YSU women rally, but not enough

staff/wire report

CHICAGO — Youngstown State’s women’s basketball team outplayed Loyola for more than 20 minutes Thursday night in a Horizon League contest.

Unfortunately for the Penguins they did all their damage over the middle 20 minutes, while the host Ramblers dominated the first and the final 10 minutes to post a 70-52 victory.

The Penguins (2-24, 0-15 Horizon) fell behind 22-1 over those first 10 minutes, then battled back to get to within three points 38-35 early in the second half before running out of gas in the final 10 minutes.

The loss was the 24th this year and equaled the school’s all-time record for losses in a season which was first set by the 2003-04 team which finished at 4-24. The Penguins still have three more games to play. It was also the Penguins’ 16th consecutive defeat and extended that school mark.

The Penguins didn’t make a field goal over the first eight minutes while falling way behind, but then came to life over the second half of the opening session and closed the game to 34-18. YSU shot just 28 percent for the half.

Youngstown State came out and scored the first nine points of the second half and pulled to within three points, 38-35.

The Penguins trailed 47-40 with 11:22 remaining, but the Ramblers (8-17, 3-12) outscored them 23-12 over those final 11 minutes to sweep the series.

Freshman Camisha Alexander scored 16 points to lead the Penguins, while junior Rachael Manuel added nine rebounds. Elyse VanBogaert led all scorers with 23 points for Loyola.

YSU will play at UIC on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, before returning home for their final two games next week.