Shar Rae Davis | Photo by Dustin Livesay
Green Bay, Wis. -- The Youngstown State women's basketball team had its worst performance of the season at the worst time and lost 72-45 to Loyola in the semifinals of the Horizon League Tournament on Friday at the Kress Center.
The Penguins drop to 22-9 this season and remain hopeful for a postseason tournament bid. Loyola moves on to play either Green Bay or Detroit on Sunday in the tournament final.
YSU trailed by as many as 20 in the first half and cut the deficit to 11 less than two minutes into the second half. The Penguins, though, hit just one field goal over the next 10 minutes as Loyola pulled away.
Simone Law scored 18 of her 29 points in the first half, and Taylor Johnson added 19 for Loyola. The Ramblers held YSU to 25.9 percent shooting and shot 44.1 percent themselves. They made 11 more field goals and eight more free throws while forcing the Penguins into 16 turnovers.
Shar'Rae Davis led the Penguins with 12 points, nine of which came in the first half, and Brandi Brown finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The Penguins struggled from the outset offensively and trailed 8-2 more than five minutes into the game. Karen Flagg scored off an offensive rebound to make the score 8-4 with 14:32 left, but Loyola went on a 20-4 run over the next 10 minutes to build a 28-8 advantage. Law had 14 points during that run and made eight of her first nine shots in the game.
YSU limited Loyola to four points the rest of the period and was able to trim the deficit to 32-17 at halftime. Davis had seven of her nine points of the period during that modest 9-4 run. She made YSU's lone 3-pointer of the period at the 3:06 mark.
The Penguins scored eight points in the first 1:45 of the second half and cut the margin to 36-25 with 18:17 left. They missed two shots on their next two possessions that would have cut the deficit to single digits, and the Penguins made just one field goal over the next 10 minutes.
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