Hot-shooting No. Iowa knocks off YSU women

Staff report

LOS ANGELES

Amber Kirschbaum scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds, and Northern Iowa shot 49 percent from the field to defeat Youngstown State, 90-73, in the championship game of the Loyola Marymount Tournament on Saturday.

The Panthers (4-1) went on a 15-2 run in the first half to turn a 15-14 deficit into a 29-17 lead with 7:23 remaining.

Northern Iowa led 48-36 at halftime and by as many as 21 points in the second half.

Brandi Brown finished a magnificent weekend with 25 points on Saturday, after scoring 19 in the Penguins’ 64-50 win over Loyola Marymount in the semifinals on Friday.

Brown was named to the all-tournament team, along with teammate Heidi Schlegel, who scored 17 points against Northern Iowa and led the Penguins (3-3) with six rebounds.

Schlegel finished with 34 points and 16 rebounds in the two games.

Katelin Oney added 15 points for the Panthers, while Rachel Madrigal finished with 14. K.K. Armstrong and Brittni Donaldson had 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Northern Iowa held a 44-26 edge in rebounds, and had 17 offensive rebounds.

That translated in a 25-1 edge in second-chance points for the Panthers.

Northern Iowa finished 31 of 63 from the field, including 11 of 26 on 3-pointers.

Kenya Middlebrooks and Monica Touvelle finished with 10 points each for the Penguins.

Youngstown State was 25 of 58 from the field (43 percent) .

A layup by Brown gave YSU a 15-14 lead with 12:33 left in the first half, but Kirschbaum answered to give the Panthers the lead for good. The advantage was as high as 13 before YSU rallied to within 38-32 in the final two minutes of the half.