Penguins fall at Loyola, despite second half rally

CHICAGO -- Senior Michelle Holmes scored a career-high 21 points and classmate Ashlee Russo added 17 points but the Youngstown State women's basketball team dropped a 75-65 decision to Loyola in a Horizon League game on Thursday afternoon at the Gentile Center.
The Ramblers (3-16, 3-5) scored the first nine points of the game, led by as many as 16 points in the first half and shot 63 percent from the floor. They never let the Penguins, who shot 33.3 percent in the first half, get within six points all game.
YSU battles back
Trailing by 16 at halftime, 41-25, the Penguins (5-14, 1-7) opened the second half with a 12-4 run to cut the Ramblers' led to eight points, 45-37, after a Holmes old-fashioned 3-point play with 16 minutes remaining.
After a layup by Marquise Hanser, who scored 19 points, and a 3-pointer by Danielle Nobolotny put the Ramblers back ahead by 13, 50-37, the Penguins scratched their way back into the game and twice trimmed the deficit down to seven.
But they didn't get any closer.
In the first half, Loyola, which converted 5-of-8 from the 3-point line in the first half, held a 15-4 lead at the 16:04 mark after a Mandy Mennella 3-pointer but the Penguins sliced the Ramblers lead down to six, 23-17, over the next eight minutes.
Hanser and Mennella, who scored 13 and 12 points in the first half, respectively, sparked an 18-6 Rambler spurt and Loyola took a 16-point lead, 42-25, into the locker room at the half.
The Penguins, who outscored the Ramblers, 40-34, in the second half, shot 48 percent in the second half and out-rebounded the Ramblers, 20-11, after halftime.
YSU continues its trip in Chicago against Illinois-Chicago at 7 p.m. on Saturday.