Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU sophomore Erica King drives and scores through two Bucknell defenders during the second half of the Penguins' 60-53 win over the Bison on Sunday at Zidian Family Arena. King tallied a team-high 14 points for the Penguins.

YOUNGSTOWN — With shooting numbers that mirrored a Major League Baseball batting average on Sunday, Youngstown State had to find other ways to score.

The Penguins got after Bucknell defensively, dominated on the glass and got to the free-throw line in a 60-53 win, their first win over the Bison since 2015.

“Bucknell is a tough, defensive-oriented team,” YSU head coach Melissa Jackson said. “They have great help-side (defense) and they’re tough to Iso. We were able to get them moving a little bit. But we’ll go back and watch the film. They dig and they double in the post, so we knew we were going to have a lot of outside shots.

“Thought we got a little three happy, took a couple quick threes. But made the adjustment at halftime to attack some of those long closeouts, and I thought our kids did a much better job of that.”

Despite racing ahead to a 9-2 run over the first few minutes, YSU had a six-plus-minute scoring drought during the first quarter that allowed Bucknell back into the game.

The Penguins shot 26.7% overall in the first half and were 3-of-17 from beyond the 3-point arc. Despite that, YSU still held a 25-20 lead at halftime thanks to its defense.

For the game, the Penguins outrebounded the Bison 42-29 and were plus-10 on the offensive boards. That led to several second-chance scoring opportunities as well as trips to the free-throw line, where YSU was 12-for-16.

“I’m really happy to see that rebounding number,” Jackson said. “I’ve been on them for that, now we’ve gotta do a little bit better job of converting and getting a little more second-chance points.”

Overall, the Penguins finished with a 34% shooting clip and shot 28.6% from three.

After being a scoring spark at times last year, Erica King has had a bit of a slow start to the season, scoring just five total points in the last two games. But she came alive against Bucknell, as she sliced and diced her way to the basket en route to a team-high 14 points.

“I think I was just a little more aggressive today,” King said. “I was like, ‘I’m getting to the basket.’ I changed my mentality a little, and that’s really what helped push me, and I hope it helped my team get there.”

Hayden Barrier’s emergence has also been a positive development for the Penguins after only playing in 10 games last year, averaging just over six minutes per game.

She’s averaged 7.3 points in just over 24 minutes through YSU’s first four games and finished with a career-high 11 points on three 3-pointers against the Bison, as the Penguins’ only other player in double figures.

“That’s going to be a big word all season long with those guys with their growth and development,” Jackson said of King and Barrier. “Kudos to them because they had a great offseason. They got much stronger, and they worked on their development with their coaches. I think all three of our young guards are very confident right now because of the time and the effort they’ve put into it.”

Locking down Bucknell’s leading scorer Reese Zemitis was a point of emphasis for the Penguins.

She came in averaging 11.3 points per game, and finished with just six points against YSU. Zemitis was 2-of-6 from the floor overall and 0-for-4 from three. Elana Weisman picked up the scoring slack for the Bison and finished with a game-high 17 points.

“We knew (Zemitis) was a shooter, so we had to close out on her pretty hard,” Barrier said. “But also we paid attention to the help, making sure we weren’t helping off her too much. Then everyone else just kind of fell in line and we made sure we were in our rotations.”

YSU’s largest lead came at the start of the fourth quarter when it led by 17 points after a strong start to the second half.

But the Bison refused to go away and went on an 11-0 run over a three-minute stretch to cut YSU’s lead down to six.

“We gotta handle that a little bit better,” Jackson said. “That’s the beauty of non-conference, right? You’re going to see a lot of different games and a lot of different situations. First time for this group playing with a lead, having led the whole time. Sometimes it’s really hard to play with a lead, especially when you’re a young group.”

The Penguins got a handful of buckets down the stretch to help blunt Bucknell’s run and close things out, as Danielle Cameron knocked down a pair of threes, Sophia Gregory made a layup and Barrier knocked down a contested baseline jumper.

“When it came down to crunch time, I thought we executed really well,” Jackson said. “We used some clock. Then we knew the entire time it was going to come down to defensive stops and rebounding.”

With the win, YSU improves to 3-1 overall and heads back out on the road to face Mercyhurst on Thursday at 6 p.m.