Penguins' rally falls short in 61-54 defeat

By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown State women's basketball team made a big comeback in the final eight minutes Monday night, but still suffered its fourth defeat of the season.
The Penguins, who trailed by 20 points (50-30) with just over eight minutes remaining, battled to the end, but fell to Oakland (Mich.), 61-54, at Beeghly Center.
The loss was the first at home for the Penguins (2-4), while Oakland improved to 2-4.
The reason that the Penguins were so far behind at the end is that they played pretty bad for the first 30 minutes.
"We certainly didn't start off very well," said YSU coach Tisha Hill. "This loss stings more because of the mistakes that we made were mistakes we had made in previous games and our goal was to try and get better every game.
"We made a good run at the end and I think that our win against Saint Louis showed us we could do it, but there was no excuse for putting yourself in that position to start with," she added.
"Now we have to regroup and find out what's working offensively for us," Hill added. "I think we now have to open it up to whoever is ready to play."
Holmes leads scoring
The Penguins put two players in double figures, led by senior Michelle Holmes with 12 points, with all of them coming in the second half, and 10 in the final eight minutes. Sophomore Lauren Branson added 10 points.
The Penguins held a slight edge in rebounds, 32-31, with sophomore Jessica Schloemp leading the way with seven.
Oakland was paced by Jayme Wilson, who had a game-high 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting. She was 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
The Penguins managed to stay with the Grizzlies for most of the first half, using an 8-0 run to take a 13-6 advantage.
But Oakland tied the score at 13 and after another tie at 18 the Grizzlies took control.
Cold spell costly
Over the final nine minutes of the first half YSU scored just four points, while the Grizzlies ran off 15 and pulled to a 31-22 edge at the intermission.
"We played horribly in the first half and still only trailed by nine points," Hill said.
The Penguins still trailed by nine, 37-28, with 15:53 remaining in the game, but the Grizzlies then went on an 8-0 run and jumped out to a 45-28 lead.
Big second-half run
Trailing 50-30 with 8:34 remaining, the Penguins made their move. Led by Holmes, who scored six straight points, the Penguins went on a 17-2 run and closed the gap to 52-47 with 4:10 remaining.
But over those last four minutes YSU scored only six points as the Grizzlies walked away with the win.
The Penguins will now head back on the road for their next two games beginning Wednesday night at Buffalo at 7 p.m.. They will then travel to Eastern Michigan Saturday for a 4 p.m. game with the Eagles.
mollica@vindy.com