Youngstown, Ohio — Green Bay's Jenna Guyer hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 14.9 seconds left, and Youngstown State's women's basketball team came up just short in a 54-51 loss on Saturday inside Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
In a battle between the Horizon League's first and second place teams and the top two defensive units, Guyer scored the final eight points of the game after YSU held a 51-46 lead with just over three minutes remaining. She helped the Phoenix remain unbeaten in conference play at 15-0, and Green Bay improved to 20-5 overall. Youngstown State dropped to 17-8 overall and 10-5 in the Horizon League, one game ahead of Robert Morris and Purdue Fort Wayne.
Sarah Baker led all players with 18 points while going 8-for-13 from the field, and she added seven rebounds and three assists. Erica King finished with 12 points, and her potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer from the wing went off the back of the rim. Sophia Gregory added nine points and a career-high five blocks, while Casey Santoro finished with nine points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Guyer scored eight of her 16 points in the final 3:04 and went 3-for-5 from 3-point range. Both teams made five 3-pointers in the game, but Green Bay's came on 13 attempts while YSU's came on 29. The Penguins outscored the Phoenix by four points from the field but were outscored 9-2 at the free-throw line.
While both defenses held opponents below 58 points on average entering the contest, the first period was defined by offense. Green Bay led 19-11 following a three-point play by Guyer with 2:25 remaining, and the Phoenix forward had six points at that juncture. YSU held her to two more points until her late flurry.
Baker's eighth point in the first eight minutes started a 4-0 run by YSU, and Green Bay led 21-15 at the end of the first quarter.
The defenses settled in during the second quarter as there were eight total points scored in the first five minutes, and the Penguins took their first lead at 27-26 on Gregory's 3-pointer with 2:58 remaining. That capped an 11-2 run for the Penguins over a span of five minutes.
The lead changed hands five more times before halftime, and Kamy Peppler's jumper in the final seconds gave Green Bay a 32-31 lead.
Baker scored on the opening possession of the second half to put the Penguins up 33-32, but that ended up being their only lead of the quarter. After Santoro's basket inside tied the score at 35 with 7:11 on the clock, YSU went scoreless for more than five minutes as Green Bay built a 42-35 lead with 4:13 left.
YSU weathered the storm by holding the Phoenix scoreless the rest of the quarter. Gregory ended the drought for the Penguins with a bucket on an out-of-bounds play, and she scored again on YSU's final possession to bring the Penguins within 42-39 entering the fourth.
King then hit a triple on YSU's first possession of the fourth quarter, and the Penguins limited Green Bay to four points in the first 6:56 of the period. Santoro's step-back 3-pointer gave YSU a 47-46 lead, and the lead stretched to 51-46 after buckets by Gregory and Baker. Baker's came with 3:21 left, but the Penguins did not score again while Guyer carried the Phoenix to victory.
The redshirt-senior followed Baker's bucket with a 3-pointer, and she tipped in her own miss on Green Bay's next possession to tie the score. Guyer then blocked Baker on a go-ahead attempt with 1:23 left before being , and she got left alone after setting a high ball screen and buried the game-winning 3 with 14.9 seconds left.
Green Bay fouled twice defensively to take time off the clock, and Peppler stole the inbounds pass with 9.4 left. YSU had to foul four times to get the Phoenix to the free-throw line, and Guyer missed her two attempts with 4.7 seconds remaining to give the Penguins a final opportunity. Youngstown State called timeout to advance the ball into the frontcourt, butKing's contested 3 bounced off the rim.
Youngstown State shot 36.7% from the field, and it was 17-for-31 inside the arc. Green Bay shot 40% from the field and 38.5% from 3-point range, and the Phoenix went 9-for-13 at the free-throw line.
Youngstown State hosts RMU on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. to conclude its three-game homestand inside Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
