BEEGHLY CENTER YSU beats B.G. in coach's debut

Jessica Olmstead scored a career-high 25 for the Penguins.
By BRIAN RICHESSON
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Welcome to Youngstown, Tisha Hill.
The new head coach of the Youngstown State women's basketball team recorded her first career victory at the most opportune time -- in the season opener.
For the first time in two decades, veteran coach Ed DiGregorio was not on the sideline. That duty was turned over to Hill, whose Penguins started the 2003-04 season with a 79-67 victory over Bowling Green on Saturday at Beeghly Center.
After entering the postgame press conference, where she was met with applause from fans, Hill sighed.
"I just want to take a deep breath now that it's over," she said.
"The players stepped up, and it feels really good just in the way they performed in that second half."
Before coming to Youngstown, Hill, 34, spent the previous 10 seasons as an assistant coach at Ball State. Then she went out and beat a familiar opponent from the Mid-American Conference -- Bowling Green.
Defensive philosophy
Hill's philosophy is based on defense, and that's what the Penguins executed down the stretch to hold off Bowling Green for the second consecutive season.
But they also used the hot hand of junior Jessica Olmstead, who scored a career-high 25 points on 10-for-14 shooting. The 5-foot, 9-inch guard eclipsed her previous high of 20 points, which she scored last season against Robert Morris.
"The kid can play. She can flat out score," Hill said. "We wanted her to take the bull by the horns and go with it."
Behind Olmstead, Youngstown State took command midway through the second half. She scored eight points in a 13-0 run that put the Penguins ahead 59-50 with just more than nine minutes remaining.
"She's had a few great practices and she's really been getting after it on the offensive end," Hill said. "She fed off our aggressiveness defensively, and that gave her some open shots."
Sealed
Bowling Green couldn't recover from them. Youngstown State upped its lead to 13 points (67-54) on two free throws by redshirt freshman Ashlee Russo of Boardman High with 5 minutes, 31 seconds remaining.
Although the Falcons made one last run, cutting their deficit to six (71-65) with just less than two minutes left, Youngstown State was able to hold them off.
"It's our home court," said junior Jen Perugini, who had 15 points and nine rebounds. "We wanted it."
Hill added, "I really wanted our seniors to step up. We talked about it in the huddle, about being the aggressor and getting to the free throw line. We did an outstanding job of doing that."
The Penguins also got 15 points from junior Cathy Hanek of Ursuline High and 11 rebounds from senior Jessica Forsythe.
It was an emotional night for Hanek and Russo. Hanek missed all of last season with an inflammatory arthritic condition.
"I just wanted to play hard and have a good game," Hanek said. "I wanted to win more than anything. That felt the best."
Russo was limited to just four games last season after persistent soreness from preseason ankle surgery. She came back strong with a career-high eight points in 31 minutes while running the Penguins' offense.
Local players
Hanek and Russo teamed with true freshman guard Kristy Gaudiose, a Poland High graduate, to give the Penguins a local flavor. In 12 minutes, Gaudiose scored four points on 2-of-4 shooting, with two assists, one steal and a turnover.
But it was Olmstead who jump-started the Penguins in front of 1,767 fans at Beeghly. She scored 11 of her 15 first-half points, which came on 7-of-8 shooting, with under four minutes remaining in the half to help put Youngstown State ahead 39-36 at halftime.
richesson@vindy.com