YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Western Michigan women's basketball team picked up its first win of the 2023-24 season at Youngstown State on Thursday night.

After a three-pointer by YSU's Paige Shy tied the game up at 52-52 with 1:24 left in the fourth quarter, the teams traded possessions until Hannah Spitzley grabbed a defensive rebound and the Broncos called timeout with 24.7 seconds to play. Megan Wagner got the ball on the in-bound and held it to run some clock down. Wagner cycled the ball and ended up with it on the center-left edge of the three-point line and drove the lane for a layup, getting fouled with 3.5 seconds left. Wagner stepped up to the free-throw line and sank both of them to put the Broncos ahead 54-52 with her only points of the game. Spitzley stole the in-bound pass to seal the win.

Spitzley had a game-high 20 points off the bench, going 8-for-12 from the field and 4-for-7 from three, while also grabbing five rebounds. Senior Katlyn Zarycki had 18 points on 9-for-15 shooting and five rebounds, while Alli Carlson dished out a career-high eight assists.

Western Michigan trailed after the first quarter 20-14, but was able to get back within one point heading into half time, thanks to holding YSU to just nine points in the second. After an even third quarter, WMU still trailed by one heading into the fourth.

WMU opened the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run to take a 47-39 lead, with Spitzlsy scoring seven of the nine points. The Penguins chipped away at the lead until the three-pointer by Shy tied it up in the final minutes.

Western Michigan now heads to Puerto Rico to take on Cambell University on Friday and UNC Asheville on Saturday.