Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Youngstown State forward Emily Saunders puts up a layup during the Penguins’ season-opening win over Xavier.

YOUNGSTOWN — It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win.

Spurred by a career night by fifth-year center Emily Saunders, Youngstown State opened the 2023-2024 season with a 55-41 victory over Xavier on Wednesday night at the Beeghly Center.

“It was a good team win,” Saunders said. “We worked really hard. It was a low-scoring game, but we did what we needed to do to win. We have a lot that we need to clean up.”

One of those things in particular is turnovers, as the Penguins turned the ball over 21 times against the Musketeers.

“We discussed that in the locker room for sure,” acting head coach John Nicolais said. “It wasn’t really forced turnovers. It was more stuff that we were doing to ourselves, like trying to push it (up the floor) a little bit and we didn’t have the angles or the right numbers. We need to be able to pull it out and use the clock or be able to run something instead of turning it over like we did. That part was a little frustrating.”

Saunders led YSU with 20 points and 14 rebounds for her first career double-double. Both numbers were also career highs in each category.

“My teammates were seeing me, and I feel like that’s the most important thing,” Saunders said. “We really emphasized getting the ball in the post, and I thought they did a tremendous job. We also emphasized boxing out (Xavier’s Nila) Blackford, and I really tried my hardest and I feel like it really helped me crash the boards.”

At 6-foot-5, Saunders’ mere presence on the floor presented issues for Xavier whenever the Musketeers tried to attack the paint or throw the ball into the post.

She finished with two blocks, but even when she didn’t get her hand on the ball, she was still able to alter Xavier’s shots. The Musketeers shot just 33.3 percent (17-for-51) from the floor, and were a measly 1-for-19 from beyond the arc.

“Emily showed what she’s capable of — I was probably most proud of her defense,” Nicolais said. “She had a tough assignment with Nila Blackford, who’s really good, can put it on the floor and caused some problems as a little bit of a mismatch. But her and Lindsey Linard did a great job keeping Blackford in check.

“(Emily) was long and she defended well. I think we can feature her more.”

Blackford led the Musketeers with 13 points and nine rebounds, but each of those were hard-earned against what Saunders and Linard were doing defensively.

Saunders took over the starting spot in the post after Lilly Ritz’s graduation last year. She credited Ritz for helping grow and improve her post game.

“I have to give major props to Lilly because she taught me so much last year, just playing under her,” Saunders said. “She was obviously really good at what she did. I feel like I took a lot of what she did and just built it into my game a little bit. She obviously left big shoes to fill, and I’m trying my best for sure.”

Saunders, Linard and fellow forward Jen Wendler are there to fill the void left by Ritz’s departure, and with Wendler out Wednesday with a lower body injury, both Saunders and Linard had to play increased minutes.

Linard made the most of the time she spent on the floor spelling Saunders, finishing a perfect 3-for-3 from the field for six points.

“Emily played almost 30 minutes, and I don’t think that’s going to be a recipe for success late in the season,” Nicolais said. “We’ve gotta get our minutes down a little bit. Lindsey did a good job, and she and Emily are both capable of shooting out there. They showed what they could do. Lindsey answered the call, and we’re definitely going to see her minutes rise for sure.”

In the first quarter, Xavier pressed YSU right from the opening tip. It worked early, as well, forcing the Penguins into a couple of early turnovers that helped the Musketeers build an early lead.

But then Malia Magestro got going. The senior hit back-to-back threes and YSU was off to the races, as the Penguins closed out the first quarter on a 12-2 run to take a 14-8 lead at the end of the period. Magestro finished with 14 points for the Penguins, hitting four shots from deep.

By halftime, YSU had built a 25-18 lead. As Magestro got things going offensively for the Penguins in the first quarter, Saunders started to take control from there.

She scored 12 of her game-high 20 points in the second half as the Penguins tried to build and stretch their lead.

The shots were there for the Penguins, whether they were point-blank layups or threes. YSU just had a hard time getting them to fall.

As a result, the Penguins struggled to stretch their lead beyond 10 until about midway through the fourth quarter when YSU put the game away for good.

The Penguins next welcome Slippery Rock (Pa.) to the Beeghly Center on Saturday. Tip at 6:30 p.m.

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com