Detroit — Haley Thierry scored a career-high 18 points, and Sophia Gregory recorded her fourth double-double to lead Youngstown State's women's basketball team to a 67-59 victory over Detroit Mercy on Thursday night.
In her second start of the season, Thierry scored seven points in the first quarter to set the tone and help Youngstown State end the quarter on a 9-0 run, and the Penguins went on to lead for the final 31:25 of the night at Calihan Hall.
Thierry finished 8-for-9 from the field while making her only attempt from 3-point range, and she added six rebounds and three steals. Gregory finished with 19 points, her most in a conference game this season, and 12 rebounds while going 9-for-13 from the field. She added three assists, a steal and a block as she continued to showcase her talents as a freshman.
Malia Magestro added 10 points for the Penguins, who shot a season-high 53.1% from the field. YSU shot at least 46% in all four quarters, and it held a big advantage in the paint by outscoring the Titans 44-30. The Penguins were an efficient 4-for-11 from 3-point range, and the Titans went 5-for-23 from beyond the arc against YSU's zone defense.
Emaia O'Brien scored 15 points and had five steals to lead Detroit Mercy.
After Gregory scored on the opening possession of the game, Detroit Mercy went on an 11-3 run to take an 11-5 lead. The Penguins had four turnovers in the first five-and-a-half minutes, but they settled in and scored the next seven points on two-point buckets by Xoe Rosalez and Gregory and a 3-pointer by Magestro.
The Titans scored the next four points to go up 15-12 at the 1:54 mark of the first, but Thierry scored six points during the 9-0 run to close the period that put Youngstown State ahead 21-15.
After a bucket by Bella Samz made the score 23-17 a minute into the second, the Penguins went scoreless for nearly four minutes but remained ahead. Thierry scored in transition at the 5:44 mark, and she had a steal that led to a Gregory bucket that put the Penguins ahead 27-21 on the next possession. That sparked a nine-point burst that gave YSU its first double-digit lead at 32-21 with 3:47 on the clock.
Detroit Mercy cut the margin down to four in the final minute, but Thierry scored just before the buzzer to give the Penguins a 35-29 lead.
Thierry had 14 points in the first half, while Gregory had eight points and seven rebounds.
The Titans got as close as two at 39-37 when O'Brien scored the 1,000th point of her career with 6:59 on the third-quarter clock, but that was the last time the score was within one possession. Gregory scored for the Penguins 26 seconds later, and YSU got its lead back to nine at 52-43 on a Jewel Watkins 3-pointer with a minute left. Youngstown State's lead was 52-45 heading into the fourth.
Detroit Mercy held YSU to four points in the first four minutes of the fourth, and Katie Burton's 3-pointer brought the Titans to within 56-50 with 5:35 left. But the Penguins answered by scoring on their next three possessions to take their largest lead of the night at 62-50. Magestro started the burst on a cut to the basket for a layup from Samz, and Gregory made the next two buckets to get to 19 points.
Detroit Mercy got no closer than six after a 3-pointer in the closing seconds. Magestro made two free throws with seconds left for the final margin.
Eight of the nine Penguins who appeared scored, and eight different players had an assist.
Youngstown State will try to sweep its Michigan trip when it travels to Oakland for a game on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game from OU Credit Union O'rena will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN and ESPN+.
