The Youngstown State women's basketball team scored the final 12 points of the third period and led by double digits for the entire fourth in a 70-59 victory over Green Bay on Friday evening at Beeghly Center.
The Penguins won for the 11th straight home game while also snapping an 11-game losing skid to Green Bay. Youngstown State is now in sole possession of second place in the Horizon League standings at 11-3, and it remains in control of its own destiny for the regular-season title. The Penguins are now 19-6 overall, and they improved to 14-1 on their home floor.
Sophomore Chelsea Olson filled the stat sheet with 19 points, a game-high 13 rebounds and six assists, and fifth-year senior Sarah Cash also had 19 points and eight rebounds in her first career win over the Phoenix. Melinda Trimmer added 11 points and six assists. Olson made five 3s, and the Penguins finished with 11 as a team.
Carly Mohns scored 24 points and made seven 3s, which tied a Beeghly Center record for an opponent, to lead Green Bay. The Phoenix are now 15-8 overall and 10-3 in the league.
In a hyped game between the second and third-place teams in the Horizon League standings, Green Bay scored the first 10 points of the contest behind a pair of 3s from Mohns. YSU's first points didn't come until Cash converted a three-point play at the 6:09 mark. The Penguins got within four on an Olson triple at the 3:52 mark, but Green Bay scored the next four points to take a 17-9 lead a minute later.
Trimmer's basket with 1:34 remaining in the first period kickstarted a 10-0 Penguins run, and Dunn's triple 57 seconds into the second period gave YSU its first lead at 19-17. Lyndsey Robson scored on Green Bay's next possession to tie the score, and there went on to be six ties in the second period. Cash's basket to beat the buzzer tied the score at 32-32 at halftime.
Green Bay outscored the Penguins by a combined score of 60-13 in the third quarter in three meetings last season, but YSU took control of the game in the third stanza tonight. Cash scored on a reverse layup on the first possession, and a McKenah Peters triple at the 8-minute mark put the Penguins up 40-34 and forced a Green Bay timeout.
The eighth and final tie of the night came when Green Bay's Meghan Pingel tied the score at 42-42 with 3:44 left, and Youngstown State proceeded to score the final 12 points of the quarter. Olson hit back-to-back 3s to start the run, Peters made two free throws and Cash hit two jumpers during the defining stretch.
Green Bay got within 10 three times in the fourth, but the Penguins never allowed the 20-time defending conference champions to get closer than that. The largest margin of the night came when Olson hit her career-high fifth 3-pointer with 3:01 left that made the score 66-50.
Youngstown State will try to finish an unbeaten conference home slate as it hosts Milwaukee on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the final regular-season game at Beeghly Center. The program will salute Cash, Trimmer and Alison Smolinski before the game on Senior Day, and the team will sign autographs after the contest. There will be a YSU Team Photo giveaway, courtesy of Vibra Hospital and 21 WFMJ, and it will also be a Handel's Ice Cream "Scoops and Hoops" Game and a Veterans Appreciation Game.
