Staff photo / Preston Byers Youngstown State’s Malia Magestro puts up a contested shot during the Penguins’ loss to Green Bay on Saturday at the Beeghly Center.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown State women’s basketball program honored its seniors and fifth-year players ahead of Saturday’s home game against Green Bay, but the Penguins’ flat first half proved to be the difference in Saturday’s 71-59 loss.

The Penguins, who entered the game on a four-game winning streak and an undefeated record in February, fell behind 8-1 before launching a counteroffensive to knot the game 8-8 behind the low-post presence of fifth-year center Emily Saunders. The 6-foot-5- Saunders scored five of YSU’s first eight points and grabbed five rebounds in the first quarter, the most of any player.

The rest of the opening half tipped in Green Bay’s favor, however, as the Phoenix outscored YSU 25-11 for the remainder of the half after the teams’ brief tie.

At the break, Saunders led the Penguins in scoring with seven points, while Green Bay had three players with eight or more points, including Maddy Schreiber, who had 11 in the opening 20 minutes.

YSU emerged from the locker room a new team; after allowing Green Bay to score the first basket of the second half, the Penguins scored 15 unanswered as the team collectively became white-hot from beyond the arc.

Dena Jarrells kickstarted the big run with back-to-back triples before Shay-Lee Kirby and Mady Aulbach chipped in with three-pointers of their own, forcing Green Bay head coach Kevin Borseth to call timeout. Following the timeout, Saunders completed a three-point play to cut the Phoenix lead to just one.

Saunders said interim head coach John Nicolais “lit into [them] a little bit” at halftime, which helped change the Penguins’ fortunes to begin the third quarter.

“[He was] saying, don’t play with this negative body language… because it just gets in our heads and it ruins both sides of the floor,” Saunders said.

Despite the barrage of YSU threes, Green Bay responded well and finished the quarter by outscoring the Penguins 15-7 over the final six minutes of the period to take a nine-point lead into the fourth.

In a game of runs, the Penguins could not manage to muster another sustained stretch to get within striking distance. Green Bay’s lead never again dipped into single digits, and it grew to as many as 17 points.

While four different Green Bay players finished in double figures, only Saunders managed to do so for YSU; she scored 19 points, pulled down 11 rebounds, recorded three assists and blocked two shots, the first of which marked the 100th block of her career. Haley Thierry had the Penguins’ second-most points Saturday with nine, while Jarrells and Kirby each had eight.

After the game, Nicolais said he was pleased with how the team responded after a rough first half.

“They’re really, really good, and you don’t have to play perfect, but you got to play close to perfect to have a chance to win against them. They’re that good,” Nicolais said. “I was disappointed with how we played in the first half. I didn’t feel we were playing the way we had been playing the last four games, but to their credit, they came out, rallied around. … To Green Bay’s credit, they managed to go on a little run of their own and create a little bit of cushion, but it looked a lot different than it did at Green Bay, which I’m happy for that.”

In the first meeting between the two Horizon League opponents, Green Bay thrashed YSU 85-47 on Jan. 11 in Wisconsin. With Saturday’s win, the Phoenix are now 21-5 on the season and are tied with Cleveland State at the top of the conference.

The 12-point defeat snaps the Penguins’ four-game winning streak and marks the team’s first loss in February. The team defeated Milwaukee at home before picking up three road wins against Oakland, Detroit Mercy and Wright State to give them an 8-8 conference record coming into the game against Green Bay.

Despite the loss, the Penguins have won six of their last nine games. Saunders said the team’s late-season surge could be attributed to the team realizing how little is left of the season.

“I think it’s finally starting to sink in, the sense of finality. Coach Nic has really been emphasizing that a lot here recently. So it’s hitting me, it’s definitely hitting me. This is my last few college games ever, so I’m trying to obviously go out with a bang. I know a lot of other girls are doing it too, and the girls who aren’t seniors, they’re playing for the seniors. So it means a lot to really just do what we know we can do the second half of the season,” Saunders said.

YSU (12-15, 8-9) has a week off before its road game against Northern Kentucky on Feb. 24. The Penguins return to the Beeghly Center for the final home game of the season on Tuesday, Feb. 27, when they host Cleveland State.

pbyers@tribtoday.com