Correspondent photo / David Dermer. YSU forward Sophia Gregory brings the ball up the floor while being guarded by Purdue Fort Wayne's Nika Lokica during the Penguins' win on Saturday at Zidian Family Arena. Gregory had her second double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

YOUNGSTOWN — Coming off a difficult loss to Northern Kentucky on Thursday, head coach Melissa Jackson wanted to see how Youngstown State would respond.

Despite the quick turnaround, the Penguins answered the call on Saturday, holding on for a 58-54 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne at Zidian Family Arena.

“I’m really happy about our response today,” Jackson said. “I’m so proud of our team. This is a big bounce-back win for our prorgam. I knew we had it in us. Even coming out at halftime, I just felt really good today.”

Responding in the face of adversity is a mantra that YSU (12-5, 5-2 Horizon) has lived by this season. After losing to Toledo in November, the Penguins responded with a win at Akron. Then at the FIU Holiday Classic in December, YSU followed a loss to the Panthers with a win against UMass the next day.

That was the case yet again this week, as the Penguins bounced back against the Mastodons (11-7, 5-3 Horizon), even in game. After trailing 26-21 at halftime, YSU came out hot in the third quarter, outscoring Purdue Fort Wayne 22-9.

“I think it’s almost like we understand them now,” sophomore forward Sophia Gregory said of the second-half surge. “We’ve already played them for a whole half, and we just had to understand what it is that we can take away with their weaknesses and then execute on our strengths.”

The Penguins opened the half on a 7-2 run to tie things up, then rode a 10-0 run midway through the quarter and never trailed again after that. Redshirt freshman Danielle Cameron played a key role in YSU’s third-quarter surge, scoring nine of her 15 points during the period.

Then sixth-year guard Casey Santoro also had her own “response” of sorts. After a 2-of-10 showing for four points on Thursday, Santoro played all 40 minutes against the Mastodons, leading the Penguins with 18 points, which included going 5-of-6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.

“I know we were down at half, but I still felt good,” Jackson said. “I knew we’d get Sophia back (from foul trouble) in the second half — that’s a big part of our success. But I just felt a different feel of our team. We got stops, we got big rebounds, we kept running and then we executed.

“I thought Dani hit some big, timely buckets and some great drives. She showed her versatility, and then ultimately, I knew Casey was going to come ready to go. That kid is a winner. She wanted it tonight, but this is a total team effort.”

After sitting for a long stretch of the first half with two fouls, Gregory also made her presence felt in the second half.

She scored 13 of her 15 points after halftime and made several game-deciding plays down the stretch for the Penguins. She also pulled down 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.

“She’s so impactful,” Jackson said. “There’s a lot on this stat sheet that shows that, and there’s so much even more that’s not on the stat sheet that having her on the floor just impacts our team, our program. Some of the (foul) calls were tough, it’s just her making some hustle plays.

Some people would say it was a little bit risky bringing her back with four-and-a-half left, but we needed her on the floor.”

In the final five minutes, Gregory finished a pair of layups, had a steal in transition, grabbed a key rebound and deflected a pass for a steal on PFW’s second-to-last possession with the ‘Dons looking for a three to tie things up. She did all of that while playing with four fouls.

“I wasn’t supposed to rebound actually at that point,” Gregory said. “So not being able to do that, I just tried to do other things as best as I could, just be aggressive and put all my effort there instead of rebounding.”

Purdue Fort Wayne has proven to be one of the best offensive teams in the Horizon League this season. The Mastodons are second in the league in scoring, and are shooting at a high clip.

To counter that, YSU opted to mix in a variety of zone from the second quarter onwards. The Penguins alternated between the 2-3 and the 1-3-1 throughout the second half and held PFW to 31.7% overall and 25.8% from three.

“I think a little bit lately, we’ve not done our best in man-to-man, and I think we just wanted to switch it up,” Santoro said. “I just feel like we switched it up a lot between man-to-man, 1-3-1 and 2-3 zone just to throw them off a little bit and get them thinking more than what they normally would be.”

Despite Rylee Bess coming off the bench to knock down six 3-pointers to lead the ‘Dons with 20 points, YSU kept Alana Nelson and Jordan Reid mostly in check. PFW’s dynamic duo combined for 18 points on 6-of-23 shooting.

“We know that (Nelson) is a top scorer in the league,” Santoro said. “We just wanted to contain her and make it hard for her to score, and I feel like we did. I feel like we did a good job warding her off and making her shoot tough shots over us.”

Having completed its four-game homestand, YSU heads on the road to visit Wright State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Penguins defeated the Raiders 65-46 in their first meeting on Dec. 16.