The Youngstown State Penguins women’s basketball team opened the 2025-26 season with a bang in their 104-33 win over Division III opponent Thiel Tomcats at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center. This morning also marked the 12th Annual School Day Kids Game presented by Chick-fil-A Tiffany Square Plaza, with more than 2,000 students in attendance.
All 12 players on Melissa Jackson’s squad scored more than three points. Transfers Casey Santoro and Paulina Hernandez led the Penguins in scoring with 14 points each, while redshirt freshman Danielle Cameron scored a dozen in her first game since a season-ending injury wiped away her first year at YSU almost a year ago.
“It definitely felt really good,” Cameron said following the game. “It’s been a long road recovering, but I have a lot of really good people around me to help me through it, so it just kind of made the feeling of being back out there with the crowd and made it feel so much better.”
Faith Burch put up double-double with 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Also, YSU had nine points each coming from sophomores Sophia Gregory and Erica King, as well as freshman Brooke Adkins.
Hernandez, who played with Burch for Coach Jackson when Jackson was an assistant coach at Cleveland State, recorded another career-high with three steals in addition to scoring 14 points (seven of those points in the second quarter). “It just feels great to be a Penguin and back on the floor after being out for so long,” Hernandez stated. “She [Jackson] has a bigger voice now, so it’s been nice to actually hear what she has to say about stuff.”
Youngstown State not only shot 52.1 percent overall from the field (38-of-73) and 40 percent from three-point land (10-of-25), but they also dished out 23 dimes on 38 made field goals and even outrebounded the Tomcats 57-21. However, YSU shot a terrible 58.1 percent at the charity stripe (18-of-31).
“I think we settled in eventually,” Coach Jackson said about her team’s start to the game. “I think early on, we got pretty sped up. We missed some layups, we had some quick turnovers. I think it was good to see us settle in and we saw the double, we saw the triple at times, and we built our offense and have some counters to that. Maybe initially, we weren’t gonna have that first look that we’ve been so focused on, but credit a lot to our kids for figuring it out in game and making some adjustments there.”
Penguins by the numbers
• 104 points – most in a game since January 5, 1998, and eighth-highest total in program history
• 71-point win margin – largest margin of victory since December 29, 1990 and third-largest in program history
• 23 steals as a unit – highest steals total since January 8, 1998 and tied for the fifth-highest in school history
• 35 points in the third quarter, which ties a school record for most points in one period
Youngstown State’s offense struggled early as Thiel held a 6-4 lead with threes by Kelsey Wagner and Kayley Risser through the first 4:02, but a triple by Cameron got the Penguins going as they scored 14 of the last 16 points of the period and never trailed in the game again.
Youngstown State had a big 46-13 advantage at halftime and even led 102-25 in the fourth period with 2:33 remaining.
Risser, Emily Betsinger, and Madison Pfleger all had seven points each for Jessica Vormelker’s Tomcats of Thiel University, which is located in Greenville, PA. Their point guard, Issy Green, committed 12 of Thiel’s 34 turnovers on the day.
Thiel shot 21.3 percent from the field (10-of-47) and 20 percent from downtown (3-of-15), but they were a solid 71.4 percent at the line (10-of-14).
Up next: The Penguins will begin to waddle on the road for a short two-game trip, beginning with a contest at Summit League opponent North Dakota Fighting Hawks at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Friday at 8:00PM Eastern time and 7:00PM Central time.
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