Akron, Ohio -- Kenya Middlebrooks scored 13 of her career-high 27 points in the final four minutes as the Youngstown State women's basketball team rallied to defeat Akron 78-72 on Sunday afternoon at James A. Rhodes Arena.
The Penguins scored 51 points and shot 60 percent after halftime and overcame a 13-point second-half deficit to improve to 6-4 on the season. They've now matched their win total from last season and have won five straight road games for the first time since 1997-98. Akron dropped to 5-6.
Youngstown State trailed 60-47 with nine minutes remaining and by eight with five minutes left. Melissa Thompson hit a 3-pointer at the 4:35 mark to start the rally, and Middlebrooks made two free throws after the media timeout to make the score 67-64. Akron upped its lead to 71-65 after two Taylor Ruper free throws at the 3:30 mark, but Youngstown State closed out the game by outscoring the Zips 13-1.
Brandi Brown's 3-pointer cut the deficit in half, and Middlebrooks scored the next five points to give the Penguins a 73-71 lead with 1:45 left. Ti'eshia Stubbs made 1-of-2 from the free-throw line to make the score 73-72 with just over a minute left, but Middlebrooks hit her sixth 3-pointer of the game to push the lead to 76-72 with 50 seconds remaining.
Middlebrooks had a steal on Akron's next possession, and she rebounded Akron's miss with just over 20 seconds remaining. She made two free throws with 6.6 seconds left for the final margin.
Brown finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds, including 10 of each in the second half. Thompson added a career-high 12 points after having 11 points total in the first nine games.
Hanna Luburgh had 20 points to lead three players in double figures for Akron.
The Penguins outshot the Zips 43.5 percent to 35.7 percent and held the rebounding edge 44-40. Youngstown State made 13 3-pointers, which was two off of the school record. Ten of those triples came on 16 attempts in the second half. Macey Nortey and Kelsea Fickiesen combined for 11 of YSU's 19 assists.
Youngstown State battled through a sloppy first half to only trail by four at halftime. The Penguins scored 10 straight points early in the period but trailed by as many as nine before closing the gap late.
Akron hit a triple on the first possession of the game, but the Penguins scored the next 10 points to take a 10-3 lead on a Middlebrooks trey with 17:15 remaining.
After the fast start, YSU got out of sync offensively and committed eight turnovers in the first nine minutes. Akron used that to its advantage and went on a 12-1 run to go up 15-11 with 8:04 left.
Monica Touvelle's trey ended a field-goal drought of nearly 10 minutes to cut the margin to 15-14, but Akron eventually built a 29-20 lead with 2:19 remaining.
The Penguins closed the half on a 7-2 run, which included four points in the final minute by Brown.
YSU had 11 turnovers in the opening period and shot 28 percent. The defense forced Akron into 10 turnovers and held the Zips to 33 percent shooting.
Youngstown State's next game will be at Stony Brook on Dec. 27 at 7 p.m.
FINAL 1 2 T
Youngstown State (6-4) 27 51 78
Akron (5-6) 31 41 72
Akron, Ohio -- Rhodes Arena
Youngstown State Akron
Pts: Kenya Middlebrooks - 27 Pts: LUBURGH, Hanna - 20
Reb: Brandi Brown - 14 Reb: TEAM - 11
Ast: Macey Nortey - 6 Ast: CASSELL, Kacie - 6
Team Statistics Youngstown State Akron
Field Goal % 43.5% (27-62 ) 35.7% (25-70 )
Rebounds 44 40
Assists 19 12
Turnovers 21 17
Pts off Turnovers 19 17
2nd Chance Pts 12 14
Pts in the Paint 22 28
Fastbreak Pts 2 10
Bench Pts 28 27
