Nov. 30, 2005

Final Stats

Youngstown, Ohio - Youngstown State overcame career high performances by three Saint Louis players and rallied for an 80-71 win on Wednesday afternoon. The game was the first road contest of the season for the Billikens.

Tyler McIlwraith and Hayley Leake scored back-to-back baskets to open the second half for a 42-36 Billiken lead. Two Leake free throws pushed the lead out to a 44-36 margin at 17:16. The Billikens held YSU scoreless for nearly four minutes to open second half and eventually built a 10-point lead. The Bills still led 57-47 with 11:47 to play, but the Penguins rattled off a 12-2 run to tie the game 57-57 midway through the second half. The game was tied at 60-60, but Toni Roscoe hit a 3-pointer from the left side to put YSU up 63-60 at the 7:13 mark. Brittany Artis answered with a driving layup, but the Penguins took a 67-62 lead with four minutes left to play. Leake scored on a jumper in traffic, then grabbed an offensive rebound for a put back to trim the deficit to 72-68 with 2:32 remaining in the game. YSU's Ashlee Russo scored to push the lead back up to six. Rachel Diener hit the team's 11th 3-pointer of the game to pull SLU to 77-71 with 47 seconds left. However, the Penguins hit three of four free throws in the final minute to hold on for the victory.

The Billikens held the early lead when Leake hit a 3-pointer, but Youngstown State looked inside as center Michelle Holmes scored eight points down low. YSU edged out to a 21-18 lead midway through the first half, but the Billikens rallied with a barrage of 3-pointers. McIlwraith drilled three in a four-minute span as the Billikens surged ahead. SLU went up 32-28 on Diener's trey with 3:20 before halftime. Diener and McIlwraith hit treys on consecutive trips as the Billikens held onto their four-point lead, 38-34. The Penguins hit two free throws late in the half to cut the gap at intermission to 38-36. After hitting nine 3-pointers in the first three games combined, the Billikens blitzed the nets for eight in the first half alone and hit eight-of-14 from deep.

Tyler McIlwraith poured in a career-high 20 points to pace the Billikens and hit four 3-pointers, while Hayley Leake also registered the best scoring output of her career with 15. The Billikens shot at a 47.8 percent clip from 3-point range, hitting 11-of-23 shots from the arc and outrebounded YSU by four. Michelle Holmes paced four YSU players in double figures with 16 points. The Penguins shot 53.7 percent from the field.

The Billikens fall to 1-3, while the Penguins are now 2-3. The Bills are next in action on Saturday when they face Illinois at 10:30 a.m. in a game played at the United Center in Chicago.