| Penguins' Season Ends in OT at Wright State, 58-56 |
| Wednesday, March 3 2004 |
| Courtesy of: |
| Fairborn, Ohio – Wright State’s Iesha Gray’s layup with 32 seconds remaining in overtime lifted the Raiders (9-19) past the Youngstown State women’s basketball team (4-24), 58-56, in the play-in game of the 2004 Horizon League Tournament and ended the Penguins 2003-04 season. With the scored tied at 51-51 at the end of regulation, YSU junior Cathy Hanek gave the Penguins a short two-point lead, 53-51, with 4:10 remaining. WSU tied the game after Jeanette Woodberry’s two charity shots with 2:47 on the clock. Kristy Gaudiose’s 3-pointer with 2:15 remaining gave the Penguins a 3-point advantage, 56-53, but Woodberry responded with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 56-56 with just under a minute left. After Gray’s go-ahead layup, Hanek, who scored 13 points, drove the lane and scored an apparent game-tying bucket but was called for an offensive foul from halfcourt. The Penguins forced a Raider turnover with 7.1 seconds left but YSU turned the ball over as the time expired. Youngstown State held a four-point advantage at halftime, 25-21, but the Raiders quickly trimmed the deficit to one, 25-24, after a Woodberry 3-point play at the 19:40 mark. After Hanek extended the Penguins advantage to three, 27-24, with a jumper with 18:14 remaining, WSU’s Angie Ott retied the contest, 27-27 with a 3-pointer at the 17:59 mark. YSU pushed its lead to four points, 40-36, but Ott drilled another triple to cut the lead back down to one, 40-39, with 6:48 remaining. Ashlee Russo, who scored a career-high 13 points, nailed two free throws and converted a 3-point play to give the Penguins a six-point cushion, 45-39, with just over five minutes to go. Wright State scored the next seven points to take a two-point lead, 47-45, with 2:59 remaining. Russo converted two more free throws to tie the game at 47-47 but Gray’s layup with 2:24 to go gave the advantage back to the Raiders, 49-47. Junior Barb Fabianova drained a 3-pointer at the 2:04 mark to give YSU its last lead in regulation. The lead swung back to Wright State, 51-50, after Ott made two more free throws. YSU senior Jessica Forsythe converted one of two free throws at the 1:33 mark to tie the contest, 51-51, and finish the scoring in regulation. Youngstown State finished the game shooting 35.1 percent compared to 27.9 percent for the Raiders and out-rebounded Wright State, 53-39. Jen Perugini led the Penguins with 13 boards while junior Jessica Olmstead grabbed 11. Wright State, however, converted 21-of-32 from the free throw line while the Penguins made just 11-of-15. |