Scoring, rebounding fall short against Wright State

The Penguins’ women’s team lost, 72-41.

FAIRBORN — Wright State shot 52.5 percent and had four players score in double figures Thursday in defeating the Youngstown State women’s basketball team, 72-41, at the Ervin J. Nutter Center.

The Penguins shot 38.1 percent overall and 44.4 percent from behind the arc, but they were outrebounded 40-21 and outscored 38-14 in the paint.

The Raiders improve to 8-10 overall and 4-3 in Horizon League contests. The Penguins fall to 2-15 and 0-6.

YSU plays at Detroit on Saturday, which fell 70-55 to Cleveland State.

Ta-myra Davis led all scorers with 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting. LaShawna Thomas had 13 points while Maria Bennett and Tatianna Hall had 10 apiece for the Raiders.

Kelsey Gurganus scored nine points to lead YSU.

Davis and Thomas paced the Raiders early, scoring their first 10 points as they built a 10-2 lead. The pair also had 17 of Wright State’s 26 points when it led 26-12 at the 7:18 mark.

The Raiders never scored more than six consecutive points in the first half, but the first time came to start the game while the second pushed the lead to 20 just before halftime.

The second one was a dagger as YSU had held Wright State to one field goal in the previous four minutes.

Jaquetta Westley was called for traveling on a made layup that would have cut the margin to 12 with 2:11 left, and Wright State hit two 3-pointers in the final 1:10 to make the score 39-21 at the break.

The Raiders took 10 more shots than the Penguins in the first half and made eight of them.

Wright State was 5-for-8 from behind the arc in the opening period and finished 8-for-14.

Gurganus scored the first five points for YSU in the second half, and the Penguins trailed 42-26 at the 17:52 mark.

Wright State then went on a 20-6 run to go up by 30 and take control.