ahead 70-66.
Cameron blocked Palmieri's initial 3-point attempt on UMass's next possession, but the UMass guard made her attempt from beyond the arc on the ensuing out-of-bounds play to bring the Minutewomen to within 70-69 with 3.8 seconds left. Baker was fouled in the backcourt with 2.3 seconds left, and she calmly made both of her attempts for the final points of the afternoon.
Both teams shot 42.9% from the field, with UMass making three more field goals than the Penguins. YSU made three more 3-pointers and outscored the Minutewomen 13-7 at the free-throw line.
Youngstown State's next game will be at Cleveland State on Dec. 29. Tipoff for the Horizon League contest at the Wolstein Center will be at 4 p.m.
