Thomas Scores Career-High 35 as Women Slip Past Youngstown State

((Contributed by Wright State Sports Information))

LaShawna Thomas (3) shoots over Liz Hornberger (21) during Wright State's 70-67 victory over Youngstown State at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio.

LaShawna Thomas scored a career-high 35 points, but Wright State had to rally in the final minute to defeat Youngstown State 70-67 in Horizon League women’s basketball action at Wright State’s Nutter Center Saturday afternoon.

The Penguins scored the first 11 points of the contest, hitting three three-pointers, before a Shaunda Sandifer putback got the Raiders on the scoreboard at the 16:45 mark of the first half.  That basket, though, started a 21-2 run, nine coming from Thomas and eight by Maria Bennett, to put Wright State up 21-13 with 10:35 remaining in the period.

The margin was 32-23 on a pair of Thomas foul shots with 2:25 left before Youngstown State closed the half with a 12-3 burst, including a Maryum Jenkins jumper at the buzzer, to send the game into halftime tied at 35.

YSU shot 47 percent in the opening 20 minutes, including seven of 15 from behind the arc, while the Raiders shot 43 percent, five of 14 from three, and made all six foul shot attempts.

An 12-4 run, nine by Thomas, broke a 45-all deadlock, but Youngstown State responded with a 12-2 spurt of its own to go back in front 61-59 with 6:42 remaining.   The two teams would be tied three more times until a Tieara Jones jumper put the Penguins up 67-66 at the 1:11 mark.

After Thomas missed two foul shots on Wright State’s next possession, Jenkins went to the line with 13 seconds left, but missed the front end of a one-and-one, the only miss for the Penguins in seven attempts for the game.  Shaunda Sandifer was fouled on the rebound and made both free throws to give the Raiders the lead for good.

Monica Touvelle’s three attempt from the top of the circle to win the game for Youngstown State was blocked by Molly Fox and after Thomas made two foul shots at the 0.9-second mark, she intercepted the inbounds pass to seal the victory.

Wright State shot just 31 percent in the second half, one of five from three, to finish at 37 percent, but the Raiders hit 22 of 30 foul shots for the contest, 16 of 24 the final 20 minutes, and held a 43-32 rebounding edge, resulting in an 18-7 differential in second-chance points.

The Penguins, meanwhile, shot 42 percent for the game and were 11 of 29 from behind the arc for 38 percent.

Thomas led all scorers with a career-high 35 points, 24 of those coming in the second half.  It is the first time a Raider has scored at least 35 points in a game since Tiffany Webb had 35 at Loyola on February 8, 2003.  Thomas also posted a double-double as she also collected 11 rebounds .

Sandifer also had a double-double of 11 points and 10 boards for the Raiders while Bennett had 11 points and Fox 10.

Brandi Brown paced Youngstown State (4-22, 2-13 Horizon) with 20 points while Kenya Middlebrooks had 14.

Wright State (16-9, 9-5 Horizon) heads to the Windy City next week for a pair of games, starting on Thursday, February 24, with a 8:00 Eastern matchup at Loyola.