YSU women beat Valpo for 8th victory

Staff report

VALPARAISO, IND.

Kenya Middlebrooks scored 13 of her team-high 18 points in the second half to lead Youngstown State to a 55-48 women’s basketball victory second-half points, and the Youngstown State women’s basketball team defeated Valparaiso 55-48 on Saturday.

The Penguins (8-6, 2-1 Horizon League) led 47-45 and had four seconds on the shot clock with 1:40 remaining when Brandi Brown scored in traffic from an inbounds pass. Valpo (4-11, 0-4) hit a free throw and YSU went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final 1:09.

Youngstown State is enjoying its best start since the 1999-2000 season.

YSU trailed 20-17 at halftime, before scoring 11 points in the first four minutes of the second half to go up 28-26.

The Penguins went on a scoring drought for nearly six minutes as Valpo scored 10 straight points to go up 36-28 with 10:34 remaining.

The Crusaders still led by eight with 9:30 to go when Middlebrooks got hot. She made a 3-pointer and jumper on back-to-back possessions to close the gap to three, and she tied the score at 40 with another 3-pointer with just under eight minutes remaining.

YSU held Valpo without a field goal for more than seven minutes, and Middlebrooks’ third 3-pointer of the half capped a seven-point run that gave the Penguins a 47-41 lead with 5:42 on the clock.

Brown finished with nine points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

Valparaiso’s Tabitha Gerardot led all scorers with 21 points, and Gina Lange added 13. Valpo was 0-for-13 from 3-point range for the game.