YSU’s women hit road for win

By Pete Mollica

The Penguins are in the Pittsburgh Tournament on Friday and Saturday.

YOUNGSTOWN — Cindy Martin, Youngstown State’s first-year women’s head basketball coach, is spending Thanksgiving Day with her basketball team at a hotel in Pittsburgh.

Martin’s Penguins (0-3) will begin play Friday afternoon at the University of Pittsburgh Tournament when they take on Weber State in a 2 p.m. tip off at Petersen Events Center.

It will be the first real road trip for Martin and her Penguins and she’s anxiously awaiting it.

“We opened the season at Kent State, but that was just a 40-minute drive,” Martin said. “This will be our first real time together on the road.

“It will be a chance for everyone to get better acquainted with one another, see who likes to play what games and spend some time together,” Martin said Wednesday.

Martin is also anxious to get the Penguins’ season turned around after three straight losses, two of them at home.

“I can honestly see that we are getting better,” Martin said. “We played hard in our last game, but it just wasn’t our night. The important thing is that we need to be ready come January when we begin conference play.

“Our execution has gotten much better over the first three games,” she said.

Martin likes the Penguins’ matchup with Weber State.

“They have two really good scorers which we’ll have to contain and this should be a great experience for our young ladies playing in the Petersen Events Center, it’s a big-time arena.”

Should the Penguins win the opener, they would then meet the winner of Friday’s second game between Elon and Pittsburgh in a Saturday contest at 4 p.m. If the Penguins lose on Friday, they would play Friday’s other loser on Saturday.

“We’re hoping to come out of this tournament with a win and it would be a great lift to our program,” Martin said. “It will definitely be a new challenge for us this weekend.”

The Penguins have lost three straight to Kent State 95-58, Buffalo 55-42 and to Niagara 65-51 last Saturday night.

The YSU men’s team will return home on Saturday night to take on St. Francis, Pa., in a 7:05 p.m. tip off at Beeghly Center.

The Penguins suffered a disappointing loss to Robert Morris on Tuesday, losing 74-72 on a last second shot by the Colonials to fall to 1-3 on the year.

What’s disappointing is that the Penguins led by as many as 23 points early in the second half, but let the contest get away.

“We had a lot of good things happen in that game, but also a few bad things and it was the bad things that cost us a victory,” Coach Jerry Slocum said.

The Penguins are still awaiting word on the condition of junior forward Dallas Blocker, who suffered a knee injury against Robert Morris.

“We’re still waiting, but obviously we cannot afford to lose a player of his caliber,” Slocum said.

Sophomore Vytas Sulskis led the Penguins against the Colonials with 24 points, including four 3-point goals. It was his final 3-pointer that tied the score at 72-72 with 40 seconds remaining before the Colonials hit the game-winner with 2.7 seconds remaining.

“We need to play 40 minutes of basketball,” Slocum said. “The ideal thing is to play 40 minutes of perfect basketball, but you know that isn’t going to happen. So if you can get 40 minutes of good basketball you have a good chance of winning.”

Saturday’s game will be the first of a three-game home\stand and will be followed by two Horizon League contests. The first will be against Valparaiso on Dec. 4 and it will be the 1,000th game of Slocum’s coaching career. The Penguins will play Butler at home on Dec. 6.

mollica@vindy.com