Indianapolis – The Youngstown State women's basketball team battled through 37 turnovers by shooting 50 percent and held on to beat IUPUI 58-57 on Monday evening at The Jungle.
Brandi Brown scored 25 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, and her 11th bucket of the night gave the Penguins their 58-57 lead with 1:27 left. That was the game's final score, but there was plenty of drama in the final 87 seconds.
Kerah Nelson missed two free throws for IUPUI with 29 seconds left, but the Jaguars got the offensive rebound. Heidi Schlegel forced a tie-up to give YSU possession, but Schlegel missed the front end of a one-and-one with 13 seconds remaining. IUPUI called timeout to draw up a play for Nelson, but the fifth-year senior missed the go-ahead attempt in traffic.
Liz Hornberger scored all of her 11 points in the first half, including eight in just over two minutes. She played all 40 minutes. Schlegel added 11 points off the bench in 28 minutes. Brown was 11-for-16 from the field, and YSU made 23-of-46 from the field. The Penguins were an efficient 6-for-11 from 3-point range.
The Penguins are 6-1 for the first time since the 1997-98 season and improved to 4-1 on the road.
Nelson finished with 22 points for IUPUI, and Katie Comello added 10. IUPUI finished with 20 steals with its constant pressure, and it had a 26-14 edge in points off turnovers. The Jaguars, who had 11 players appear for at least five minutes, dropped to 4-4.
YSU out-rebounded the Jaguars 47-22, which helped offset the Penguins' turnovers. Still, the Jaguars attempted 17 more field goals and six more free throws than the Penguins. YSU was averaging 14.8 turnovers per game and had a high of 19 through the first six games.
The Penguins scored the first four points of the game and built its lead to 22-17 after back-to-back buckets by Brown. IUPUI had tied the score at 8-8 when Hornberger started the spurt with eight points in just over two minutes. Another Brown basket put the Penguins up 31-21 with 5:49 left, and her 3-pointer with 3:58 remaining gave them their largest lead of the night at 34-23. IUPUI, though, scored the final nine points of the half and trailed just 34-32 at the break.
The Jaguars went on to tie the score twice in the first 1:32 of the second half before taking their first lead of the contest on a Camello bucket with 17:17 remaining. Shar'Rae Davis hit a 3-pointer on YSU's next possession to make the score 39-38, but IUPUI answered and held the lead for more than four minutes.
YSU's defense tightened and held IUPUI at 42 points for more than three minutes, and Schlegel's 3-pointer put the Penguins on top 44-42. YSU eventually led 51-44 on two Schlegel free throws, but Nicole Rogers came off the bench to make three 3-pointers for IUPUI in three-and-a-half minutes to keep the Jaguars close. Her final one started a 7-0 run for IUPUI that put the Jaguars up 57-56 with 1:56 to go.
Both teams traded turnovers on their following possessions, and Brown scored the eventual game-winning on an offensive rebound.
Youngstown State will remain on the road to play at Cincinnati on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN.
