Green Bay, Wis. — Youngstown State's women's basketball team came up short in a low-scoring battle at Green Bay on Sunday, falling 56-47 to the Phoenix at the Kress Center.
Youngstown State led by seven in the first period, but foul trouble coupled with Green Bay capitalizing at the free-throw line allowed the Phoenix to take a three-point lead at halftime. Green Bay extended its lead with a 17-point third quarter and went on to win by nine.
The Penguins dropped to 6-3 overall and 1-1 in Horizon League play, while Green Bay improved to 7-3 and 2-0 in conference play.
Casey Santoro led the Penguins with 17 points in her first game at the Kress Center, and Sophia Gregory was next with eight. Gregory was one of three YSU post players whistled for at least two fouls in the first half.
Green Bay post Meghan Schultz scored 22 points, going 8-for-14 from the field and 6-for-7 from the free-throw line, while grabbing eight rebounds. She was one of four Phoenix players to reach double figures, and the redshirt freshman helped Green Bay hold a 34-16 scoring edge in the paint. The Phoenix also held a significant 13-2 advantage at the free-throw line, and Green Bay was 9-for-11 in the first half as it rallied. YSU's first and only free-throw attempts came when Paulina Hernandez went 2-for-2 with 30.7 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
After Green Bay scored the game's first five points, YSU countered with a 10-2 run against the Horizon League preseason favorites. The Penguins took their first lead when Santoro hit a 3-pointer at the 7:32 mark to cap a seven-point burst, and Gregory's first 3-pointer of the season pushed the margin to 10-7.
Youngstown State's largest lead of the game was 15-8 on a 3-pointer by Hayden Barrier with 2:29 left in the first quarter, but Green Bay kept the Penguins scoreless until Gregory's bucket with 8:42 on the second-quarter clock. YSU led 17-13 at that point, and its lead was between two and four points until Schultz's three-point play with 2:38 remaining put Green Bay ahead 22-21.
Santoro scored on YSU's next possession to give the Penguins their final lead and stop a scoring drought of 4:30, and that was YSU's only points of the final six-and-a-half minutes of the first half.
Leading 26-23, Green Bay scored the first seven points of the second half to extend its lead to 10 at 33-23. Gregory's second triple of the game stopped the run, and Santoro scored five straight points later in the quarter to bring YSU within 35-31 with 5:44 on the clock. Another long YSU scoring drought, this one lasting 4:22, allowed Green Bay to take a 43-31 lead, and the Penguins scored the final four points to get within 43-35. The final two points of the quarter came on Hernandez's free throws, YSU's first attempts of the game.
Neither team scored in the fourth until Gracie Grzesk's free throws for Green Bay at the 7:10 mark, and the Phoenix's lead ranged between eight and 14 until YSU scored the final five points of the game.
Youngstown State outscored the Phoenix 45-43 from the field with the help of making seven 3-pointers, but Green Bay had the 13-2 edge at the free-throw line. YSU shot 34.5% overall and was 7-for-22 from 3-point range, while Green Bay shot 36.4% overall and went 3-for-17 from beyond the arc.
The Penguins' next game will be inside Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center on Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m.
