Buffalo, N.Y. -- The Youngstown State women's basketball team used strong defense and got 24 points and 15 rebounds from Brandi Brown to hold off Buffalo in a 60-50 victory on Tuesday afternoon at Alumni Arena.
Freshman Shar'Rae Davis added a career-high 19 points, six rebounds and four assists, and Liz Hornberger matched her career high with 12 points. Rachel Gregory had 17 points to lead Buffalo.
The Penguins held Buffalo scoreless for more than five minutes on three different occasions in the contest, and that helped them overcome a slugging ending to the game in which they went without a field goal for nine minutes.
Hornberger hit three triples in the first eight minutes of the second half, and her third gave the Penguins a 45-30 lead with 12:17 left. Two free throws by Brown at the 8:49 mark gave YSU its largest lead at 50-32, but Buffalo went on a 15-3 run to get within 53-47 with 3:10 remaining. YSU scored the next five points on four free Davis free throws and one by Brown to go up 58-47, and Brown answered a Buffalo 3-pointer with a breakaway bucket for the game's final points.
YSU's 10-point victory avenged a 54-point loss at Buffalo three ago. It follows YSU's 66-point turnaround against Pittsburgh when it beat the Panthers by 14 on Friday after losing by 52 three seasons ago.
The Penguins are 2-0 for the first time since 1999-2000.
Brown and Davis scored the first 25 points for Youngstown State in helping the Penguins build a 30-20 lead at halftime. The Penguins kept Buffalo scoreless for spells of 5:50 and 5:37 in the period.
Buffalo opened the game by scoring nine of the first 12 points to take a 9-3 lead at the 17:04 mark, but Brown hit a 3-pointer to end the run and get the Penguins to the first media time out down just 9-6. YSU turned up the defensive pressure, and the Bulls scored eight points over the next 14 minutes.
Brown scored the first 10 points for the Penguins, and her bucket at the 14:28 left gave YSU its first lead at 10-9. Mackenzie Loesing gave Buffalo an 11-10 lead at the 13:55 mark, but that would be the Bulls' final lead.
With UB's concentration on Brown, Davis scored 11 of YSU's next 13 points.
YSU scored the next six points to go up 16-11 on a Davis bucket, and it went on a 12-0 spurt to take its largest lead at 30-17. Hornberger's 3-pointer at the 1:45 mark accounted for YSU's first points by someone other than Brown or Davis, and Monica Touvelle's bucket gave YSU its 30-17 lead with 1:04 left. Christa Baccas converted a three-point play with 34.1 seconds left to allow Buffalo to stop the Penguins' run just before halftime.
Brown had 14 points and eight rebounds in the first half, and Davis had 11 points.
Youngstown State will play its home opener against Bryant on Sunday at 12:05 p.m. For tickets, call (330) 941-1978.
