YSU enjoys return home

The Penguins routed Wright State 87-61 for their fourth win in five games at Beeghly Center.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- It's too bad that the Youngstown State women's basketball team can't play at home every game, and that Wright State can't be the opponent.
The Penguins shot 62 percent in the first half and cruised to an 87-61 victory over Wright State, before about 1,400 fans at Beeghly Center.
"We finally played some basketball," said YSU coach Ed DiGregorio, "and it certainly didn't hurt being back at home."
The Penguins (7-10, 4-3 Horizon League) won for the fourth time in five games this season on their home floor.
"It's really amazing," said DiGregorio, "because we looked so bad in practice [Wednesday] night that I threw them all out of the gym."
Contributors: The Penguins had five players score in double figures, led by sophomore Heather Harris with 17. Freshman Barbora Fabianova, senior Jen Horner and junior Maggie Johnston all had 11 points and freshman Jen Perugini added 10.
Harris and Fabianova didn't start, but they sparked YSU when they entered the game. Harris went 5-for-5 from the field in the first half, and Fabianova made all three of her shots. Each of them made a 3-pointer.
Wright State (3-15, 1-6) was led by Tiffany Webb with 16 points and Jill Ransdell with 12. The Raiders committed 29 turnovers, while YSU, which had 18 steals, scored 34 points off those mistakes.
YSU committed 24 turnovers, but finished the game shooting 52.3 percent (34-of-65), and out-rebounded Wright State 37-24. The Raiders were 21-of-49 (42.9 percent) from the floor.
"It was good to be back at home," said Harris. "We played much better as a team tonight, and all the girls played hard the entire 40 minutes."
DiGregorio got to look at his reserves as early as he wanted. No starter played more than 22 minutes, and 11 of the 12 players in uniform saw at least 11 minutes of playing time, and all 12 got into the scoring column.
"We're right in the middle of the [conference] pack right now," said DiGregorio. "We need to win these next two home games to stay where we're at now."
The Penguins entertain Loyola of Chicago on Saturday and Illinois-Chicago on Monday. YSU split with those two teams on the road, losing at Loyola and winning at UIC.
Stayed close: Wright State stayed close through the first eight minutes; in fact, the Raiders led 13-12 with 12 minutes, 59 seconds remaining in the first half.
YSU took the lead for good with 12:30 remaining on Devin Novak's 3-pointer, which started a 22-8 run. That gave the Penguins a 34-21 lead with six minutes to go in the half.
Youngstown State made 13 of its last 15 shots of the half to finish 20-for-32 (62.5 percent). That included a 7-for-10 performance on 3-pointers, as the Penguins led 50-34 at halftime.
YSU scored the first seven points of the second half, including four by Perugini, for a 23-point edge. Wright State went on a 7-0 run to trim the lead back to 16, but the Penguins went on another run, this time 13-4, for a 70-45 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining. That's when DiGregorio began to empty the bench.
mollica@vindy.com