Thursday, December 18, 2014
Staff report
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa.
Heidi Schlegel scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and the Youngstown State women’s basketball team closed out regulation on a 12-4 run and went 33-of-35 from the foul line to beat Robert Morris 73-65 in overtime on Wednesday night.
Jenna Hirsch scored eight points during that 12-4 stretch, and the Penguins found a way to win despite trailing for more than 38 minutes in regulation.
Hirsch hit two free throws with 3:44 left in overtime to give YSU a 63-61 advantage, its first lead of the game, and the Penguins stayed ahead the rest of the contest.
YSU improves to 9-0, and Robert Morris, the preseason favorite in the Northeast Conference, dropped to 2-7.
The Penguins were in a hole from the beginning as Robert Morris scored the first 12 points of the game. YSU got within five points on a Latisha Walker layup with 5:31 left in the first half, but Robert Morris scored the next seven points to take its largest lead of the half at 29-15 with 3:47 left.
The Colonials led by 13 at halftime, and they maintained a double-digit lead until Schlegel hit two free throws with 12:19 left. Robert Morris held the Penguins off and upped its lead to as many as 15 when Anna Niki Stamolamprou hit a 3 at the 9:22 mark.
YSU scored the next nine points to get within six points, and it got within six three more times before Hirsch caught fire. The sophomore guard hit 3s on back-to-back possessions to trim the deficit to four with 2:54 left, and she offset a Stamolamprou bucket with another jumper to make the score 61-57. Schlegel went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes to tie the score at 61, and Robert Morris missed twice on game-winning attempts in the final three seconds.
Hirsch’s free throws with 3:44 left in overtime gave YSU its first lead, and a bucket by Schlegel put the Penguins up 65-61 with 2:24 to go in overtime. Indiya Benjamin countered two RMU free throws with a bucket to push the lead back to four, and that’s as close as the Colonials would get.
YSU was 16-for-17 from the free-throw line in the second half and 8-for-8 in IT. The Penguins made their final 18 foul shots to offset a season-low 29.5 percent shooting from the field.
YSU’s 33 free throws tied for the fourth-most in a game in program history, and the 94.3 percent effort from the line was the fifth-best mark in a game. Schlegel went 14-of-15, and her 14 makes tied for the third-most in a game by an individual. She finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Walker also had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Benjamin finished with 13 points, and Hirsch had 10.
The Penguins will host their second annual kids “Field Trip” game, presented by Chick-Fil-A of Boardman, on Friday against Ohio Valley. Tipoff will be 11 a.m.