YSU’s women drop third in row, 70-59

The loss to Valparaiso drops YSU into seventh place in the Horizon loop.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — Fortunately for the Youngstown State women’s basketball team, there isn’t much further for the Penguins to drop in the Horizon League standings.

The Penguins suffered their third straight defeat Saturday, dropping a 70-59 decision to Valparaiso at Beeghly Center.

It was the Penguins second straight loss at home and ends whatever hopes they had of hosting a meaningful first-round league tournament game. Instead, the Penguins might host one of the two tournament play-in games for the bottom four teams in the standings.

YSU (12-15, 7-9 Horizon) is firmly entrenched in seventh place in the standings.

Valparaiso (14-14, 9-8), which lost to the Penguins 92-79 in Valparaiso, jumped two games ahead of the Penguins in the standings.

YSU has two games remaining, both on the road against teams (Loyola and UIC) who are below the Penguins in the standings.

It was Seniors Night at Beeghly and four Penguins were playing their final home game — Lauren Branson, Jessica Schloemp, Heather Karner and Kira Mowen.

“I really thought with all the emotion that was going around today that it would be a different outcome,” YSU head coach Tisha Hill said. “We definitely turned it over too many times and we didn’t shoot very well when we needed to down the stretch.”

Actually, the Penguins didn’t do a whole lot right down the stretch as they scored only three points over the final 6:45 of the contest.

The Penguins trailed 58-56 when Karner hit a 3-point goal at the 6:45 mark, but the Penguins didn’t score again until there was 1:30 remaining when Ashley Pendleton made a pair of free throws.

In between, the Penguins missed six shots, had five turnovers and went 3-for-6 from the foul line.

Their lull enabled Valparaiso to go on a 12-3 run to end the game.

And it could have been worse because the Crusaders, who made just 10 of 20 free throws on the night, four of their last six attempts.

Karner and Schloemp, both seniors, led the Penguins with 21 and 16 points, respectively.

Schloemp went out in style as she recorded her 26th double-double of her career as she added 11 rebounds.

The Crusaders had three players in double figures led by Agnieszka Kulaga with 14 followed by Launa Hochstetler with 13 and Aimee Litka with 11.

They shot 57.7 percent from the field in the second half and 51.9 for the game while the Penguins made just 29 percent in the second half and shot 16 percent from 3-point range.

The Penguins never held the lead until 33 seconds were left in the first half when Schloemp hit on a 3-point shot from behind the key. After a Valparaiso turnover, Tiara Scott added another basket as the Penguins took a 37-34 lead at intermission.

After a slow start, the Penguins shot 50 percent from the field in the half making 15 of 30 attempts, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range.

The Crusaders jumped on top early behind the play of Kulaga, who scored eight straight points and lifted Valparaiso to a 16-10 advantage.

Valpo increased its lead to 25-16 with 7:11 remaining in the half, but the Penguins rallied going on a 13-4 run to tie the score 29-29 with 1:54 remaining.

Valparaiso went back on top 34-32 on a pair of free throws by Hochstetler with 54 seconds remaining, but Schloemp connected with 33 seconds left on her long trey and Scott connected in the final seconds on a wide open layup to put the Penguins up 37-34.

mollica@vindy.com