Penguins go cold in loss

Youngstown State trailed for the final 35 minutes.
BUFFALO -- Youngstown State's women shot only 26.9 percent from the field and suffered their fifth loss of the season, 53-40, to Buffalo Wednesday night.
The Penguins, coming off a poor performance against Oakland on Monday night, made just 14-of-52 shots from the field and never led after the first five minutes of the contest.
YSU (2-5) also was outrebounded 45-33 and committed 19 turnovers, which Buffalo turned into 21 points. The Bulls (3-4) also committed 19 turnovers, but YSU made just 12 points off those mistakes.
The Penguins placed just one player in double figures as junior Kristy Gaudiose led the team with 13 points. She added five rebounds and had three assists.
Freshman Nikita LaFleur led the Penguins with eight rebounds.
Buffalo was led by Heather Turner, who tossed in a game-high 18 points and added 13 rebounds, while Brooke Meunier chipped in with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
The Bulls only shot 34.4 percent from the field, but they made seven more field goals than the Penguins and also had 16 offensive rebounds.
YSU jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but the Bulls tied it at 5-5 and then took the lead on a free throw by Meunier and never trailed again.
Buffalo went on a 9-0 run to pull ahead 11-5 and followed that with a 7-2 run to take command of the contest.
The Penguins scored only 19 points in the half, their worst performance since a game against University of Indiana.
YSU scored only two points over the first eight minutes of the second half and found itself trailing 37-22.
Buffalo went up by 20 points (47-27) with six minutes remaining, but the Penguins went on a 9-0 run and cut the margin to 11 points (47-36) with 2:32 remaining.
They got no closer.
The Penguins will remain on the road Saturday afternoon when they visit Eastern Michigan University at 4 p.m.