Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. Youngstown State’s Lilly Ritz walks off the court at the Beeghly Center after the Penguins came up short in the Horizon League quarterfinals Thursday night. The Penguins erased a 16-point deficit before losing 59-58 in the final seconds.

YOUNGSTOWN — This time around, the narrow escape belonged to Northern Kentucky.

Youngstown State’s Horizon League Tournament quest came to a halt on its own floor again, as Lindsey Duvall sank a layup with 3.7 seconds to go to lift the visiting Norse to a dramatic 59-58 victory in the conference quarterfinals.

YSU (19-11) had trailed by as much as 16 in the second half and was behind 57-43 before ripping off a 15-0 run to get back into the game. However, the Norse (17-13) escaped after Duvall got the ball in the corner, drove the baseline and sank her go-ahead bucket.

A final 3-point try from Dena Jarrells nearly banked in, but ultimately rimmed off.

In the regular season, YSU had topped the Norse 59-55 in Highland Heights, Ky., and 52-51 at YSU.

“I’m proud of the fight. It was an incredible comeback,” YSU coach John Barnes said. “We gave ourselves a chance to win at the end. It was just tough. How many shots rolled in and out, layups and threes? It was just super frustrating.”

Indeed, the Penguins faced that sizeable deficit in the first place because their offense didn’t find its rhythm until the late surge. That came by way of turnovers and missed shots, many of which seemed destined to go in before rimming off.

YSU shot 20-for-54 (37 percent) overall, but much of that came on a 7-for-15 fourth quarter. Before that, the Penguins were 13-for-39.

Then, too, YSU was stymied by its own giveaways. The Penguins coughed up 13 turnovers to just 10 assists.

The impact was most felt in the paint, where Lilly Ritz was kept to two points on a 1-for-4 first half. While the Norse kept her at bay, the Penguin backcourt couldn’t muster any success from deep. Youngstown State finished the game 6-for-27 from 3-point range, and went 1-for-12 in the first half.

“They were plugging up on Lilly, and then they were in the passing lanes in the third, so it was hard to get each other shots,” YSU guard Malia Magestro said. “Our offense was a little bit stagnant. It’s hard when your shots aren’t falling, because when our threes are falling, they have to come out and guard us.”

Barnes added, “I thought they played really good defense on us in that stretch and didn’t really let us get a whole lot of good shots.”

NKU didn’t start much better. The Norse struggled to a 3-for-18 mark in the first quarter, but shot at a 50 percent or better clip in the second and third stanzas. That allowed Northern Kentucky to build its lead to as large as 43-27 in the third quarter, and the Norse entered the fourth up 52-40.

Duvall and Ivy Turner each scored 14, while Kailee Davis added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

The Norse seized their 14-point advantage with 6:09 to go on a pair of Turner free throws, and then the Penguins began their furious rally.

Magestro kicked the run off with a 3-pointer, and then Ritz followed with a steal and score to prompt a Norse timeout.

Ritz scored again on a layup, and then sank a jumper off a turnover to cut the Norse lead to 57-52 with 2:21 left.

Another Ritz layup and a pair of free throws cut it to one point, and then Megan Callahan sank a layup with 8 seconds to go to cap the run and give YSU a 58-57 advantage.

Ritz led the way with 17 points and 21 rebounds, the latter mark a Horizon League Tournament record. The previous mark was 19. Magestro scored 10 points, while Jarrells had 15 points and four assists.

But NKU took a timeout to advance the ball, got it to Duvall in the corner and allowed the former 5-star recruit to go to work. The Louisville transfer drove the baseline and got tangled up with Magestro, who fell, and then hit the winning basket.

YSU took a timeout to advance the ball and inbounded to Jarrells, who was forced to hoist a prayer at the buzzer.

Barnes said the intent was to get the ball to Ritz, but NKU clogged the lane.

“We wanted to get it to Lilly, but they were jamming it up. With three seconds, it’s almost going to be a heave and hope for the best,” Barnes said.

The quarterfinals loss was YSU’s second in a row, as the Penguins fell to Oakland in the 2022 Horizon League Tournament.

“I’m just very proud of the seniors and everything they’ve accomplished in their careers,” Barnes said in a moment of reflection. “Winning the (regular season) championship last year, that can never be taken from them. I’m super proud of them.”

jwhetzel@tribtoday.com