Freshman Brunner responds to challenge

January 13, 2017 at 12:09a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

With three players lost due to season-ending injuries, YSU women’s basketball coach John Barnes said that he needed his remaining players to step up their games to pick up the slack.

All freshman Morgan Brunner needed was a chance to prove that she was up for Barnes’ challenge.

A walk-on who had played in 11 of the team’s previous 14 contests, logging just 90 total minutes, Brunner scored a career-high 20 points, canned five triples and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Penguins (5-10, 1-3) to Thursday’s 70-54 victory over Illinois-Chicago in Horizon League action at Beeghly Center.

“With Al [Alison Smolinski] going down and with multiple injuries that we have, we’ve had different people step up at different times and I was just fortunate to be there and contribute tonight,” Brunner said. “My teammates have given me confidence and the open shots so it’s really been a total team effort.”

Jenna Hirsch added 16 points, Indiya Benjamin scored 13 markers and Mary Dunn 10 as the other three Penguins to finish in double figures.

The win was YSU’s first in the league and broke a three-game tailspin — all Horizon League games — while the Flames (3-13, 0-5) fell for the sixth consecutive outing and the 12th time in 13 contests.

“We’ve been talking all week that this is our first home conference game and we need to get it, so it’s a great feeling to get it and be able to do it for our fans,” Brunner said. “Tonight, we came out in the second half and played with a lot of intensity, played smarter and made fewer mental errors.

“Going forward, we need to remember how we feel after this win and just keep doing it.”

Five points by Benjamin helped stake YSU to the early 11-4 advantage, but back-to-back triples by the Flames’ Terri Bender cut the YSU lead to 16-15.

Bender finished with a team-high 13 points for the Flames and was the only UIC player to finish in double figures

Consecutive triples by Brunner keyed a 9-4 run as YSU built a 25-19 advantage heading to second period.

The Flames went on a 12-0 run at the outset of the second quarter to forge a 31-27 margin, but two missiles from beyond the arc by Hirsch enabled YSU to pull even at 32-all heading to intermission.

“Coach Barnes told us at halftime that we need to keep playing like we did in the first quarter,” Hirsch said. “We let up sometime and we’re striving to get away from that. We’re focusing on playing 40 good minutes, not letting up and just adding to our lead.”

Neither team could get rolling offensively in the third quarter as the Penguins’ defense held UIC to just 2-of-11 from the field and five points overall for a 45-40 lead.

Two more triples by Brunner and another by Benjamin helped YSU open a 64-50 lead, outscoring the Flames 25-14 in the period for their 16-point victory.

YSU’s defense held UIC to just eight buckets after intermission and 19 second half points.

“It feels good to get any win, but this was a special one because we’ve been obviously struggling and had some adversity so to see the team step up like they did today to get the win is pretty special all the way around,” Barnes said. “Morgan has been doing a really good job in practice and a great job with the minutes that she has gotten recently.”