Team effort takes down Valpo

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Youngstown State’s Brandi Brown (42) goes up for a wide open layup during the second half of Monday nights matchup against Valparaiso. Photo by Dustin Livesay/The Jambar.

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Youngstown State’s Monica Touvelle (24) attempts a 3-pointer while being defended by Valparaiso’s Laura Richards (12) during the first half of Monday nights matchup at the Beeghly Center. Touvelle finished the game with a team high 20 points going 6 of 14 from the 3-point line. Photo by Dustin Livesay/The Jambar.

The Penguins celebrated Brandi Brown and Devan Matkin at Senior Night in Beeghly Center on Monday.

Brown chalked it up as just another game in her four seasons at YSU. However, she passed a mark that was anything but ordinary. Midway through the first half, Brown surpassed 2,000 total points for her career.

“It was just a regular layup that has ‘2,000’ attached to it,” she said. “But it’s pretty cool. It was never my goal to get 2,000 points or anything like that, so it’s pretty neat.”

Head coach Bob Boldon said his team performed well on offense in the 72-50 Youngstown State University win over Valparaiso University.

Guard Monica Touvelle scored a game-high 20 points, knocking down 6 of 14 from beyond the arc.

“Something Monica really takes pride in his her ability to shoot the ball,” Boldon said. “We did run some things specifically to get her shots and she stepped up and made them.”

Point guard Shar’Rae Davis added 18 points as well.

“It was nice to see Shar’Rae play well,” Boldon said. “It was nice to see us win a different way than maybe we won on Saturday, but to win nonetheless.”

The Penguins (21-7, 11-4 HL) took a 34-26 lead at halftime. But their second half was even better, outscoring the Raiders 38-24 in the final 20 minutes. For the game, YSU held Valpo (9-19, 4-11) to 43 percent shooting, including 36 percent in the second half.

Although Boldon was pleased, he said the defense could have been better.

“I thought we had too many break downs, and they got too many easy shots. But we forced 25 turnovers and I thought we were in the passing lanes and doing things correctly.”

The Penguins, who remain in 2nd place in the Horizon League standings, finish their season Thursday at the University of Detroit.

“It’s exciting,” Boldon said. “We’ll try our best to win on Thursday and secure that.”