Staff photo / Neel Madhavan. YSU guard Jewel Watkins (10) goes for a layup in the lane on Friday night against Lake Erie at the Beeghly Center.

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State was chomping at the bit to begin the season, and the Penguins let their frustrations loose on Friday night.

YSU was scheduled to open the year on Monday night, which would have been the earliest start date in program history, but a power outage at the Beeghly Center forced the cancellation of Monday’s game.

So Friday’s contest with Lake Erie turned into the Penguins’ season opener, and after a four-day delay, the Penguins unleashed their furor on the Storm, rolling to a 95-39 victory to begin the Melissa Jackson era in Youngstown.

“I think we were so ready to go for Monday night, and we couldn’t control what happened. That was the message to the team, and give them a lot of credit, I thought they responded really well,” Jackson said. “But they were jacked up. They wanted to play. I think Youngstown got a taste of what is to come with this team. There’s a lot to work on and a lot of things to improve on, but I was really happy with our first outing tonight.”

The Penguins got everyone minutes against Lake Erie, as all 13 of YSU’s players that dressed saw at least five minutes of action and 12 got on the scoresheet.

“I love our locker room. This group is so special because they’re so connected,” Jackson said. “It has kind of happened organically, and it’s not fake. They really care about each other. You see that with the passion of our bench, how excited they get for each other. But it was great to get everybody in because they work really hard in practice.”

Junior Abby Liber got YSU started with its first basket of the season less than a minute into the game, and despite a back-and-forth start over the first few minutes, the Penguins were off to the races.

Senior Jewel Watkins hit each of her first four shots and didn’t miss much after that. She scored all of her game-high 19 points in the first half, which included hitting a 3-pointer right before the halftime buzzer to help YSU hit the 50-point mark.

“Honestly, I was just going out there just to have fun,” Watkins said. “The ball was going in and that was great. I just had a lot of fun tonight playing with this team. It was good to finally be back and have fun on the court.”

Freshmen Danielle Cameron and Sarah Baker each made a splash off the bench, as the pair played the most minutes of any of YSU’s six-member freshman class.

In their first college game, Cameron and Baker each scored 10 points to finish in double figures.

“They’re a big part of our rotation. They’ve earned those minutes,” Jackson said. “They do it everyday in practice. They push our starters, which is awesome to see. It was really good to see them in their first time in a Penguins uniform, as well. I thought Sarah came in and played a little too fast, but the second time she came in, she was much more settled. Dani can really shoot that ball, and I want her to continue to shoot it. She’s been a huge spark for us, even in scrimmages coming off the bench. Very happy with where both of them are at right now.”

Fifth-year Malia Magesto added 12 points for the Penguins as one of four players to finish in double figures. Meanwhile, redshirt junior Faith Burch scored nine points, while Haley Thierry had eight points and Sophia Gregory also had nine points for the Penguins.

Liber led YSU in rebounding with 11 boards, as the Penguins outrebounded Lake Erie 59-26.

YSU mixed things up a little bit defensively, but mostly stuck to its man-to-man defense throughout the game.

The Penguins limited the Storm to 16 second-half points, including just four in the fourth quarter.

“We played a lot of man-to-man tonight, and that’s something that we definitely have worked on. But it’s not the only thing we’ve worked on,” Jackson said. “I was very happy with our principles and how we sat down and guarded. We will continue to work on a lot of different things because we have a challenging non-conference schedule ahead of us. But for the first night, I was really happy with our defense.”

YSU returns to action on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at home against St. Bonaventure.