YSU exits Horizon tourney

Staff report

GREEN BAY, WIS.

Wright State led by 11 after five minutes and never looked back in beating the Youngstown State women’s basketball team, 81-54, on Friday evening at the Kress Center in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Tournament.

YSU, the No. 6 seed, was eliminated from the tournament and drops to 19-12 overall. The Penguins will wait to see if they will be invited to a postseason tournament.

When asked at Monday’s press conference if the Penguins should be invited to a postseason tournament regardless of the conference tournament’s outcome, head coach John Barnes said: “Yeah, I definitely think we’ll be playing in a postseason tournament. Hopefully we can win this one. ... But if that doesn’t happen, I feel like we’ll be in another tournament.”

No. 3 Wright State advances to play No. 2 Milwaukee in the Horizon League semifinals today.

Wright State led 13-2 after five minutes, and the Raiders went on a 12-0 run after a Janae Jackson 3-pointer made it 13-5. Wright State led 25-5 at the end of the first period, while the Raiders built their lead to 47-16 at halftime.

Penguins sophomore forward Sarah Cash scored all 17 of her points in the second half, as YSU outscored Wright State 38-34 over the final 20 minutes.

Jackson finished with 11 points and Nikki Arbanas notched 10 points.

Wright State had six players score between 10 and 15 points, with Richelle van der Keijl and Symone Simmons scoring 15 apiece.

The Raiders shot 50.8 percent, and YSU was held to 29.2 percent shooting overall and 14.8 percent from beyond the arc.

Wright State outscored the Penguins 50-26 in the paint and 17-2 on offensive rebounds.

YSU beat Oakland, 65-63, on Thursday to advance to Friday’s contest.