Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU's Faith Burch drives and scores on a slew of Wright State defenders during the Penguins' overtime loss on Thursday at Zidian Family Arena. Burch finished with a career-high 17 points against the Raiders.

YOUNGSTOWN — In Youngstown State’s first meeting with Wright State on Jan. 12, the Raiders were a matchup nightmare for the Penguins.

To compensate this time around, YSU implemented a 2-3 zone in practice this week and played more zone than they have in any other game this season.

“They put 77 points on us the first time we played them, and reviewing the film, we had a really hard time guarding them man-to-man — something that this team has done a great job of all year,” head coach Melissa Jackson said. “For whatever reason, this matchup challenges us. I give our kids a lot of credit because we put a 2-3 zone in, and this was the first time we ran it. They really bought into it.”

Even though the Penguins got better in the zone as the game progressed, YSU ultimately came up short on Thursday, falling to Wright State 78-76 in overtime.

“I feel bad for our team because they fight and they have fought all year,” Jackson said. “We’ve been down in games, they continue to fight and they never give up. We talk a lot about that in our locker room, that is a culture thing for us. This is year one under us in this program, and that fight and determination is going to go a long way for years to come. So I’m disappointed that they didn’t get the victory, but I love this team and how they fight.”

In the first half, the Raiders showed their matchup advantage, scoring almost at will, as they scored 43 points while shooting 55.2% overall.

Despite going down 10, YSU was able to pull back into the game with a 13-3 run to tie the game at 26 apiece in the second quarter. But Wright State ended the half on a 10-2 run to take an 11-point lead into halftime.

As the Penguins started to settle into the zone, the Raiders looked like a different team offensively in the second half, as YSU held Wright State to 21.9% shooting overall and 6.7% from beyond the arc after halftime.

“I think in the beginning, we were a little up on our feet. We were jumping a lot in the zone, so we were getting beat a little bit,” redshirt junior forward Faith Burch said. “Once we started to settle into the defense, I feel like we executed really well in some stretches. … We weren’t as jumpy in the second half. We really focused on our defense because our defense got us back in the game.”

The Penguins chipped away and chipped away in the second half, finally tying the game at 60 with just under left.

Both teams exchanged baskets down the stretch, and with a tie game, YSU had a chance to win on the final possession of regulation.

Fifth-year Malia Magestro got a shot off from the right corner as time expired, but it found iron, sending the game to overtime.

“I wanted the last shot,” Jackson said. “With 30 seconds left, didn’t want to give them an opportunity to get back and score. Glad we got a shot off — was it the exact thing we drew up? No, but we didn’t give them another opportunity to go down and win the game.”

Trailing by four with 14.9 seconds left, YSU needed something to fall. So, the Penguins went to Magestro in the corner again — this time on the left side, and she buried the three to make it a one-point game.

After WSU’s Makiya Miller went one-for-2 at the line, YSU pushed up the floor, trying to find a basket. But Jewel Watkins’ close-range look fell off the rim as time expired.

“I don’t like to call timeout in that situation. I really like to just play off of it,” Jackson said. “This team hasn’t been in that situation, and we’ve gotta be a little bit better. I gotta coach that better.”

Watkins led the Penguins with 22 points, while Burch finished with a career-high 17 and Magestro added 16.

“It was the passes getting to me, they made it really easy for me,” Burch said. “Malia, Jewel, whoever was getting me the ball, they were making my job simple.”

YSU now has a quick turnaround, as it continues its homestand this week on Saturday at 2 p.m. against IU Indy.

“We gotta get off our legs, we gotta rest and we gotta recover,” Jackson said. “We have a quick turnaround with IU Indy, so we have to be very smart about that. Obviously did not play well coming off Christmas break against them the first time around. So we’re going to have to do some more adjustments, and I think this group is growing in that area. We can adjust and we can do some different things, but that’s going to be a tough opponent on Saturday.”