Staff photo / Greg Macafee Megan Callahan, left, and Malia Magestro, right, celebrate after a 3-point shot Saturday night at the Beeghly Center. The pair combined for 40 points, in Youngstown’s, 70-41 win over St. Francis Brooklyn.

YOUNGSTOWN — After two games of poor shooting, Youngstown State had a breakthrough.

The Penguins shot an impressive 13-for-28 from 3-point range and three players finished in double figures as YSU pulverized St. Francis Brooklyn in a much-needed get-right game, 70-41. The win ends a three-game losing skid.

“It was definitely like the light at the end of the tunnel,” said guard Megan Callahan. “I felt like we had a good week (of practice) … and it’s such a big spark going into conference play, which we needed.”

Needed is perhaps an understatement. In its two preceding losses to Western Michigan and Akron, YSU (2-3) shot a combined 5-of-45 from 3-point range and generally struggled to generate any offense.

Saturday night got off to a similar start, as the Terriers (1-6) jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead as YSU began the game 0-for-4 from the floor.

But the Penguins rallied, as Tenleigh Phelps knocked down a pair of free throws and Malia Magestro hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 7-5, and then another Magestro trey gave YSU its first lead en route to a 15-12 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Phelps also pulled down a rebound and scored in transition during that spurt.

“She brought a lot of spark,” Callahan said of Phelps. “We were down 7-0, she came in and got an offensive rebound, went up and got fouled. I think that brought a lot of spark to the team.”

From there, the Penguins blew the doors open. YSU outscored its guests 24-7 in the second quarter to take a commanding 39-19 lead into halftime.

In the quarter, Callahan and Magestro each went 3-for-4 from 3-point range as the defense clamped down on the Terriers. Magestro finished with a career-best 24 points, while Callahan scored 16.

Lilly Ritz joined them in double figures with her fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 boards.

“It was definitely nice to see the lid come off the basket a little bit for us,” said YSU coach John Barnes. “I think we’ve all been a little bit frustrated with our shooting. I felt like we had good looks, but they just haven’t been going in. Today, we started off making a few, and it was contagious. A lot of players stepped up and made big shots.”

Paige Shy added eight points, and Phelps finished with four.

The Penguins also forced 17 turnovers and scored 26 points off of them.

“I think (the offense and defense) feed into each other. As we’re getting stops, that kind of frustrates the other team, and we’re making threes, and we pushed pretty good in transition today and got some open looks,” Barnes said. “All around, I thought the team played pretty well.”

That came to no surprise to Magestro and Callahan, who both noted YSU had a strong week of practice after its lost to WMU.

“The past week, we had great practices,” Magestro said. “I think that really led up to us having a great game. We just need to keep having great practices, and that’ll translate to games.”

Barnes added, “I think our sense of urgency, focus and effort were up. That’s what some losses will do to you, and I think that equates to the court. Hopefully (the players) saw that and recognized it.”

The sense of urgency should remain high, as the Penguins have a pair of Horizon League contests looming. YSU will hit the road to take on Northern Kentucky and Wright State on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

Though YSU has struggled on the road — the Penguins are 0-3 away from Beeghly so far — Barnes feels the team has taken lessons from its prior road trips to prepare for NKU and WSU.

“As much as those road losses were hard to swallow, I think they taught us a lot and showed us what to expect on the road and really prepared us for this coming weekend,” he said. “NKU is going to be super tough, and obviously at Wright State (also will be tough). Both games will be a challenge, but we’ve already been on the road a lot. So I think we’re more comfortable every time we’re on a road game, and hopefully we perform really well.”