Hill plans different emphasis this year

The second-year coach likes the depth of her squad this season.
BOARDMAN -- Tisha Hill makes no excuses for not saying that YSU's women's team won't win the Horizon League basketball championship.
"Wisconsin-Green Bay is the favorite," YSU's second-year coach told the Curbstone Coaches Association. "They didn't skip a beat. They have everybody back. They're going for their sixth championship, but after that, it's a logjam."
That's where the Penguins come into the picture.
"I've got a lot of depth, and I was able to move some kids from last year," Hill said. "Kristy Gaudiose played point guard last year and is a good shooter. So, I'm moving her to the No. 2 spot because I brought in a point guard."
The new point guard, freshman Lauren Branson, will back up starter Ashlee Russo.
YSU already played an exhibition game against former Ohio State players.
"We were able to contain them in the second half and look at some good things," Hill said of the 74-70 victory over the Premier All-Stars.
For openers
YSU opens its season Friday at St. Louis.
The Lady Penguins have good size with Tara Fleming the tallest at 6-foot-3, but, in a departure from last season, the emphasis is different.
"I didn't care how we put the ball in the hole last year, I was all defense," Hill said. "That showed, because we didn't score well. This year I flip-flopped, and I want us to score. We're going to go after it hard, offensively, yet try not to compromise our defense. I'm spending a lot more time, offensively, because they build and feed from that confidence of seeing the ball go in the hole."
Hill's goal, defensively, is to keep teams in check as much as possible.
"I don't want teams coming in here scoring 70 points a night on us because I don't know if we'll have the offense to keep up," she added.
Better in transition
As a happy medium, Hill said, she'll settle for a much better transition game.
"What we're striving for is a big transition game. If you see anything different, you'll see that we'll run. We added some speed and we're able to get up and down the floor a lot more."
Last year, Hill put the brakes on fast breaks.
"I'd cringe and tell them not to go in for a layup, but to pull back. I didn't want them to go full-steam ahead in scoring in transition. This year, it's totally different. Go score. Go score. Go score and we're really trying to get up and down on teams."
YSU took Wisconsin-Green Bay to overtime at Beeghly Center last year.
"We gave them a game, and we're going to give every Horizon League team a game," she said. "The league title is anybody's game."