The Youngstown State Penguins women’s basketball team (13-7, 6-4 Horizon) has suffered consecutive losses for the first time all season, after a 55-40 defeat at the hands of the Robert Morris Colonials (13-6, 6-4 Horizon) on Wednesday night at the UPMC Events Center. As a result, both squads are now in a three-way tie with Purdue Fort Wayne for third place in the Horizon League standings.
Casey Santoro played all 40 minutes and led all scorers with 19 points while shooting 7-of-14 from the field, while Sarah Baker scored 13 points on 5-of-15 shooting, along with two blocks. Gregory led the team with eight rebounds, but also committed a game-high seven turnovers. All five starters committed two steals or more, including two each for Baker and Erica King, and three each for Santoro, Gregory, and Danielle Cameron.
Chandler McCabe’s Robert Morris team was led by Cal State Fullerton transfer Eva Levingston with 13 points and 10 rebounds, which is her first double-double in a Colonials uniform. Elon transfer Ava Leroux finished with a dozen points and a career-high eight rebounds off the bench, Pittsburgh transfer Aislin Malcolm and Mercyhurst transfer Bailey Kuhns scored nine points each, and Siena transfer Myriam Traore had five points and led everyone with four steals.
First quarter: The Penguins scored seven of the first 10 points of the night and led 7-3 at the 5:55 mark, courtesy of back-to-back buckets from Gregory and Santoro, but RMU kept YSU scoreless for the next 5:26 and scored six unanswered points to go up 9-7 after consecutive baskets from Malcolm, Leroux, and Livingston. Baker’s layup tied the score at nine with 27 seconds left, but Leroux split a pair of free throws to give RMU the 10-9 advantage at the end of the period.
Second quarter: Levingston scored three of the first four points of the second stanza within a 42-second span to put RMU up 13-11 at the 7:57 mark, but the Penguins waddled back into it with six unanswered points to go up 17-13 courtesy of layups from Baker, Santoro, and Erica King 25 seconds before the media timeout. Traore made a layup following the break, before a Santoro bucket and made free throws by Baker at the 2:37 made it 21-15 Penguins. However, RMU held Melissa Jackson’s squad scoreless for the rest of the half, and closed out the second quarter on a 5-0 run, with a three by Malcolm and a layup from Jada Lee to make it 21-20 YSU after 20 minutes of action. Going into halftime, the Colonials outrebounded the Penguins 24-15.
Third quarter: Twenty-two seconds into the second half, a three-pointer from King extended YSU’s lead to four at 24-20. Kuhns then hit a pair of foul shots, before a layup from Baker maintained the four-point cushion. The Colonials then put their hats back on their heads and went on an 8-0 run with three straight buckets from Kuhns, and a layup from Levingston, to make it 30-26 with 4:51 left. After Santoro made some free throws, Leroux scored the next five unanswered points to put Robert Morris up 35-28 with 41 seconds to go. After Santoro made one more foul shot, RMU’s Mallory Daly nailed a three with nine seconds left, before Santoro countered with a triple of her own at the buzzer to make it a two-possession game at 38-32 in favor of the home team.
Fourth quarter: The Colonials scored six of the first 10 fourth-quarter points, with back-to-back buckets from Leroux and Lee forcing a YSU timeout with 5:54 to go, and RMU maintaining a 44-36 advantage. After a Baker layup, the Colonials scored six straight points to go up by a dozen at 50-38, courtesy of a jumper and a free throw from Levingston and a three from Traore. Santoro’s layup at the 2:31 mark cut the deficit down to 10, but RMU scored the last five points on free throws – three by Levingston and two from Malcolm – to put the cream cheese on the bagel.
YSU shot 30 percent (15-of-50) from the field and 16.7 percent (3-of-18) from downtown, while RMU was a little better at 38.8 percent (19-of-49) overall and 27.3 percent (3-of-11) from beyond the arc. However, both teams were solid at the foul line, with the Penguins at 77.8 percent (7-of-9) and the Colonials at 73.7 percent (14-of-19).
Up next: YSU returns home to welcome rival Cleveland State on Sunday afternoon for a 1 p.m. tip-off.
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