Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 12/2/2022 9:44:00 PM
Highland Heights, Ky. – Lilly Ritz scored the go-ahead basket with 11.4 seconds remaining, and the Youngstown State women's basketball team showed resilience in a 59-55 win at Northern Kentucky in its Horizon League opener on Friday evening.
The Penguins trailed by seven at halftime, and the final score was their largest advantage of the night. Youngstown State is now 3-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play as it won at Northern Kentucky for just the second time in seven visits. NKU dropped to 3-4 with the loss.
Malia Magestro scored a game-high 21 points, and 14 of those came on drives to the basket. Ritz finished with 12 points and six rebounds, and Megan Callahan finished with 10 points, three assists and two rebounds. Callahan assisted to Ritz on the go-ahead bucket, and she grabbed a rebound on the defensive end on NKU's final possession.
Lindsey Duvall posted 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for Northern Kentucky.
The Penguins had seven turnovers in the first 14 minutes of the game, and Ivy Turner's 3-pointer at the 6:11 mark of the second period gave Northern Kentucky a 21-13 lead. The Norse earlier held a nine-point, 13-4 lead with less than two minutes left in the opening quarter before the Penguins went on a 9-2 sprint to end get within 15-13.
Youngstown State's defense kept it in the game in the second quarter as its first points of the second period came on a Magestro driving layup with 3:46 on the clock. The Penguins trailed just 23-19 on a Ritz basket at the 1:56 mark, but NKU was able to extend its advantage to 28-21 at halftime.
Paige Shy nailed a 3-pointer in the opening minute of the second half to close the gap to 28-24, and Magestro's 3 with 5:54 on the clock put her in double figures and trimmed an eight-point deficit to 34-29. That sparked an 8-0 for the Penguins, which featured a big sequence of two blocks and a basket by Emily Saunders in two possessions. Haley Thierry's free throw with 4:13 remaining tied the score at 34, and a Magestro free throw in the final minute game YSU its first lead of the second half at 44-43.
The fourth quarter score was within a possession until the final horn, and YSU's final deficit came when Turner made two free throws at the 5:08 mark to put the Norse ahead 51-49. Magestro put back her own miss on an out-of-bounds play to tie the score at 51 with 4:31 remaining, and Saunders made two free throws on YSU's next possession to put the Penguins up 53-51. They held the upper hand until Duvall made two free throws with 1:21 on the clock to tie the game at 53, and that's what it remained until the final moments.
With three seconds left on the shot clock and 13.5 seconds remaining on the game, Callahan threw a long lob pass into Ritz, who caught the ball in the middle of the lane, spun toward the right block and banked in the game-winner with 11.4 seconds left. Callahan then forced Turner into a tough shot and fought for the rebound on NKU's last possession, and Magestro followed with a bonus layup as time expired after YSU called timeout on the rebound to advance to the frontcourt.
Youngstown State will try to sweep the road trip as it travels to Dayton to play Wright State on Sunday. Tipoff at the Nutter Center is set for 4 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN and ESPN+.
The three plays in the final 14 seconds that decided the game: 1?? Perfect execution on the inbounds play from Callahan to Ritz 2?? Big defensive stop and rebound by Callahan 3?? Magestro seals the win with a reverse layup#GoGuins?? #HLWBB pic.twitter.com/gUM57gzc1N
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