Youngstown State’s Kenya Middlebrooks made two free throws with 9.8 seconds remaining to lift the Penguins to a 57-56, come-from-behind win at Bucknell on Wednesday evening at Sojka Pavilion.

The Penguins trailed by 17 early in the second half and were down 56-48 with two minutes left. Brandi Brown‘s three-point play cut the margin to five, and, after a Bucknell turnover on a five-second violation, another three-point play by Middlebrooks made the score 56-54 with 1:53 left.

Brown went 1-for-2 from the line with 14.4 seconds left, and Tieara Jones grabbed the offensive rebound to keep possession. Middlebrooks was fouled on a jumper, and she sank both free throws to give YSU its first lead since the score was 13-12 10 minutes into the game. Bucknell’s Amy Zehner missed a 12-foot jumper from the right side as time expired.

Middlebrooks scored all 10 of her points in the second half, and Brown scored 12 on an off night shooting. Zehner, an impressive freshman, led all scorers with 25 points.  Youngstown State is now 2-1 on the season and has won back-to-back non-conference games on the road for the first time since November 2004.

Up 30-19 at halftime, Bucknell scored eight of the first 10 points of the second period to take a 38-21 lead with 16:28 left. YSU went on an 11-1 run to cut the margin to 39-32 with 12:01 remaining, and five points in 20 seconds by Kelsea Fickieson got the Penguins within five with 6:26 to go.

Bucknell scored the next five points to go back up by 10, and a Zehner jumper at the 3:29 mark put the Bison up 56-46. That accounted for their final points of the night.  Heidi Schlegel‘s lay-up after an offensive rebound started the run with 3:15 left, and the three-point plays by Brown and Middlebrooks came just over a minute later.

YSU was 7-for-32 for 21.9 percent and had two field goals in the final 12 minutes. That included going 5-for-18 from inside 10 feet. Bucknell countered by shooting 48.1 percent, making 13-of-27 from the field.

YSU shot just 31.3 percent but hit three more treys than Bucknell and outscored the Bison by eight from the free-throw line. Bucknell shot 51 percent in a losing effort, largely because of being outscored 28-8 off turnovers. Bucknell had 25 turnovers to YSU’s 14, and the Penguins turned the ball over just three times in the second half.

Youngstown State will host American in its Beeghly Center opener on Monday at 7:05 p.m.

** Story courtesy of YSUSports.com