Youngstown, Ohio — Three Youngstown State posts reached double figures, and the Penguins used a dominant third quarter to beat Detroit Mercy 72-60 on Wednesday evening inside Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
YSU finishes the regular season with a 22-8 overall record and a 15-5 mark in Horizon League play, and the Penguins will enter the 2026 Barbasol Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship on March 4 on a five-game winning streak.
Sophia Gregory scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Sarah Baker scored 18 points, and Paulina Hernandez came off the bench to score 13. Gregory added four blocks, and Youngstown State finished with nine blocks as a team. Casey Santoro, the program's lone senior who was celebrated before the game on Senior Night, scored eight points and dished out five assists.
Baker increased her season point total to 354, a new school record for points in a single season by a freshman. Caroline McCombs held the previous record of 346 since 1994-95.
Aaliyah McQueen scored 13 points, and Jasmine Edwards posted 11 points and 12 rebounds to lead Detroit Mercy. The Titans are now 5-23 overall and 3-16 in conference play.
The Titans led for nearly 11 minutes in the first half and held a 34-32 lead at halftime before the Penguins outscored them 25-7 in the third quarter to take a 57-41 lead. YSU's advantage reached double digits for good with 3:44 remaining in the third, and there were nine ties and seven lead changes overall.
Baker scored six of the Penguins' first eight points, and her jumper from a Santoro assist gave YSU an 8-6 lead with 6:23 left in the first quarter. Detroit Mercy took an 11-10 advantage on a three-point play by Edwards at the 5:40 mark, but the Penguins held them scoreless for more than five minutes during a 6-0 run.
Hernandez gave YSU a 12-11 lead on a putback with 4:16 left, and she had a block that led to a bucket with 1:22 on the clock that pushed the lead to 16-11.
The Titans scored on their final possession of the first quarter, then opened the second by going 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the first 90 seconds to take a 22-18 lead. McQueen's 3-pointer at the 6:18 mark gave them a 27-24 advantage, and they remained ahead the rest of the half.
Erica King scored on the final possession of the first half to trim a four-point margin to two at 34-32, and the Penguins went on to score 26 of the next 30 points. YSU made four 3-pointers in the third period, and King's 3-pointer on a pass from Gregory at the 7:56 mark gave YSU its first lead of the second half. It did not trail again.
Santoro's 3-pointer with 6:28 remaining finished a stretch where the Penguins scored on four straight possessions, and Hernandez's first of two 3-pointers stretched the lead to 47-38 with 4:55 left. Gregory's layup with 3:44 on the clock created the first double-digit margin, and the lead reached 56-38 on another Hernandez 3-pointer with 1:24 remaining.
YSU led by 16 entering the fourth, and the largest lead of the night came when a Gregory bucket put the Penguins ahead 62-43 with 8:40 left. The Titans went on a 10-2 run to get within 11, but that's as close as they got.
The Penguins shot 44.6% overall, and they shot 57.5% inside the arc. Gregory was 8-for-8 on two-point attempts, and her only miss of the night from the field came on a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock. Baker went 9-for-16, and Hernandez finished 5-for-10 as YSU held a 40-28 scoring edge in the paint. Detroit Mercy shot 35.5% from the field, and the Titans finished 6-for-20 from 3-point range.
Youngstown State earned the No. 2 seed in the 2026 Barbasol Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship, and it will host the ninth seed on March 4 inside Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center. Tickets are on sale now at the YSU Athletic Ticket Office or through YSUsports.com.
