Penguins double pleasure
Better mark your calendars because for the first time this season both the Youngstown State men’s and women’s basketball teams posted victories on the same weekend.
Since the two teams combined have only four wins, it’s not surprising this was the first time, but hopefully there will be many more ahead.
Unfortunately for most of us, the men were winning on the road and we didn’t get to see the effort, but those of you who showed up Saturday — and by the number of empty seats there weren’t a whole lot — got to see the women finally play up to their potential in a 58-52 win over Akron.
Granted, Akron is not the best team in the world, probably not even one of the better teams in the Mid-American Conference, but when your team is 1-8 through the first nine games, any victory is a good victory and that’s the attitude the Penguins and first-year coach Cindy Martin are taking.
But now, the Penguins have 10 days off before they play again and Martin already announced that she is giving the entire team and coaching staff the next six days off for Christmas vacation.
“I’ve always believed that the team and coaching staff need to be home for Christmas,” Martin said.
“I know that I’m looking forward to going down to Florida and be with my family for the holiday. I’ve learned over the years that everyone needs to get away and go home for Christmas.”
Martin says she knows when the team comes back that they’ll be ready to pick right up where they left off.
“Saturday was probably the most complete game we’ve played this year, and it was just one big confidence builder for these young ladies,” she said.
“We were aggressive and we played aggressive the whole way, even when the game was close and that says a lot for a team that was 1-8 and really hadn’t learned how to win consistently.
“We still have a long way to go,” she added.
“This was a step in the right direction, but we’re still a long way from where we need to be when Horizon League play begins in January.”
That was obvious in the fact that the Penguins still committed 21 turnovers against the Zips, made just 10-for-19 free throws and were out-rebounded, 39-32.
Yet they shot the ball much better.
They still miss too many easy layups.
Maybe they aren’t that easy, at least the Penguins don’t make them look that easy.
As long as they continue to play aggressively, especially on defense, things are going to get better.
Martin is somewhat concerned about the team’s offense.
“We’ve got to get to the point where we can average over 60 points a game,” she said. “We held Akron to 52, but we’re probably not going to hold everyone under 60 points, so we’ve got to improve on our scoring.”
The Penguins don’t return to action until Dec. 30 when they play at Toledo, and then will jump right into Horizon League play opening with two road games at Valparaiso on Jan. 3 and at Butler on Jan. 5.
The crowds at Beeghly Center have been really small this season, but with both teams were struggling that was to be expected.
Other than the die-hard Penguins fans most of the Valley fans like to watch winners, and the Penguins haven’t shown them much of that.
YSU athletic director Ron Strollo is concerned, not by the play of his two team about the crowds.
What concerns Strollo is the Jan. 23 home men’s basketball game against Cleveland State.
That game will be part of the Horizon League’s ESPN national game of the week and will be shown live at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.
“If we don’t bring in a big crowd for that game, we might never get another one,” said Strollo. “We’ve got to get the people to come.”
XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.