Gaudiose hits career high, but YSU women fall to UIC

The Poland High graduate scored 15 points for the Penguins in a 56-51 loss.
SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR
CHICAGO, Ill. -- Despite a career-high 15 points from freshman Kristy Gaudiose, the Youngstown State women's basketball team lost, 56-51, to Illinois-Chicago Thursday.
The Penguins (2-17, 0-8 Horizon League) trailed by three points at halftime, 25-22. Gaudiose scored YSU's first eight points of the second half, including a 3-pointer, and kept the Penguins' deficit at three points, 32-29, with 14:32 remaining.
The teams traded 3-pointers before UIC took a seven-point lead, 41-34, with 9:56 remaining.
YSU's Cathy Hanek made a 3-pointer and senior Jessica Forsythe a layup to trim the Flames' lead to two points, 41-39, with 6:48 to go.
UIC's LaShonda Grant hit one of her five 3-pointers and a Chastity Quinn layup gave the Flames another seven-point lead, 46-39.
Too much
The Flames (8-11, 3-6) extended their lead to nine points with under a minute remaining but Jen Perugini and Barb Fabianova, who scored 11 points off the bench, each hit 3-pointers to slice YSU's deficit to four, 53-49, with 16 seconds remaining.
After Krystal Hugelier made just one of two free throws, Ashlee Russo drove the lane for a layup to make the score 54-51 with six seconds remaining.
Chrissy Dizon, however, sealed the victory for UIC with two free throws with one second to go.
"We allowed them to hit open 3-pointers and we had too many lulls defensively," said YSU coach Tisha Hill. "We did not take care of the ball in the second half."
First half
In the first half, there were six lead changes and two ties.
UIC scored first on a Dizon 3-pointer but the Penguins scored the next eight points, sparked by two 3-pointers from Gaudiose, to take an 8-3 advantage with 16:19 remaining.
The Flames then used a six-point run to retake the lead, 9-8, at the 14:53 mark and held a three-point advantage, 13-10, with 12:54 to go.
Two jumpers by Jessica Forsythe and Jen Perugini and a 3-pointer by Fabianova gave YSU a 17-13 lead at the 10:41 mark.
The Flames quickly tied the score at 17-all on jumpers by Andrea Milner and Krystal Hugelier, but Nicole Neila score to give YSU a 19-17 lead with 5:15 to go.
The Penguins were held scoreless for more than five minutes while UIC scored eight straight points to take a 25-19 advantage. Perugini hit a 3-pointer eight seconds before intermission to cut YSU's deficit to three, 25-22.
Hill liked the play of Gaudiose.
"Kristy took good shots and hit them when we needed them," she said. "She handled the pressure a lot better tonight."
YSU travels to UW-Milwaukee Saturday, at 3 p.m.