High-scoring first half carries Penguins to 77-45 win at Detroit Mercy
The Youngstown State women's basketball team made nine 3-pointers in the first half and went on to defeat Detroit Mercy 77-45 on Thursday evening at Calihan Hall.
The Penguins improved to 10-4 overall and 4-1 in Horizon League play with the victory, and they are now 3-0 on the road in conference contests. Detroit Mercy is now 2-12 overall and 0-5 in league games.
Megan Callahan was 4-for-4 from 3-point range in the first half, and the Penguins were 9-for-13 as a team as they took a 53-24 lead on the Titans at halftime. Callahan finished with 15 points on five 3-pointers as one of four Penguins to score in double figures. Emily Saunders scored a career-high 18 points in just 12 minutes off the bench, and she scored 10 of those points in a stretch of 2:20 in the fourth quarter. Paige Shy and Lilly Ritz added 13 points apiece.
Youngstown State, which finished with 11 3s, shot better than 60% in the first, second, and fourth quarters, and it finished at 54.5% for the game. The Penguins were 2-for-12 from the field in the third period as they were content to extend possessions to take time off the clock in the second half with their large cushion. YSU scored 17 points in transition in the first half as it constructed its big lead but just three in the second half.
Youngstown State had 24 assists on its 30 field goals, and Mady Aulbach had a game-high five assists without committing a turnover in 22 minutes. Shy, Shay-Lee Kirby, and Jen Wendler each had three assists.
Irene Murua led Detroit Mercy with 15 points, but no other UDM player had more than seven. The Penguins held the Titans to 36.2% from the field, and they converted UDM's 16 turnovers into 24 points. YSU had 38 points in the paint in addition to their 33 points from long distance.
Youngstown State made 10 of its final 13 attempts from the field in the opening quarter, and it made seven straight tries from beyond the arc at one point during the first half.
YSU scored the first nine points of the game, and Detroit Mercy didn't make its first field goal until the 3:24 mark of the first quarter. By that time, YSU had built an 18-2 lead. The Penguins held a 25-10 advantage at the end of the first period, and the first 20-point advantage came after Callahan hit two 3-pointers in the first 57 seconds of the second period to make the score 31-10.
Malia Magestro's 3-pointer in transition with 4:32 on the clock capped YSU's stretch of seven straight makes from beyond the arc, and the Penguins took a 29-point lead when Kirby's 3 90 seconds later made the score 48-19. YSU matched that 29-point lead on Aulbach's basket just before halftime, and the Penguins scored the first four points of the third quarter on a Shy three and a free throw by Dena Jarrells to take their largest advantage of the evening at 57-24.
Youngstown State didn't score for the final 5:15 of the third quarter as Detroit Mercy made up some ground and got as close as 20 at 63-43 just over two minutes into the fourth. The Penguins yielded just two more points the rest of the game, and they closed out the win on a 14-2 spurt. A dozen of those points came from Saunders, the senior transfer from Tennessee.
The Penguins will try to complete the weekend sweep when they travel to Oakland for a Saturday afternoon contest. Tipoff at the Athletics Center O'rena is set for 2 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on 1390 WNIO and ESPN+.
Source: Youngstown State University
