The Youngstown State Penguins women’s basketball team (4-1) used a big second half to help them earn a 64-50 road win against the Mercyhurst Lakers (0-4) on Thursday night at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center in Erie, PA.
The game started very tough for both units. After redshirt freshman Sarah Baker kicked off the scoring with a bucket in the paint 53 seconds into the game, no points were scored by either team for the next 3:11 until sophomore Erica King split some free throws to make it 3-0. Then, a three-pointer from another sophomore in Erica Hall at the 5:28 point of the first quarter gave Mercyhurst their first points of the night and made up for the lone tie of the entire contest. Following a made free throw from junior Faith Burch, the Lakers took their only lead of the night at 7-6 following a triple from senior Jenna Van Schaik with 3:48 remaining in the opening stanza. But after Florida Gulf Coast transfer Casey Santoro followed that up with a three and a pair of free throws on the other end, YSU regained the lead at 9-6 at the 2:36 mark and never trailed for the remainder of the game. The Penguins led 16-11 at the end of the quarter, with seven points coming from Santoro.
Mercyhurst freshman Julia Lewis scored the first four points of the second quarter to get the Lakers within one point at 16-15, but the Penguins went on an 11-4 run to go up 27-19 with 4:28 left, which was highlighted by three triples that were nailed in a 1:32 timespan: two by Santoro and another one from redshirt freshman Danielle Cameron. Eventually, YSU went into the locker room with the 31-24 advantage.
In the third quarter, YSU’s lead was cut down to five on four different occasions, with King scoring six points in the period. Mercyhurst went on an 11-4 run from 1:15 left in the third quarter until the 6:46 point in the fourth quarter to trail by just one at 49-48, with St. Bonaventure transfer Lena Walz scoring nine points in that run, both starting and capping it off with a triple. However, Walz’s three that made it a one-point deficit was the last field goal that the Lakers would make in the game.
That’s when the Penguins closed out the scoring on an impressive 15-2 run. Their lead increased to double-digits for the first time in the game at 59-49 with 2:48 to go, starting with a three from King, followed up by a steal and a fastbreak layup from Cameron, a Sophia Gregory free throw, and back-to-back layups from Santoro and Gregory. Mercyhurst freshman Imani Frazier cut the deficit to a three-possession game with a free throw, but YSU nailed five free throws of their own ‐ four straight from King and one more from Santoro – to put the cream cheese on the bagel.
YSU had their starters score 63 of the team’s 64 points. Santoro tied her career high with 21 points and shot 4-of-6 on threes all while playing 39:28 of the game. King scored 13 of her career-high 19 points in the second half and went 7-for-8 from the foul line. Nine points for Gregory, eight points for Cameron, and six points, six rebounds, and five assists for Baker rounded out the effort. Melissa Jackson’s Youngstown State squad shot 45.7 percent (21-of-46) from the field, 38.1 percent (8-of-21) from beyond the arc, and a solid 77.8 percent (14-of-18) at the charity stripe.
For Lakers first-year head coach Erin Mills-Reid, she still has yet to record a win as the woman in charge of Mercyhurst. Mills-Reid’s squad shot 33.3 percent (15-of-45) from the field and only shot an abysmal 20 percent (2-of-10) in the fourth period. They also made only 31.8 percent (7-of-22) of their trey-balls and 68.4 percent (13-of-19) of their free throws.
Walz led Mercyhurst with 16 points and shot 3-of-7 from downtown, while Van Schaik scored a dozen points of her own.
Horizon League and family ties: Mercyhurst senior Lauryn Stover, who only hit a three-pointer in 23 minutes off the bench on Thursday night, played her first two NCAA seasons at Purdue Fort Wayne under Maria Marchesano. Lauryn’s older sister, Alexis, played at Wright State for two seasons (2019-21) under Katrina Merriweather and was a part of the 2021 NCAA Tournament team that upset Arkansas in the first round as a 13-seed.
Up next: YSU will return home to host Mid-American Conference opponent Toledo Rockets on Tuesday night for a 6:00 PM ET tip-off at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
James Moon (CashApp): $JRMoon1991
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