The Youngstown State women's basketball team used a tenacious defensive effort and a dominant performance on the offensive glass en route to a 75-59 victory over Bryant on Sunday afternoon at the Beeghly Center.
The Penguins, who improve to 3-0 for the first time since 1999, forced 29 turnovers that led to 34 points and collected 15 steals.
Bryant, who shot 52.2 percent from the field, falls to 0-4 and was led by Danielle Douglas and Naana Ankoma-Mensa, who had 14 points each.
YSU shot just 36.6 percent from the field but were aided by an impressive 20 offensive rebounds.
Senior Brandi Brown led the Penguins with 26 points and 19 rebounds while freshman Shar'Rae Davis scored a career-high 23 points with five steals and four assists.
Bryant and YSU fought through seven lead changes and five ties before the Penguins were able to pull away.
The Penguins used a 14-0 run late in the second half to extend a 49-47 lead at the 9:01 mark into an insurmountable 63-47 advantage with 5:29 left.
During the YSU spurt, Brown and Davis combined for 12 of the 14 points.
Bryant never cut the lead to under 12 the rest of the way and the Penguins lead by as many as 18, 75-57, after Davis' three-point play with 31 seconds left.
The Penguins struggled to find their shooting touch missing their first nine shots, 11 of their first 12 field-goal attempts and their first eight 3-point attempts.
Bryant was able to build a 10-3 lead, but a jumper by Brown, a 3-pointer by Touvelle and another jumper by Brown knotted the game at 10-10 midway through the first half.
The Bulldogs lead by six two more times, including 25-19, with just over 4 minutes left in the half.
Hornberger hit a jumper just inside the free-throw line and a 3-pointer to get the Penguins within one, 25-24 at the 1:47 mark.
The Penguins took their only lead of the half, 27-25, on Amanda Barger's triple with 42 seconds left.
Bryant's Katie Whittington made a jumper with two seconds left to tie the game at 27.
The Penguins shot just 29.7 percent (11-of-37) from the field and 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from 3-point range compared to 52.2 percent for Bryant. The Bulldogs missed all four of their 3-point attempts in the first half.
Fortunately, the Penguins forced Bryant into 14 turnovers that turned into 10 points.
The Penguins visit Miami (Ohio), Sunday, Nov. 25, at 2 p.m.
