Penguins limit turnovers, top Buffalo for first victory

Monique Godfrey and Velissa Vaughn each scored 17 points for YSU.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown State women's basketball team has been struggling with turnovers early this season.
Tuesday night the Penguins eliminated those mistakes and went on to post their first victory of the season, 78-44 over Buffalo at Beeghly Center.
The Penguins (1-2) came into the game averaging 27 turnovers in their first two contests. They committed just 12 against the Bulls and five of those came after the contest was decided.
"I'm so pleased with our effort tonight," said YSU head coach Tisha Hill. "We took care of what we needed to do, played aggressive defense and executed well on offense eliminating the turnovers."
Offensively, the Penguins put four players in double figures led by sophomores Monique Godfrey and Velissa Vaughn with 17 points each, while junior Heather Karner added 16 and junior Jessica Schloemp chipped in with 10.
The Penguins shot well, hitting on 47.5 percent from the field, including 50 percent from 3-point range. They didn't do quite as well from the free throw line, making just 12 of 21.
Bulls had 23 turnovers
Defensively the Penguins forced the Bulls (2-3) into 23 turnovers and they turned those turnovers into 29 points, while also outscoring the Bulls 29-11 off the bench.
"These girls are learning every day and you can just see their confidence building every day. They want to improve and they want to keep getting better," Hill added.
The Penguins never trailed in the contest jumping out to 10-2 advantage and just increasing their lead throughout the contest.
The Penguins built an 18-2 lead on a 3-point shot by Schloemp, but struggled a little as Buffalo came back to cut the lead to 24-19 with 5:11 remaining in the half.
But Karner hit a pair of 3-point shots and Godfrey added another and the Penguins went into the dressing room at halftime ahead 40-23.
Vaughn helped spark the Penguins early in the second half, knocking down back-to-back 3-point goals as YSU pulled out to a 61-39 lead midway through the half.
"I was a little cold in the first half, but I saw that Monique and Heather were hitting so I tried to get them the ball," Vaughn said. "In the second half my shots started to fall."
Push lead to 30 points
The Penguins pulled to a 30-point margin 73-43 with six minutes remaining.
Buffalo went over five minutes without scoring in the final seven minutes of play and then only scored one point on a free throw as the Penguins finished the game with an 11-1 run.
Buffalo hit on only 29.8 percent from the field and was just 15.4 percent from behind the arc. The Bulls weren't much better from the free throw line, making just 8 of 21 for 38.1 percent.
Buffalo didn't have a player in double figures and its top scorer was Heather Turner with nine points, although the Bulls did outrebound the Penguins 44-35.
YSU now goes on the road for its next four games, the first two coming Friday and Saturday in the Hilton Wilmington Riverside Beach Blast from Wilmington, N.C.
The Penguins don't return home until Dec. 16 when they play host to Akron in a 2:05 tipoff at Beeghly.
& lt;a href="http://media.vindy.com/photos/ysu/index.html" & gt; For a photo gallery of the game, click here & lt;/a & gt;