The Youngstown State women’s basketball team played well enough defensively but shot just 19.6 percent in a 69-37 loss at West Virginia in the 2011-12 season opener on Friday at the WVU Coliseum.

The Penguins trailed 26-15 at halftime because of a strong defensive effort that held the Mountaineers to 30-percent shooting. WVU shot 59.3 percent in the second half in outscoring the Guins 43-22 in the final 20 minutes.

WVU, which held a big size advantage, posted 12 blocks. Sophomore guard Taylor Palmer had 33 points on 12-of-23 shooting, including 8-for-16 from beyond the arc. The rest of the Mountaineers combined to go 0-for-10 from 3-point range.

Brandi Brown had 12 points and eight rebounds for Youngstown State but was just 3-for-15 from the field. Monica Touvelle, Heidi Schlegel and Melissa Thompson had five points apiece.

YSU dug itself a 13-0 hole until Touvelle’s 3-pointer with 12:50 remaining broke the scoreless stretch. WVU led by double digits until Macey Nortey scored on YSU’s first possession of the second half. That made the score 26-17, but WVU scored the next 10 points and held the Penguins scoreless until the 15:45 mark.

Youngstown State will stay in Morgantown tonight before heading to Fort Wayne, Ind., to play IPFW on Sunday.