YSU women no match for Cleveland State

By Pete Mollica

YOUNGSTOWN — Things are just not getting any better for the Youngstown State women’s basketball team.

Saturday afternoon the Penguins were crushed by Cleveland State 80-51 for their 11th loss in their last 12 games and they’ve gone 0-5 in Horizon League play over that span.

Playing before just a handful of fans at Beeghly Center the Penguins shot 23 percent in the first half and 31.3 percent for the game. They trailed by double figures for the final 30 minutes of the contest.

Entrenched in last place in the conference standings, the Penguins are now 2-14 overall.

Not only did the Penguins shoot poorly against the Vikings (9-8, 3-2), but they also played very little defense according to the statistics. Cleveland State shot 56.1 percent from the field (32-of-57) and 52.9 percent from 3-point range (9-of-17).

“I was very disappointed in our defensive effort today, especially in the first half,” said first-year YSU coach Cindy Martin.

“I really thought after the last two days of practice that we were ready for this game, but you don’t win games shooting 30 percent when the other team is shooting over 50 percent.”

Getting shots were not a problem for the Penguins. They attempted seven more shots than the Vikings (64-57), but made 12 fewer (32-20).

“I thought we were getting good shots, but we got nothing to fall,” Martin said. “We have to play better defense and start making some shots.”

The Penguins put just one player in double figures, senior Kelsey Gurganus, who had 13, but she was just 5-of-14 from the field. Senior Nikita LaFleur, who had back-to-back double-doubles in the last two games, pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds to lead the way, but was held to seven points.

Cleveland State put three players in double figures, led by Kailey Klein with 23, while Shawnita Garland added 18. It was the Vikings’ fourth straight win over the Penguins.

Klein got Cleveland State off to a quick start as she connected on back-to-back 3-point shots for a 6-0 lead before the Penguins got settled.

LaFleur connected on a jumper with 13:45 remaining to bring the Penguins within two points (13-11), but the Vikings scored the next 10 straight points and YSU made just two field goals over those final 13 minutes and fell behind 31-18 at halftime.

The Penguins got the lead down to nine points (36-27) early in the second half on a basket by Tiara Scott, but Cleveland State then went on a 19-1 run and broke open the contest (55-29) with just over 13 minutes to play.

YSU could never get within 20 points the rest of the way. Another 15-2 run by Cleveland State, which included three consecutive 3-point goals, built an 80-44 margin and the two teams just played out the final two minutes.

The Penguins will go out on the road with games at Wright State on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and at Detroit on Saturday in a 5 p.m. tipoff.

mollica@vindy.com