Horizon League Women's Basketball Scoreboard (Dec. 20)
Youngstown State 80, Akron 71
Michigan 73, Valparaiso 32
Youngstown State 80, Akron 71
Senior forward Brandi Brown scored a game-high 25 points and freshman guard Shar'Rae Davis added 17 as the Youngstown State women's basketball team knocked off Akron 80-71 in a spirited contest on Thursday night at the Beeghly Center.
Brown had 25 points and 15 rebounds in the game and in the process grabbed the 1,000th rebound of her YSU career. With her 25 points, Brown moved into fourth in school history in career scoring ahead of Ann Marie Martin. She joins Wanda Grant and Dorothy Bowers as the only Penguins to eclipse the 1,000-rebound mark in a career. She is also just the third player in HL history to score 1,600 points whle grabbing 1,000 rebounds.
Neither team was willing to back down, but the Penguins never trailed after the 11:22 mark of the first half despite Zips' best effort.
YSU held a six-point halftime lead before the Zips closed within 43-42 just 4:44 into the second half. But the Penguins didn't crack scoring the next seven points to grab a 50-42 lead on a layup by Heidi Schlegel.
Momentum went back to the Zips as they scored seven straight pulling within 51-49 on Carly Young's 3-pointer at the 12:23 mark. Melissa Thompson answered with a 3-pointer, but the Zips answered with a layup by Hanna Luburgh to make the contest 54-51.
The Penguins scored the next six points building a 60-51 lead following two Brown baskets and two Schlegel free throws. The Zips scored three straight to get within six at 60-54, but that was as close as they were the rest of the night.
YSU scored the next seven points extending the lead to 67-54 in a span of 2:25 and never looked back. The Penguins led by as many as 14, 73-59 with 4:41 left, while the Zips pulled within seven with 1:17 remaining at 74-67.
For the game, YSU shot 41.9 percent making 26-of-62 shots while the Zips connected on 49.1 percent (27-of-55). The Penguins made 17 free throws to Akron's seven and forced the Zips into 22 turnovers.
Davis was 6-of-8 from the field and knocked down a career-best three 3-pointers. She also had six rebounds, four steals and three assists. Brown was 8-of-16 from the field and 7-of-11 from the free-throw line. She finished with half of the Guins' 30 rebounds. Schlegel added 12 points and five rebounds. Luburgh had to lead Akron.
YSU is now 4-0 at home this season and has scored 80-plus points in each of its last two contests.
Trailing 17-15, the Penguins scored eight consecutive points to go ahead 23-17. Brown converted an and-one situation, Schlegel made two free throws and Brown connected on a 3-pointer in span of 1:15.
Akron closed to within four on two occasions after the that, trailing just 25-21 with 7:45 left in the half. YSU went on another run scoring seven consecutive points. Davis scored all seven points of the run. The first two buckets came on layups before the third came from behind the 3-point line at the 6:27 mark giving the Penguins a 32-21 cushion.
YSU's biggest lead of the half was 38-26 on another 3-pointer by Davis with 1:53 left before the Zips closed on a 6-0 run following triples by Luburgh and Young to make the score 38-32 at the break.
Michigan 73, Valparaiso 32
Jessica Carr scored a season-high six points, and the Valparaiso women’s basketball team trailed by seven early on in the first half against Michigan, but the Wolverines outscored the Crusaders by 20 over the rest of the half and went on to beat the Crusaders 73-32 on Thursday.
Carr hit a 3-pointer and Liz Horton added a layup on Valparaiso’s next possession to get the Crusaders within seven at 16-9 and force a Michigan timeout with 13:10 left in the first half.
The Wolverines closed the half on a 28-8 run to lead 44-17 at the break. Kate Thompson, who finished with a game-high 18 points, had 15 in the first half for Michigan.
Michigan shot 17-of-29 from the floor in the first half, while the Crusaders were limited to 7-of-27 shooting in the opening 20 minutes.
The Crusaders played even with Wolverines for the first few minutes of the second half, but then the Wolverines went on a 12-1 run to open the lead to 38. Michigan eventually built the lead to 45, by holding Valparaiso without a field goal for eight minutes.
Laura Richards hit a pair of 3-pointers to finish with six points for Valparaiso. Tabitha Gerardot added five points.
Horton and Shaquira Scott each chipped with four points for the Crusaders, who shot 13-of-52 overall from the field and 5-of-22 from behind the arc.
