Taylor Petit led four Youngstown State women's basketball players in double figures with 17 points, but Kent State rallied to force overtime and beat the Penguins 82-73 on Saturday at Beeghly Center.
In a hard-fought battle between Northeast Ohio rivals who both played in the Women's NIT last season, the Penguins led by as many as eight points in the fourth quarter.
McKenah Peters hit a 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer to give YSU a 54-47 lead, and Petit's three-point play with 7:26 remaining extended YSU's lead to 61-53. The Penguins didn't score again until the 3:55 mark, and Kent State went on a 9-0 run to take a 62-61 advantage. Chelsea Olson's 3 put YSU ahead 64-62, and YSU led again at 66-64 on Emma VanZanten's layup with 2:15 remaining. The Penguins didn't score again in regulation.
Kent State's Lindsey Thall was fouled on an offensive rebound attempt with 43 seconds remaining and made two free throws that tied the score at 66, and both teams missed shots on their final possessions in regulation.
Petit made two free throws on YSU's first possession of overtime to put the Penguins up 68-66, and Kent State scored the next five points to go ahead 71-68. Peters converted three-point play with 2:16 remaining to tie the score at 71, and Asiah Dingle scored for Kent State on its next trip down the floor to make the score 73-71. Megan Carter was then fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three tosses to extend the margin to 76-71, and Kent State got a stop that led to another Dingle basket with 29 seconds left that all but put the game out of reach.
Petit had 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and she was 7-for-10 from the field. Mary Dunn and Peters both had 13 points, and VanZanten scored 10 points off the bench. Maddie Schires made three 3-pointers in 10 minutes off the bench that helped the Penguins extend their lead.
All five Kent State starters scored in double figures and accounted for 76 of its 81 points. Dingle and Carter both had 18 points, and Nila Blackford had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the game's lone double-double.
YSU held Kent State to 35.6 percent shooting from the floor, but the Golden Flashes made 24-of-36 from the free-throw line while YSU was just 10-for-13. Kent State had 18 offensive rebounds that led to an 18-12 edge in second-chance points, and the Golden Flashes also forced 22 turnovers that led to a 25-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
Kent State led 18-16 at the end of the first period, and Youngstown State outscored the Golden Flashes 16-9 in the second period to take a 32-27 lead at halftime.
The Penguins will play their first road game of the season on Wednesday at Robert Morris. Tipoff at the UPMC Events Center will be at 7 p.m
