Youngstown State Rolls to Victory on Friday Night

Women's Basketball Scoreboard (Dec. 13)
Youngstown State 84, Ohio Valley 52
Butler 65, Valparaiso 50

Youngstown State 84, Ohio Valley 52
The Youngstown State women's basketball team had its best all-around performance of the season as the Penguins defeated Ohio Valley 84-52 on Friday night at the Beeghly Center.

In scoring a season-high 84 points, YSU shot 47.8 percent from the field (33-of-69), 42.3 percent from three-point range (11-of-26) and grabbed 50 rebounds to outrebound the Fighting Scots by 19. The Guins also dished out 23 assists on the night as well. On defense, YSU held Ohio Valley to just a 31.8 performance from the field.

The Penguins had a strong performance from the outset of the contest in picking up their second win of the season. YSU never trailed in the contest and took the lead for good after breaking a 7-all tie five-and-a-half minutes into the game.

From the point of the 7-7 tie, the Guins scored the next nine points to seize control. Liz Hornberger knocked down a 3-pointer to break the deadlock and following at Latisha Walker free throw, Hornberger drained another trey and the onslaught was on. With the game 28-16 at the 7:36 of the first half, the Penguins went on an 18-3 run to increase the advantage to 46-19. At the break, the Guins led 46-21.

In the second half, YSU outscored the Fighting Scots 38-31. The closest Ohio Valley could get was 29 points at 59-30 and the biggest leads for the Penguins were 81-39 and 84-42.

Four players finished in double figures led by Jenna Hirsch who scored 15 points and had five assists in making her first career start. Monica Touvelle had 13 points, grabbed six rebounds and made four 3-pointers. Latisha Walker had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds and Karen Flagg had 11 points coming off the bench for the first time this season.

With the victory, YSU improves to 2-6 on the campaign while OVU is now 3-8. Imani Ward had a game-high 18 points off the bench for the Fighting Scots.

Butler 65, Valparaiso 50
Butler assembled one too many runs Friday night as they defeated Valpo 65-50 at the Athletics-Recreation Center in Valparaiso. Three Crusaders finished the evening in double digits, but Daress McClung and Taylor Schippers combined for 39 points as the Bulldogs downed their former Horizon League rival.

The teams traded 9-0 runs to open the game as Jessi Wiedemann's (Palatine, Ill./Fremd) 13th three-pointer of the season tied it at the 14 minute-mark. Butler responded with a 12-0 surge thanks to three treys from Schippers. All nine of her first-half points came in a span of under three minutes.

McClung shot 6-for-9 from the floor in the first half as her 12 points boosted Butler to a 35-17 lead at the break. The Bulldogs enjoyed a 16-7 advantage in points off turnovers in the first twenty minutes.

The Crusaders battled back in the second half. An Abby Dean (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) layup cut the deficit to single digits with eight minutes to play. However, Butler's Ijeoma Uchendu registered a layup of her own 15 seconds later, and the Bulldogs' never relinquished their double-digit margin.

Liz Horton (Cannelburg, Ind./Barr-Reeve) continued her stellar shooting from the perimeter, knocking down two of four attempts from beyond the arc. The senior contributed 10 points. It was her fourth consecutive game in double digits.

Sharon Karungi (Kampala, Uganda/[Northern Oklahoma College]) tossed in 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Friday night represented the sixth time in the last seven games that the junior scored 11 or more points.

Wiedemann finished with 10 points.

"I was disappointed with our energy level. Give Butler credit, though. They shot the ball well. We have to improve our field goal defense," head coach Tracey Dorow said. Butler shot 25-of-56 (44.6%) for the game.

One effective trend that continued for the Brown and Gold was the free-throw shooting. Valpo was a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe, as the Crusaders raised their Horizon League-leading percentage to an impressive 79.6 percent.