The Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team hoped to pass Youngstown State in the Horizon League standings in the final regular season home game Saturday at Truist Arena.
The Norse put themselves in great position to do that in the second quarter building 18-point leads of 25-7 and 29-11. However, Youngstown State guards Dena Jarrells and Shay-Lee Kirby suddenly caught fire and the Penguins rallied for a 68-64 win.
Jarrells finished with 25 points, making five 3-pointers and Kirby scored 21, hitting four triples as Youngstown State moved to 13-15 overall and 9-9 in league play for fifth in the standings. The Penguins made 12 three-pointers overall.
The Norse fell to 9-18 and 7-11 in a tie for eighth in the conference with Oakland. Northern Kentucky can finish no lower than ninth in the standings, but needs to finish at least eighth to host a home game in the first round of the Horizon League conference tournament.
“I just think that down the stretch, I don’t want to say lazy, but our defense was just not getting over ball screens and they got those threes in the third that brought them back,” Northern Kentucky senior Kennedy Igo said. “Down the stretch, we just couldn’t make shots and get the stops that we needed to. (It’s about) just digging down deep and finding that endurance to finish a ballgame.”
Macey Blevins and Khamari Mitchell-Steen scored 21 and 14 points respectively to go with four assists each in valiant efforts for the Norse. Davis made three 3-pointers on her way to nine points as the Norse made 10 triples overall.
Northern Kentucky tried to work the ball inside to 6-foot-1 freshman phenom Carter McCray and back out, but McCray was limited to six points as the Penguins had 6-foot-5 Emily Saunders and 6-foot-4 Lindsey Linard on her. McCray still grabbed 15 rebounds.
Youngstown State used the size advantage to win the rebounding battle, 42-33 and outscored Northern Kentucky, 11-4 on second chance points. Saunders grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.
Youngstown State started their comeback outscoring Northern Kentucky 13-3 to end the second quarter and trailing 32-24 at halftime. The Norse led 48-43 after three.
The Penguins first lead of the game came on a Jarrell’s 3-pointer with 1:02 to play, making it 64-63. Mitchell-Steen made a free throw at the other end to tie the game at 64 with 52.4 seconds left. Haley Thierry hit a layup and Kirby made two free throws in the game’s final 31.5 seconds to help Youngstown State earn the win.
Before the game, Northern Kentucky honored their lone senior Igo. Igo came into the season expecting to be a big contributor, but has battled injuries throughout the course of the year.
“It just shows how much my teammates really love me and how much I have an impact on this team whether it’s energy in practice, on the bench or on the floor,” Igo said. “If that’s my role, I’m going to take that on 100 percent. If that’s going to push us to win games and help my teammates get excited to win games then I’m going to do that.”
Northern Kentucky travels to Robert Morris on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game.
PENGUINS 68, NORSE 64
YOUNGSTOWN STATE — 7-17-19-25 — 68
NORTHERN KENTUCKY — 13-19-16-16 — 64
Scoring
Youngstown State (68) — Jarrells 25, Kirby 21, Thierry 7, Saunders 6, Aulbach 6, Linard 3
Northern Kentucky (64) — Blevins 21, Mitchell-Steen 14, Davis 9, Hubert 8, Lacy 6, McCray 6
Game Stats
Field Goals: Youngstown State 24/57, Northern Kentucky 22/61
3-Pointers: Youngstown State 12, Northern Kentucky 10
Free Throws: Youngstown State 8/11, Northern Kentucky 10/13
Fouls: Youngstown State 14, Northern Kentucky 12
Rebounds: Youngstown State 42, Northern Kentucky 33
Assists: Youngstown State 12, Northern Kentucky 13
Turnovers: Youngstown State 15, Northern Kentucky 10
Steals: Youngstown State 4, Northern Kentucky 10
Blocks: Youngstown State 6, Northern Kentucky 4
Records: Youngstown State 13-15, Northern Kentucky 9-18