Big 2nd half aids Wright State vs. Penguins

Staff report

DAYTON

Wright State used runs of 10-0 and 13-0 in the second half to pull away and defeat the Youngstown State women’s basketball team 84-62 on Thursday evening at the Nutter Center.

After 14 lead changes and nine ties in the first half, Wright State led the entire second half and outscored the Penguins 43-23. That included an 18-5 edge in the final six minutes.

The Raiders (18-9, 11-4 Horizon League), had three players reach the 20-point plateau. Courtney Boyd led all scorers with 24 points while Kim Demmings had 22 and Molly Fox posted 20.

Brandi Brown led YSU with 18 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Heidi Schlegel added 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

YSU trailed just 52-48 with 15 minutes left, and the Penguins had a turnover in transition that seemed to jump-start the Raiders. Wright State scored the next 10 points, the final six of which were on back-to-back 3-pointers from Boyd, to go up 62-48.

Brown scored the next five points to cut the margin to nine, and YSU still trailed just 66-57 with under six minutes left. That’s when the Raiders scored 13 straight points to take a 79-57 with 2:43 remaining. Schlegel’s bucket at the 1:57 mark ended a five-and-a-half minute scoring drought for the Penguins.

Wright State did not have a field goal for nearly five minutes in the second half, but YSU was only able to score four points in that stretch and did not trim anything off the deficit.

After a back-and-forth first half, Wright State made four free throws in the final minute to take a 41-39 lead at halftime.

YSU finished with 10 3-pointers in 30 attempts, which included a 3-for-18 effort from distance in the second half. Wright State outshot the Penguins 45.5 percent to 34.4 percent.

YSU will play at Detroit on Saturday at 2 p.m.