Ladies Fall 68-59 to Kent State in Opening Round of Women's NIT

[IAA Fan]

The Youngstown State women's basketball team's record-breaking 2021-22 campaign came to a close Wednesday night with a 68-59 loss to Kent State in the opening round of the Women's NIT.

The Penguins finish the season with a 24-7 record, a Horizon League regular-season championship and their most wins in 24 years. Kent State advances to the round of 32 and will play either Houston Baptist or Toledo.

Youngstown State led by as many as 10 in the second quarter, and the Penguins had a 29-21 advantage with five minutes left in the half when fifth-year senior guard Chelsea Olson suffered a lower-body injury while running for a rebound. Olson, a four-time All-Horizon League guard who led the Penguins in minutes and assists and was second in points during the season, did not return. She had 11 points in the first 13 minutes of the contest, and Kent State went on a 27-6 run over the next 13 minutes as the Penguins tried to adjust without their leader.

Youngstown State battled to trim a 48-35 deficit down to five at the end of the third quarter, and the Penguins trailed 58-52 following a Paige Shy 3-pointer with 4:43 left in the fourth. However, they went scoreless for the next three minutes, and Kent State scored 10 straight points to take a 68-52 lead with less than two minutes remaining. The Penguins scored the final seven points for the final margin.

Malia Magestro scored a game-high 16 points, and 10 of those came in the second half. Lilly Ritz had 14 points and five rebounds, and Olson finished with 11 points, a rebound, a block and a steal in the final game of her legendary career.

Lindsey Thall had 15 points to lead three Golden Flashes in double figures.

Kent State shot 48.1% from the field, and it was 8-for-21 from 3-point range. Youngstown State shot 38.5% overall while going 7-for-21 from beyond the arc. The Penguins were also 12-for-13 from the free-throw line.

Olson's 3-pointer at the 8:10 mark of the first quarter acted as the Penguins' first points of the contest after Kent State bucketed back-to-back threes off the opening tip. YSU closed Kent State's early advantage to a one-point margin at the 7:12 and 5:29 marks of the quarter, both off Ritz baskets, and the Golden Flashes worked their lead back to six at 15-9.

YSU took its first lead of the game, 16-15, off a Paige Shy long-ball from Aulbach with 56 seconds to play in the quarter, which capped a 7-0 run to end the period. The Penguins then scored the first eight points of the second period on a two-pointer by Olson, a three-point play by Ritz and a 3-pointer by Magestro. In the first 46 seconds of the quarter, Olson had the field goal, a steal and an assist.

Magestro's 3-pointer gave the Penguins a 24-15 lead, and the margin peaked at 29-19 on another 3-pointer by Magestro with 7:11 on the clock. Jenna Batsch scored for Kent State on the next possession to make it 29-21, and Olson's injury came after she tried to rebound her own miss with just over five minutes left in the half.

Kent State shaved the margin down to five before Lindsey Mack hit a 3-pointer in front of the Golden Flashes' bench extended the Penguin advantage back to eight, 32-24. During the span, the Penguins defense held steady as they forced Kent State to shoot just 2-of-6 from the floor, including 0-of-3 from long range. Kent State went on a 6-0 run to cut the YSU lead to a pair before a made free throw from Ritz with 47 ticks remaining in the half sent the Penguins into the break with a 3-point lead, 33-30.

The Golden Flashes scored 18 of the first 20 points of the third period to take their 48-35 lead with 1:54 left. Magestro made two free throws at the 1:36 mark to spark an 8-0 run to close the quarter, and her basket on a driving layup at the 1:03 mark accounted for the Penguins' first field goal since Mack's 3 at the 2:50 mark of the second period. Magestro scored again on a cut to the basket, and Aulbach made two free throws with 0.3 seconds left to trim the 13-point deficit down to 48-43.

Thall scored a quick basket to start the fourth, and Mariah Modkins followed with a 3-pointer to get the margin back to 10 at 53-43. YSU didn't back down and got within six twice at 53-47 and 58-52 before Kent State's 10-0 run that made the score 68-52 with 1:51 left.

[IAA Fan]

This one was on line. we should have won this game. The first half we were very competitive, but were missing shots we would normally nail. Then it was as if we did not adjust for the second half and Kent played more methodically to pull ahead and away.

[Wick250]

Olson was having one of the better games of her career.  Scoring, distributing the ball, defending.  We were in total control of this game.  Then when she went down with that bad ankle injury, the team lost composure. Ball movement was poor, shots were rushed, and Kent was able to double team Ritz. That just shows how indispensable Olson was and how difficult she will be to replace next year.

[ytownchief22]

This one was on line. we should have won this game. The first half we were very competitive, but were missing shots we would normally nail. Then it was as if we did not adjust for the second half and Kent played more methodically to pull ahead and away.

Umm losing your best player will do that to you. Have some perspective.

[Penquin68]

Loosing Chelsey was a big disappointment and really hurt our team's chances against Kent. Her loyalty and committment to YSU womens basketball is outstanding and is very rare these days. She is from Minnasota and her family often if not always makes the nearly 10 hour drive to come to the games. And many of the other players from last year left and she could have also for a school closer to home. I feel bad for the way her time with us came to an end with the injury that I hope is only minor.  I wish her the best to her in her future, an outstanding player and an even better person.

From a team standpoint she seems to be our only player that can drive to the basket, pull up, and make short range jump shots. With her out of the lineup, our other outside players pass the ball around hoping for an open 3 or try to drive to the basket to get layups. We have no mid range game. The other part of our game is Lilly inside which is also short range also. And the other teams double or triple team her when she gets the ball and don't get hurt by our other players. So other teams have us figured out. Defend the 3 and close to the basket and forget the rest of the floor. We need our players to develope that part of their game or get some new players that can do that for us to get to the next level. Naturally size is important and in most of our losses the other team was bigger than us on average. Kent sure had a size advantage on us and so did IUPUI. I understand that size is difficult to get at our level, but hopefully we can improve in that area.