| Guins Able to Withstand Toledo Rally, Hang On 55-48 |
| Friday, November 30 2007 |
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| Youngstown -- The Youngstown State women's basketball team built a 19-point second-half lead before holding on to defeat Toledo 55-48 in the Penguins' home opener on Thursday night. Junior guard Kelsey Gurganus and junior forward Ashley Pendleton sparked the victory scoring 13 points each. Senior forward Jessica Schloemp posted a double-double scoring 11 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. YSU led 36-17 early in the second half, but Toledo mounted a comeback attempt to put pressure on the Penguins. The Rockets got as close as two on five different occasions but could never tie or take the lead. The Penguins scored the first four points of the second half before the Rockets scored 19 of the game's next 21 points to make the score 38-36 with 11:50 remaining. Forward Allie Clifton, who finished with a game-high 15 points, scored 10 points during the run. Gurganus made two free throws to get the lead back to five at 42-37 with 9:27 remaining, but the Rockets got a trey and kept the score within four until Jessica Schloemp hit a layup to up the advantage to 51-45 with 1:18 left. Gurganus hit two more of her nine free throws with 42 seconds remaining to up the advantage to 53-45, and Lauren Branson hit two charity tosses with 18 seconds left to offset an Amber Heistan trey. Toledo had an opportunity to get closer as neither team scored for two-and-a-half minutes late. The Rockets missed their last seven free throw attempts and converted only 7-of-19 for the game. YSU came out strong in the first half to build an impressive 31-15 halftime advantage. Youngstown State scored the first four points and nine of the game's first 11. Schloemp opened the scoring and Heather Karner followed with a basket. After Toledo's Ta'Yani Clark got the Rockets on the scoreboard, Pendleton scored and Karner drilled a 3-pointer to give the Guins a 9-2 advantage. After holding a 15-9 edge at the 8:21 mark, the Penguins went on a 9-0 run pushing their cushion to 24-9 on a basket by Schloemp. Just before the intermission, YSU built its biggest lead of the first half at 32-15 on a Branson free throw with 16 seconds remaining. Clifton cut the deficit to 15 with a basket just before the halftime buzzer. The Penguins shot 48 percent making 12-of-25 shots while their defense harassed the Rockets into a 26.7 percentage. UT made just 8-of-30 attempts in the opening frame, including an 0-of-5 mark from behind the 3-point arc. Youngstown State is back on the road when it plays at Saint Francis (Pa.) on Saturday night. Tipoff at the DeGol Arena is set for 7 p.m. |
| Second-Half Rally Lifts Penguins to 54-52 Win Over Albany |
| Sunday, November 25 2007 |
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| Brooklyn, N.Y. -- A strong defensive effort and 12 consecutive makes from the free throw line helped Youngstown State rally to defeat Albany 54-52 in the consolation game of the LIU Turkey Classic on Saturday. The Penguins trailed by as many as 11 in the first half but outshot the Great Danes 41 percent to 31 percent in the second half and made 12 of their 14 free throws. Heather Karner scored a game-high 17 points while Ashley Pendleton notched her first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. The win was YSU's first of the season while Albany dropped to 1-5. In a game that featured 47 turnovers, the Penguins outlasted Albany's full court pressure and held the Great Danes to only 18 points off of turnovers. Two free throws from Charity Iromuanya at the 18:12 mark of the second half put the Great Danes up 29-22, their largest lead of the half. They led 31-37 with 11:53 remaining when Heather Karner treys on back-to-back possessions to tie the score for the first time since the 10:27 mark of the first half. Lauren Branson hit two free throws to tie the score again at 39-39, and Tiara Scott followed with two makes of her own from the charity stripe to give the Penguins the lead that they would not relinquish. The Penguins scored six straight pints to lead 49-41 after Pendleton sank a lay-up. Albany scored five straight to get within three and eventually worked the margin to 54-52 on two free throws from Kristin Higy with 36 seconds remaining. YSU missed on its next possession after working the shot clock down to two, and Tanika Thrower's desperation three was off the mark at the buzzer. The Penguins held the Great Danes without a field goal for more than five minutes late in the second half as they made their surge. Higy and Thrower scored 10 points apiece to lead Albany. The Great Danes hit just 1-of-16 from behind the arc. Similar to their previous game against Long Island, the Penguins suffered another lengthy scoring drought in the first half. This time, however, they battled back to trail 27-22 at the half. Tiara Scott's free throw put the Penguins ahead 12-8 at the 10:55 mark of the first half, but the Great Danes scored the next 15 points to go up 23-12 until Karner hit a jumper with 3:53 remaining. Albany went back up by 11 on its next possession, but YSU scored the next seven points to get within four on a Karner trey. The Great Danes forced 15 first-half turnovers for YSU but were only able to convert those into 10 points. YSU finished with 27 turnovers and forced 20. Karner led all scorers at the break with 10 points, which was six more than she scored in the opening round game against Long Island on Saturday. The Penguins will play host to Toledo in their home opener on Thursday, Nov. 29, at 7 p.m. |
| Women's Basketball Inks West Virginia All-Stater Camisha Alexander |
| Monday, November 19 2007 |
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| Youngstown -- Youngstown State women's basketball coach Tisha Hill announced Monday that Camisha Alexander has signed a National Letter of Intent to join the Penguins in 2008-09. Alexander, a 5-foot-5 guard from Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley, W. Va., averaged 15 points and four rebounds per game and was named Honorable Mention Class AAA All-West Virginia selection as a junior. "We are very excited to sign a player of Camisha's caliber," Hill said. "She brings speed and quickness to the backcourt with the ability to score from behind the arc. "She loves the game and creates well on the court. Alexander averaged 12 points per game as a sophomore and 10 points per game as a freshman. The Penguins head to The Big Apple for the LIU Turkey Classic, Nov. 23-24. YSU takes on Long Island, Friday, Nov. 23, at 2 p.m. |
| Shooting Woes Hurts Guins in 62-53 Loss at Buffalo |
| Monday, November 12 2007 |
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| Buffalo, N.Y. – Senior Heather Karner led all scorers with 17 points and senior Jessica Schloemp recorded a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds but the Youngstown State women’s basketball team (0-1) shot just 29.4 percent in a 62-53 loss to Buffalo (1-0) on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Arena. The Penguins trailed by 10 at halftime, 29-19, and by as many as 11, 40-29, midway into the second half before using an 11-0 run to knot the game at 40-40 with 8:30 remaining. A layup and a jumper by Schloemp followed by a jumper by Karner brought the Guins within five, 40-35, at the 9:41 mark. A layup by Tiara Scott, who scored 10 points, trimmed the deficit to three, 40-37, with 8:54 left and Monique Godfrey tied the game with a 3-pointer, her only basket of the game. Buffalo, however, went on a 14-4 run over the next four minutes to take a 54-44 lead it would not relinquish at the 4:09 mark. Senior Lauren Branson hit a 3-pointer with 1:17 remaining to bring the Guins within seven, 56-49, but they would not get any closer. The Penguins shot 39.4 percent in the second half but just 20 percent in the first half and were out-rebounded, 51-44. The Penguins visit Niagara, Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. at the Gallagher Center. |
| Single-Game Tickets Available Now From YSU Ticket Office |
| Friday, November 9 2007 |
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| Youngstown -- Single-game tickets for the upcoming 2007-08 Youngstown State University men’s and women’s basketball seasons are now on sale. Fans interested in purchasing tickets can do so in person at the Youngstown State athletic ticket office in Stambaugh Stadium or by calling, (330) 941-1YSU. The ticket office is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Tickets for men’s and women's basketball home games are $10 for reserved chairback seating and $6 for upper-level general-admission seating. Groups of 15 or more can purchase general admission tickets for a discounted price by calling the ticket office. The men’s basketball team plays host to Lock Haven in the Beeghly Center on Friday, Nov. 16, while the women's team plays host to Toledo on Thursday, Nov. 29. This season, the men's and women's team will combine to play host to eight doubleheaders while the women have five single home contests and the men have four. |