Youngstown State University came into their Horizon League matchup with Valparaiso as the only Division-I program without a victory.  Boki Dimitrov, one of the Lady Penguins leading scorers, was not dressed leaving the full active roster at seven.  For the first 17 minutes, YSU looked really good.  The rest of the night belonged to Valparaiso as the Crusaders shot an NBA-like 50% from three and handed YSU their 16th loss, 66-41.

YSU jumped out to a 14-9 lead with 11:27 left in the first half.  The combination of a good half-court defense accented with strong rebounding and sloppy Valpo passing were contributing factors to the early Penguins success. 

With 6:02 left in the opening frame, YSU held a commanding 22-11 lead until Betsy Adams knocked down a couple of threes for Valpo.  Rachael Manuel responded with her eighth point of the opening half and the Penguins were up 24-17 with 3:26 left until intermission.

At the half, YSU held a 26-22 lead.  Adams was hot for Valparaiso knocking down a pair of three-pointers and a two in the last 3:00 of the half.  She led all scorers with 11 points at the half.  YSU was paced by Manuel with eight.  Both teams combined for 20 turnovers and looked sloppy.  The Lady Penguins just looked less sloppy with seven first half turnovers.

Valparaiso opened the second half with a 12-0 run and jumped out to a 34-26 lead with 16:31 left in the game.  Betsy Adams was tearing the Penguins up with three-point bombs on 5-8 shooting from long distance and had 25 points in the game.

With 7:54 left in the game, Valpo had a 49-35 lead and seemed to have gained the upper hand in the rebounding wars on both sides of the court.  The lead was later increased to 60-37 with 3:47 left in the game and eventually when the final horn sounded, YSU was denied a victory falling 66-41.  The Crusaders outscored the Penguins, 44-15, in the second half.

After the game, a disappointed Coach Martin talked addressed the collapse.  “We told the ladies at halftime to play like they were down 20 and we just went a long time that we didn’t score.  It is the most disappointed I have been all season.  We had another person [Boki Dimitrov] get hurt in our last game.  I am not disappointed in our hustle, we always dive after loose balls.  We are a little banged up right now but I thought that the girls had 40 minutes in them.”

The Penguins (0-16, 0-5) got 15 points from Kenya Middlebrooks, who also shared rebounding honors with Brandi Brown with eight apiece.  Butler will make a stop in Youngstown to face the Lady Penguins Saturday, tipoff is set for 2:00.