YSU Men, women look to make it two in a row

A few wins could help the YSU men's tournament seeding.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown State men's and women's basketball team will be trying to put together consecutive victories for the first time this year when they see action on Thursday night.
The men (5-12, 2-6 Horizon League) will try and follow up Saturday's 61-59 road victory over Cleveland State with a win over Loyola, Thursday at 7 p.m. at Beeghly Center.
The women (2-16, 0-7), who snapped a 16-game losing streak on Saturday with a 72-62 victory over non-league IPFW, will return to league play with a road contest against Illinois-Chicago on Thursday at 8 p.m in Chicago.
Goals
The men haven't posted back-to-back victories since early last season and they have never had back-to-back victories in the Horizon League in three seasons in the conference.
YSU head coach John Robic has a good feeling about his Penguins going into Thursday's clash with the Ramblers, a team that defeated YSU 85-78 in Chicago back in early January. The Ramblers (6-12, 2-6) have lost seven straight.
Robic doesn't expect a letdown after Saturday's win which snapped a 38-game regular season road losing streak at Cleveland.
"We haven't had a letdown in 31/2 weeks," he said. "We've been playing very well over that stretch. The kids are feeling much more confident right now."
"We're still in a pretty good position," Robic said, "and this is moving time in the league. With a few wins we could go from 7-8 position up to 5-6 position."
The Penguins have gotten good play from senior post player Adam Baumann, who is averaging 12.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
"Adam is one of the best post players in the league this year and he's been much more aggressive this season. He's also shown a lot of patience in the post."
Junior Doug Underwood leads the Penguins in scoring with a 12.7 per game average and senior TeJay Anderson is next at 9.2 and has been much more effective coming off the bench in recent games.
Best game
Robic also praised the play of freshman point guard Mike Woodard, who had his best game against Cleveland State.
"Mike really played well Saturday, he's more aggressive and he made two huge free throws down the stretch to help preserve the win," Robic added.
The YSU women won for the first time since the season-opening victory against Bowling Green.
"I'd like to start a new streak now," said YSU first-year head coach Tisha Hill. "A winning streak."
"Finally everyone seems to be on the same page for us," she added. "Offensive execution was what we were lacking and we got it against IPFW.
The Penguins dropped a 64-57 contest to the Flames earlier this season in Youngstown. UIC has lost three straight games including a 57-55 loss at Cleveland State on Saturday.
"UIC is a good opponent," Hill said. "We didn't stop their penetration the first time we played. They are the leading rebounding team in our conference. But we're a different team from the one they played earlier this year."
Productive pair
The Penguins are led by 5-8 junior guard Cathy Hanek, an Ursuline product, who averages 10.4 points a contest.
Last Saturday against IPFW the Penguins put five players in double figures and Hill is looking for more of that kind of effort.
Junior Jen Perugini came off the bench and showed the form that earned her Newcomer of the Year honors two years ago and a second-team all-conference selection last year.
Both YSU teams will play again on Saturday with the men at home in a non-league contest with IPFW at 2 p.m. at Beeghly, while the women will visit UW-Milwaukee in a 3 p.m. tip-off in Milwaukee, Wis.