Penguins go cold vs. Flames

By Pete Mollica

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown State women’s basketball team has had some poor shooting nights this season, but nothing like the second half on Thursday night at the Beeghly Center.

The Penguins (2-17, 0-8), who led by a point at halftime, made just one of their first 21 shots from the field to open the second half, fell behind and dropped a 57-42 Horizon League contest to Illinois-Chicago.

The Penguins, who have lost nine straight, made just 4-of-30 shots the second half (13.3 percent) and two of them came in the final 50 seconds.

“Obviously we didn’t play our best in the second half,” said YSU coach Cindy Martin. “We had plenty of opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of them.

“We played a very good first half, but again it was the first time this team has held the lead at halftime of a league contest and we didn’t handle it very well,” she added.

Most of the Penguins points have been coming from their post players early in the season, but Martin said opponents know that and are shutting down the inside game.

Senior guard Kelly Gurganus led the Penguins with 11 points, while senior forward Nikita LaFleur pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, but added just four points, all from the free throw line.

The Penguins outrebounded the Flames (11-7, 5-3) 46-37, including 17-8 on the offensive boards, but couldn’t get anything to fall.

The Flames opened the second half with two quick baskets, but after LaFleur made two free throws with 16:52 remaining, the Penguins scored just two more points over the next 10 minutes and found themselves trailing 47-32.

UIC led by as many as 19 points (54-35) with 1:37 remaining, but the Penguins scored eight of the game’s final 11 points to finish as close to a league opponent as they have all season.

Gurganus, who pumped in a 3-point goal with 14:25 left in the opening half, ignited a 10-3 run by the Penguins as they built an 18-12 advantage.

During the first five minutes of the game the lead changed hands seven times.

After Jessie Miller, who led the Flames with 16 first-half points, hit her third 3-pointer of the game to cut the lead to 18-15 with 6:52 remaining, the Penguins went on an 9-2 run and a 27-17 lead with 3:32 left in the half.

Unfortunately the Penguins didn’t score over those final three minutes and the Flames closed the gap behind two more 3-point shots by Miller to trail just 27-26 at intermission.

The Penguins outshot the Flames in the half 40 percent to 35.7 and outrebounded them 19-15, but UIC did make 5-of-11 shots from 3-point range, with Miller making 4-of-6.

The Penguins play host to Loyola at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Beeghly Center in the first game of a doubleheader.

mollica@vindy.com