Staff photo / Greg Macafee Youngstown State's Paige Shy shoots the game-winning free throw in the waning moments of their matchup with Northern Kentucky Saturday afternoon at the Beeghly Center. Shy scored five points and hit two free throws with 2.3 seconds left to seal the Penguins' 52-51 win.

YOUNGSTOWN — On a day she otherwise struggled, Paige Shy came through for Youngstown State when it mattered most.

Inbounding the ball with 2.3 seconds left and facing a one-point deficit against Northern Kentucky, Shy made a hard cut to the basket and was fouled. With YSU in the bonus, she stepped to the line for a pair of free throws.

She sank both — and in fact, neither even touched the rim — to give YSU a 52-51 lead, and then a final Kailee Davis half court prayer airballed as the Penguins closed out a hard-fought victory over the Norse.

Of being in that critical situation, Shy said, “I feel like nerves are kind of typical in that situation. But I looked at the bench, and they’re all (saying), ‘In your sleep, in your sleep’ just trying to calm me down, and I’ve shot 1,000 free throws in my life. So I was just telling myself, ‘What’s the difference with this one?’ So just go in confident, because if I’m not confident, there’s no chance to win it.”

That capped a game that was a defensive struggle throughout the day until a final flurry of buckets by both teams. YSU (16-5, 10-2 Horizon League) led 48-44 with 3:08 to play before NKU’s Ivy Turner drilled a three to draw the Norse (13-8, 7-5 Horizon League) to within a point.

A possession later, Lindsey Duvall missed a layup, but grabbed the offensive rebound and scored on a putback to push NKU in front, 49-48.

On YSU’s next possession, Malia Magestro scored her only points of the game on a layup to send the Penguins back on top, 50-49, with 21 seconds to go. Davis then answered with her own layup to push the Norse ahead, 51-50.

Then came YSU’s final possession. NKU fouled the Penguins intentionally a pair of times in an effort to force inbound plays and melt time off the clock, but Turner’s foul of Shy pushed YSU into the bonus and allowed the guard to sink her game-winning shots.

“I thought our players did a great job of executing at the end, really cutting hard off screens, and it’s tough on a baseline out-of-bounds play under your opponent’s basket,” YSU coach John Barnes said. “It only takes one split second of indecision, so fortunately we made hard cuts and got fouled.”

As clutch as YSU’s guards were in the final moments, it was an otherwise tough day for the Penguin backcourt. Youngstown State’s guards were a combined 11-for-43 from the field.

Dena Jarrells paced them with eight points and six assists on a 3-for-9 day, but otherwise, YSU’s forwards — Lilly Ritz and Emily Saunders — carried the day. Ritz scored 12 points and snagged seven rebounds, while Saunders added 11 points and six boards, often scoring in situations YSU badly needed a basket.

“I thought Emily had a great game,” Barnes said. “We needed her big time. … Every time it seemed like we were in a lull, we were able to get it to her, and she finished.

“I also thought Shay Kirby did a great job. She came in, got big minutes, got some rebounds, played good defense, got some fast-break layups. I thought you saw some real athleticism getting out in transition. So it was good to see some players off the bench play well.”

Kirby, an athletic guard, finished with six points and two boards, but also supplied some critical perimeter defense against one of the Horizon League’s top backcourts.

For the most part, that was true throughout the day for YSU, which was tasked with a heavy ball-screen offense from the Norse. NKU shot just 22-of-64 as a team, and star guard Lindsey Duvall was kept to eight points on a 3-for-14 day.

Forward Emmy Souder supplied 11 points and eight rebounds for the Norse, while Davis had 11 points, too. Duvall grabbed 11 rebounds.

“We’ve talked about that a lot, really since summer, that the defense should be steady game-in and game-out no matter what’s going on with our offense,” Barnes said. “Our defense had to be a little extra strong today, because we just really struggled (on offense). … Defensively, to hold them to 34 percent from the field and 15 percent from three, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Of handling the ball screens, Saunders noted, “Communication is the biggest factor as a defense — just communicate. I feel like they got us a couple times, and then we kind of learned from it a bit and adapted really well.”

The Penguins continue their 2022-23 campaign Thursday at Purdue Fort Wayne.

jwhetzel@tribtoday.com