YSU women lose to Robert Morris, 58-43
The Youngstown State women's basketball team committed 25 turnovers and shot 29.4 percent on Wednesday evening in a 58-43 loss at Robert Morris. It was the first women's basketball game held at the new UPMC Events Center.
The Penguins' defense kept the game within 24-19 at halftime, but Robert Morris outscored YSU 17-9 in the third period to increase the margin to 41-28. The margin grew to 17 after back-to-back Robert Morris 3-pointers in the first minute of the fourth period, and YSU got back within nine twice before the final outcome.
Mary Dunn led YSU with 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting, and McKenah Peters had 11 while fighting foul trouble in the first half. Chelsea Olson scored all seven of her points in the second half, and she added a team-best 11 rebounds.
Nneka Ezeigbo had 17 points, 12 rebounds four steals and two blocks to lead Robert Morris.
Youngstown State averaged 80 points in its first two games of the season, but it struggled most of the night after an initial burst. The Penguins scored on their first three possessions and led 7-4 when Peters hit a 3. YSU was 3-for-3 from the field just over two minutes into the game, and it went 3-for-22 the rest of the half. After Peters' 3-pointer, YSU went scoreless for almost six minutes but was able to hang around. Mady Aulbach's 3-pointer in the final seconds of the first period gave YSU a 12-11 lead, which ended up being its final advantage of the night.
Ester Castedo scored four points during a 6-0 Colonials run to start the second period, but Dunn scored four straight points to get YSU right back in the game at 17-16 with 5:05 left. After that three-point play by the senior, the Penguins did not make a field goal the rest of the half.
Taylor Petit made two free throws to cut the deficit to 22-19 with 48 seconds left, and Ezeigbo pushed the margin to 24-19 with a basket on RMU's final possession of the half.
Dunn scored on the first possession of the second half, but Robert Morris scored the next six points to lead 30-21. Olson's three-point made it 30-24, but Isabella Posset countered with an open 3-pointer to push the margin back to nine points with 5:17 left. Robert Morris led by 11 three different times in the period before Nina Augustin's basket in the final five seconds gave the Colonials their largest lead up to that point at 41-28.
After another Dunn basket to start the fourth, Castedo and Honoka Ikematsu hit back-to-back 3s in a 24-second period to push the margin to 47-30. Youngstown State turned up the pressure on defense to regain some momentum but was never able to get closer than nine.
Youngstown State held Robert Morris to 38.5 percent shooting, but Robert Morris scored 22 points off of YSU's 25 turnovers. The Colonials also had a 36-22 edge in points in the paint.
Youngstown State will host Eastern Michigan on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Source: Youngstown State University