Bad start puts YSU into hole

The Penguins failed to rally and lost to talented Wisconsin-Green Bay, 74-49.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown State women's basketball team can salvage at least one consolation from its 74-49 loss to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Saturday in an Horizon League game before 1,805 fans at Beeghly Center:
The Penguins lost to a very talented team that leads the league and played well at times and tested and challenged the Phoenix during various stretches of the game, but just fell into too big of a hole early in the contest to climb out of.
Green Bay (12-3, 5-0) jumped out to an 11-0 lead and built the advantage to 38-21 at the half behind strong scoring from Nicole Soulis, Natalie Berglin and Amanda Popp, and the Penguins (4-12, 0-5) never recovered to fall for the fifth straight game.
Soulis, a 6-2 junior forward, scored 25 points, including 12 in the first half, to lead the Phoenix. Berglin, a 5-7 junior guard, added 12 points, including eight in the opening half. And Popp, a a 5-10 junior guard, tallied seven of her nine points in the first half.
Soulis also had nine rebounds and five steals while Berglin contributed six assists.
YSU was led by Kristy Gaudiose, a 5-7 junior guard from Poland, who scored 12 points on four 3-point goals. Michelle Holmes, a 6-2 senior center, added 10 points, and Ashlee Russo, a 5-7 senior guard from Boardman, tacked on nine points.
Monique Godfrey, a 5-8 freshman guard, chipped in with six rebounds, five points, two assists and two steals.
Hill is puzzled
"That part is a mystery to me -- why we can't get off to a good start," said YSU coach Tisha Hill, a former Green Bay assistant coach.
The Penguins battled back from the 11-0 deficit behind Holmes, Gaudiose and Russo to pull within 27-16.
But then Green Bay capitalized on YSU turnovers and missed shots to reel off an 11-point run to rebuild its advantage to 38-16.
"We need to knock down shots that would keep us closer," said Hill. "We have been struggling all year [with bad starts]."
She also said turnovers hurt YSU's try at a comeback.
"We panicked and made bad decisions turning [the ball] over," said Hill, whose team had difficulty penetrating underneath and tended to stay outside to shoot the long shot. "We want more intensity [shooting the ball] to get a better start."
Hill said her team took a lot of 3-point shots [5-for-20] and had to rely too much on the long shot.
"There is no reason to put up as many 3s as we do. They are leaving us open for that [for a reason]," she said.
Meanwhile, "Green Bay really was able to flow with [its] offense," she praised.
YSU rallies in vain
Like when YSU rallied to cut the deficit to 51-37 early in the second half, the Phoenix surged again behind Soulis and Berglin to outscore the Penguins by 17-5 for a 68-42 advantage.
Hill said inexperience also is challenging the Penguins.
"We have 4-5 freshmen out there," the coach said.
But she said her team didn't feel too badly after the loss, and in fact seemed optimistic in the locker room because they believe things will improve. And she said her team played well in certain facets of the game.
"Green Bay was able to put up a lot of 3s against Cleveland State, but we took that part [of the game] away from them," said Hill, who held them to 4 of 10 shooting from behind the arc. "But they did well in the paint, so they beat us on the back end. We didn't have a good game inside [on defense]."
Green Bay out-shot the Penguins by 31-for-56 to 19-for-50 and had a 33-26 rebounding advantage, including 26-7 on the defensive end which is one of the reasons YSU got few second shots.
The Penguins will try to end their slump Thursday at home against Cleveland State at 7:05 p.m. in an Horizon League game.
kovach@vindy.com