| Butler Tops Penguins, 80-56 |
| Saturday, December 30 2006 |
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| Youngstown -- All five of Butler's starters scored in double figures and the Bulldogs hit 12 3-pointers in a 80-56 victory over Youngstown State on Saturday at the Beeghly Center. Tara Miller scored a game-high 17 points and dished out four assists for Butler, which shot 51.8 percent overall and 57.7 percent in the second half. The Bulldogs improved to 5-8 overall and 2-0 in the Horizon League while the Penguins dropped to 2-10 and 0-2 in league play. Heather Karner scored 16 points to lead YSU while Monique Godfrey scored 11 and Velissa Vaughn added 11 off the bench. Butler scored the first 12 points of the game after hitting just one of its first eight shots from the floor. YSU went on a 9-2 run to get within five after a Karner trey made the score 16-11, and Godfrey's 3 with 9:40 remaining cut the margin to four. Butler answered with a 15-6 run over the next six minutes to take a 13-poinit lead and held 40-26 edge at halftime. After YSU's Nikita LaFleur scored the opening points of the second half, the Bulldogs scored the next seven points to go up 19 and never led by less than 15 the rest of the way. YSU shot 33.3 percent overall and 50 percent from the charity stripe. Butler held the rebounding edge 41-34 and converted 19 assists to 11 turnovers. The Penguins will travel to Chicago to play Loyola on Thursday at 5:45 p.m. and UIC on Saturday. |
| Penguins Drop League Opener to Wright State, 57-52 |
| Friday, December 29 2006 |
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| Youngstown State placed three players in double figures and held Wright State to a 31.7 field-goal percentage but the Penguins dropped their Horizon League opener to Wright State, 57-52, on Thursday evening at the Beeghly Center. Youngstown State falls to 2-9 overall and 0-1 in the Horizon League while Wright State improves to 3-9 overall and 1-0 in the Horizon League. Junior Heather Karner led the Penguins with 14 points while sophomore Velissa Vaughn and Monique Godfrey added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Trailing 25-16 with 2:39 to go in the first half, Karner drilled two 3-pointers and Vaughn converted four free throws to key a 10-5 run to close out the half and cut the Raiders' lead to four, 30-26, at halftime. The Penguins scored six straight points to open the second half on jumpers by junior Jessica Schloemp, Karner, and sophomore Nikita LaFleur and take 32-30 lead with 17:02 to go. The Raiders scored the next five points to regain a 35-32 lead but two more free throws from Vaughn and a jumper from Karner gave the Penguins a 36-35 advantage at the 13:55 mark. A 9-0 run over the nextt hree minutes gave Wright State a 44-36 lead with 10:16 remaining. Three free throws by Anjalia Lyons trimmed the deficit to five, 44-39, but a 3-pointer by Steph Comisar gave Wright State another eight-point lead, 47-39, with 7:25 left. Godfrey's 3-pointer at the 4:23 mark capped a 9-3 YSU run and cut the WSU lead to two, 50-48. Wright State's Sierra Crayton scored four straight points to extend the Raiders' advantage to six, 54-48, at the 3:27 mark. Godfrey hit another 3-pointer cut the lead to 54-41 and a free throw by Lauren Branson brought the Penguins within two, 54-52, with 2:13 left. Comisar converted three charity tosses with under 12 seconds left to seal the victory. YSU hosts Butler, Saturday, Dec. 30, at 2:05 p.m. at the Beeghly Center. |
| Strong Second-Half Start Paces Penguins to 58-47 Win |
| Thursday, December 21 2006 |
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| Youngstown -- Youngstown State got off to a strong start to the second half and made clutch free throws down the stretch in a 58-47 victory over Clarion Thursday night at the Beeghly Center. YSU's Nikita LaFleur notched her first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Heather Karner scored a team-high 15 for the Penguins. The win improved YSU's record to 2-8 while Clarion fell to 3-5. Leading 30-24 at the break, YSU held Clarion to just two points in the first 7 1/2 minutes of the second half to take a 10-point advantage at the 12:13 mark. The Golden Eagles cut the margin to six on back-to-back free throws by Jessica Albanese with 5:54 remaining and stayed within nine. April Gratton got Clarion within five with 1:26 remaining with two free throws, but YSU scored the next eight points all on free throws en route to victory. Albanese finished with a game-high 20 points, and Gratton added six assists. The Penguins were held to a 29.2 percent effort from the floor, but the Golden Eagles shot just 32 percent overall and 22.2 percent in the second half. YSU held the rebounding advantage 47-31. Clarion took an early 4-0 lead on two of Albanese's 16 first-half points, but YSU went on a 9-0 run over the next four minutes to take a five-point lead with 14:03 remaining. A Lauren Branson bucket gave the Penguins their largest lead of the half at 13-6 at the 11:06 mark, but a 6-0 Clarion run knotted the score at 16. The teams remained tied at 20 before YSU closed the half on a 10-4 run and held a 30-24 lead at the break thanks to a Karner trey just before the buzzer. The Penguins held a 26-11 rebounding advantage through the first 20 minutes but were outshot 43.5 percent to 32.3 percent. YSU will open Horizon League play against Wright State on Dec. 28 at 7:05 p.m. at the Beeghly Center. |
| Lyons' Career-High 20 Not Enough in 66-58 Loss to Akron |
| Saturday, December 16 2006 |
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| Youngstown State freshman Anjalia Lyons posted her second-straight career-best outing with 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor and 8-of-13 from the charity stripe but the Penguins women's basketball team fell to Akron, 66-58, Saturday afternoon at the Beeghly Center. Youngstown State falls to 1-7 and Akron, which won its fourth straight game, improves to 5-5. Lyons converted the Penguins' last field goal of the game to give YSU a 51-50 lead - their last of the game - with 6:44 to go but Akron's Sarah Tokodi drilled a 3-pointer to give the Zips a two-point edge, 53-51, a lead they would not relinquish, at the 6:26 mark. The Zips jumped out to an early 11-2 lead at the 14:25 mark of the first half by scoring 11 straight points after making their first five field goal attempts. A three-pointer by Monique Godfrey, a jumper by Lyons and a free throw by Velissa Vaughn cut the Zips lead to three points, 11-8, at the 11:46 mark. Akron, though, steadily extended its lead to as many as 10 points, 28-18, with 3:58 remaining before the intermission. Two free throws from Nikita LaFleur, a 3-pointer by Vaughn, a charity toss by Ta-Myra Davis and a jumper by LaFleur gave a YSU a 8-0 run to close out the half and cut YSU's deficit to 28-26 at the half. Junior Heather Karner gave the Penguins a 29-28 lead with a 3-pointer at the 19:25 mark of the second half. The Penguins and Zips then battled through six lead changes and five ties before Tokodi's trey at the 6:26 mark gave Akron the lead for good. Akron's Nikki McCoy scored a team-high 20 points, including 16 in the second half. YSU hosts Robert Morris, Monday, Dec. 18, at 7:05 p.m. |
| Penguins Drop Hard-Fought Decision to Indiana State, 69-56 |
| Thursday, December 7 2006 |
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| Terre Haute, Ind. -- Despite career scoring highs from sophomore Monique Godfrey and freshman Anjalia Lyons and holding the nation's second-highest scoring team 22 points below its season average, the Youngstown State women's basketball team dropped a 69-56 decision to Indiana State on Wednesday evening at the Hulman Center. YSU falls to 1-6 while the Sycamores improve to 5-2 on the season. Godfrey tied a career high with 18 points while Lyons' 11 second-half points was a career best. Trailing 43-33 with 15:29 left in the game, the Penguins rallied using a 7-0 run to cut the Sycamore lead to three, 43-40, with 12:42 left. Jumpers by junior Jessica Schloemp, Ashley Pendleton and a 3-pointer by Godfrey, her fifth of the game, keyed the Penguins' rally. Indiana State extended its lead to nine points, 56-47, over the next four minutes but the Penguins scored four straight points to trim the lead to 56-51 at the six-minute mark. The Penguins, though, would just score five more points the rest of the way. After falling behind 8-3 early in first half, the Penguins drilled two 3-pointers - one each by Karner and Godfrey - to take a 9-8 advantage midway through the half. Indiana State recaptured the lead, 13-11, after a Leah Phillips 3-pointer but Kira Mowen answered with a 3-pointer of her own to give the Penguins a 14-13 edge at the 7:41 mark. After a sycamore two baskets gave ISU a 17-16 lead, Godfrey, who hit four 3-pointers in the first half, drilled her third trey to give the Penguins a 19-17 lead with 6:05 to go. Godfrey nailed her fourth 3-pointer at the 3:28 mark to give YSU a 24-23 led but ISU scored five of the next seven points to take a 28-26 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Penguins are off for 10 days before hosting Akron, Saturday, Dec. 16, at 2:05 p.m. at the Beeghly Center. |
| Shooting Woes Continue in Penguins' 69-51 Loss at Miami |
| Saturday, December 2 2006 |
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| Oxford, Ohio -- The Youngstown State women's basketball team (1-5) shot just 27.6 percent and committed 29 turnovers in a 69-51 loss to Miami (Ohio) (4-3) on Thursday evening at Millett Hall. Junior Heather Karner led the Penguins with 15 points including four 3pointers. Although the Penguins our-rebounded Miami, 50-43, including 20 offensive rebounds, they were only able to convert 15 second-chance points against the RedHawks. YSU visits Indiana State, Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m. in Terre Haute, Ind. |