The Youngstown State Penguins women’s basketball team (21-9, 15-5 Horizon) used a big third quarter to pull off a 72-60 win over the Detroit Mercy Titans (5-23, 3-16 Horizon) on Wednesday night at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center for their fifth straight victory. It was also Senior Night for sixth-year player Casey Santoro, the lone senior on the Youngstown State squad.
“I’ve tried not to get emotional because she’s meant so much to this program, to me,” Penguins head coach Melissa Jackson said regarding Santoro. “Just the belief she had in coming here for her last year, I will be forever grateful for her, and she’s meant a lot. She’s mean a lot to these young players and how she’s led them. She’s led them the right way, and we’re reaping the success of a lot of things that Casey Santoro has done for us. The best thing about everything is we still get more basketball with her, right? Tried to give her an ovation there at the end of the game, but we got one more home game, so hopefully we get to do that and really celebrate her and celebrate this team. Just really proud of what she’s done all year and proud that we were able to get the win and kind of wake up in that second half.”
The Penguins shot 44.6 percent (29-of-65) from the field, 24 percent (6-of-25) on threes, and 72.7 percent (8-of-11) on free throws. They also held a 40-28 scoring edge with points in the paint and committed only eight turnovers.
Sophia Gregory led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season and even had four of YSU’s nine blocks on the night. “I think different matchups against different teams is definitely there,” she said regarding her own paradigm shift in terms of scoring. “Beginning of the year, I wouldn’t score as much like other people would score. I think it just depends on the matchup, and I guess the matchup recently has pointed the ball towards me.”
Sarah Baker scored 18 points on 9-of-16 shooting, while Santoro and Erica King finished with eight points each. Paulina Hernandez recorded 13 points, eight rebounds, and a pair of steals off the bench. Santoro also recorded four rebounds and dished out five assists.
“Kind of just a surreal moment, just like taking it all in and obviously really grateful to be that appreciated, and I didn’t know they were wearing those shirts,” Santoro said regarding her Senior Night. “So that kind of took me back a little bit, but it was a really great feeling.”
Baker, one of three redshirt freshmen on the roster, increased her season points total to 354 – which is a new school record for a freshman. Baker broke the previous record that Caroline McCombs set in 1994-95.
UDM made 35.5 percent (22-of-62) of their field goal attempts, 30 percent (6-of-20) of their threes, and 76.9 percent (10-of-13) at the foul line, all while outrebounding YSU 39-36. Aaliyah McQueen scored 13 points, while Makayla Jackson had 11 points of her own. Jasmine Edwards posted her ninth double-double of the year with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Nisea Burrell contributed eight points and six boards off the bench.
The first quarter started with both squads going back and forth with five ties and three lead changes, and YSU was up 10-8 with Baker scoring six of the team’s first eight points, but a three-point play from Edwards gave UDM a one-point advantage at 11-10 at the 5:40 point. However, the Penguins scored the next six unanswered points to go up 16-11 with a putback from Hernandez off a Danielle Cameron miss, followed by a Baker layup off her own miss. Then, Hernandez blocked Myonna Hooper’s shot and ran the other way to finish the fastbreak with a layup off a Cameron feed at the 1:22 mark. Then the Titans’ Addisen Mastriano closed out the first quarter, scoring a layup with 27 seconds to go.
The Titans led for nearly 11 minutes in the first half and held a 34-32 lead at halftime before the Penguins outscored them 25-7 in the third quarter to take a 57-41 lead. YSU’s advantage reached double digits for good with 3:44 remaining in the third, and there were nine ties and seven lead changes overall.
The Titans opened the second quarter by scoring nine of the period’s first 11 points and went a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the first 1:26 to take a 22-18 lead with triples from Burrell, Jackson, and Hooper.
YSU went on another 6-0 run to go back up 24-22 with a midrange shot from Baker, a three from Cameron, and a Gregory free throw at the seven-minute mark.
The Titans retaliated with the next seven straight points to take a 29-24 lead with two free throws from Jackson, a three from McQueen, and a jumper from Hooper. Detroit Mercy would remain on top for the rest of the half.
Following Santoro’s three-point play to make it a two-point deficit, both teams scored five points each in the last 2:01 of the period, with Erica King scoring on the last possession of the first half to make it a 34-32 deficit at halftime.
The second half started when Gregory traded free throws with UDM’s Anna Lassan to make it 36-34 Titans, but the Penguins scored seven unassuming points thanks to a Baker layup, a King three, and a Gregory layup. As a result, YSU was up 41-36 at the 7:17 mark and never trailed in the game again.
After a McQueen layup made it a one-possession deficit, the Penguins finally got out of that thin ice they were waddling on in the first half with a 15-0 run within a 5:04 span and increased their lead to 18 at 56-38. It started with back-to-back treys from Santoro and Hernandez, a layup from Gregory, two made foul shots from Hayden Barrier, another jump shot from Baker, and a second triple from Hernandez at the 1:24 mark. Burrell then hit a three to stop the run before a Hernandez free throw put YSU’s lead back up to 16 at 57-41 heading into the final stanza, with the Penguins outscoring the Titans 25-7 in the third period.
YSU’s largest lead of the night was 19 after Gregory scored five of the first seven fourth-quarter points to put the Penguins ahead 62-43 at the 8:40 mark.
The Titans went on a 10-2 run to get within 11, starting with back-to-back buckets from Edwards before Naima Diawara scored the last six points of that stretch by herself, but that was as close as Kiefer Haffey’s Titans would get on their way to dropping their fifth straight game.
Youngstown State has already clinched the second seed in the 2026 Barbasol Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament. It will host the ninth seed, either Oakland or Wright State, on March 4 for a 7 p.m. tip-off at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
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