Staff photo / Neel Madhavan. YSU senior guard Malia Magestro finishes at the basket during the Penguins' 73-66 victory over Milwaukee on Saturday.

YOUNGSTOWN — Back on Jan. 13 when Youngstown State first played Milwaukee, the Penguins came away from that matchup feeling like they had let one get away.

YSU didn’t make that same mistake this time around, as the Penguins bounced back from a midweek road defeat to take down the Panthers 73-66 on Saturday during their annual Pink Game as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“Part of why we thought that first game was a missed opportunity was that (Milwaukee’s) Kendall Nead didn’t play,” interim head coach John Nicolais said. “They had everybody (Saturday), and they’ve been red hot as of late. I think the big thing is we moved the basketball around, we set good screens and we didn’t settle for early outside shots. We did a really good job of getting downhill and putting Milwaukee on their heels a little bit defensively and that allowed us to get to the free-throw line.”

Malia Magestro helped spearhead YSU’s efforts to drive the ball into the lane and get to the basket.

After missing her first two shots to start the game, Magestro went into attack mode. At one point during the second quarter, Magestro scored eight straight points for the Penguins — all of them coming on drives.

By halftime, Magestro had 12 points and ended up finishing the game with a game-high 23 to pace the Penguins (9-14, 5-8 Horizon).

“I think sometimes when I shoot a couple of threes at the beginning, and they’re not going in, I’m like, OK, maybe I’m not going to make some threes today,” Magestro said. “So I know I have to do something else offensively to help the team. Lindsey (Linard) was setting a lot of good ball screens for me, and I was just patient getting to the hoop. I think that opened up some things and then eventually I was able to create some threes from it as well.”

Both teams had their share of offensive success throughout the game.

In the first half, the Panthers (13-11, 7-6 Horizon) were shooting 57.1% from the floor, in large part due to their success getting rebounds and turning those into second-chance opportunities. At halftime, Milwaukee was outrebounding YSU 16-7 and had turned those into 12 second-chance points.

Grace Crowley, who came in averaging only 5.3 points per game, was able to take advantage down low for the Panthers and finished the game a perfect 10-for-10 from the field for 21 points.

“(Crowley) was aggressive and when we were pressing, we were stuck as far as (having) a smaller matchup on her, and they did a good job early on of getting it to her in the post, where she was posting up and catching,” Nicolais said. “She started last time we played Milwaukee when Nead was out and she got off to a good start against us last game. So I wasn’t surprised that she was going to be aggressive. Didn’t really want her to have the numbers that she had, but sometimes you can live with that. I’ll trade her getting 20 for (Kamy) Peppler not scoring.”

After trailing by two at halftime, YSU went on one of its patented third-quarter runs to take control, as the Penguins scored the first seven points of the second half.

“We were switching up defenses, and obviously we haven’t been doing that in the past,” said Dena Jarrells, who scored her 1,000th career point in the win. “I think sometimes, we’ll get on a roll and miss switches or box outs. But that’ll come with experience as we stay with those defenses and keep switching up. We’ll get better at it, but that’s going to happen when you introduce something new.”

Both teams would take turns trading blows throughout the second half, but when they needed it most, the Penguins were able to get the stops they needed on the defensive end.

With 5:18 to go, and the score tied at 64, YSU managed to hold Milwaukee to just two points the rest of the game. The Penguins would outscore the Panthers 9-2 during those final five minutes to secure the victory.

“This past week, we (focused) on knowing all their tendencies and just really locking down on defense,” Magestro said. “We always talk about how we’re really close at the end of a lot of games, but sometimes we let it slip away. So we knew this time, we wouldn’t let it slip away.”

In addition to Magestro’s 23, three other players scored in double figures for the Penguins.

Haley Thierry had 13 points, as she also filled out the statsheet with seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Shay-Lee Kirby was able to drain two early threes, and ended up finishing with 12 points, while all 10 of Emily Saunders’ points came in the second half.

“I think we just stuck to the gameplan, we weren’t struggling and we stayed aggressive,” Nicolais said. “We moved the basketball around within our main offense. We screened bodies, moved the ball from side-to-side and forced (the Panthers) to guard a little bit more. We got inside touches for Emily, and we kicked out for open shots.”

Next up for YSU, the Penguins hit the road for a three-game road trip starting Thursday at 7 p.m. at Oakland.

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com

Youngstown State 73, Milwaukee 66

MKE 15 22 17 12 — 66

YSU 15 20 22 16 — 73

MILWAUKEE (13-11, 7-6 HL): Anna Lutz 1-6 0-0 3, Angie Cera 3-6 2-2 10, Kamy Peppler 0-4 0-0 0, Jada Donaldson 2-8 2-2 8, Kendall Nead 7-15 2-2 18, Jada Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Grace Crowley 10-10 1-1 21, Jorey Buwalda 2-6 2-2 6. TOTALS: 25-56 9-9 66.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE (9-14, 5-8 HL): Emily Saunders 4-9 2-2 10, Malia Magestro 8-14 6-7 23, Dena Jarrells 3-7 0-0 7, Shay-Lee Kirby 4-8 2-2 12, Haley Thierry 5-7 2-2 13, Mady Aulbach 1-3 1-2 2-2 5, Paige Shy 1-4 0-0 3, Lindsey Linard 0-2 0-0 0, Abby Liber 0-1 0-0 0, Mackenzie Hurd 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26-55 14-15 73.