Penguins score season-low at unbeaten Kent State

By Jon Moffett

jmoffett@vindy.com

KENT

The wintery conditions did enough damage to cool off the winning streak for the Youngstown State women’s basketball team.

A trip to Kent Sate ended in a 77-39 loss at the M.A.C. Center on Wednesday. It snapped the Penguins’ two-game winning streak and kicked off a road trip that will put them as the visiting team six of the next seven games .

The Penguins (2-4) looked like they could beat any team in the nation for the first few minutes of the game. They led 13-6 before allowing a 25-0 run over 11 minutes. YSU trailed 35-20 at the break. Thirty-nine is the fewest points the Penguins have scored this season.

“Kent played a very good game tonight,” a stoic Bob Boldon said when asked to give an opening statement during his postgame press conference. “Any questions?”

The Penguins struggled with the inside game of the Golden Flashes (6-0) partly because of their size. Kent has three players who are 6-foot-1 or taller, including Howland High graduate Ellie Shields at 6-3. The tallest players for the Penguins, junior forward Tieara Jones and freshman Heidi Schlegel, are 6-0.

Boldon said the game plan was to force the Golden Flashes to make outside shots. But the Golden Flashes used their size and strength to drive and pull down rebounds for second-chance points.

“Anytime you play Kent State, you know you’re going to get a physical game, and you know you’re going to get kids who play hard,” Boldon said. “I just thought they were a little bit tougher than us most of the game. Sure, they were a little bit taller than us. But who isn’t? I mean, we’re one of the shortest teams in Division I basketball. So that’s something we have to come to terms with and deal with.”

Also handcuffing the Penguins was Brandi Brown’s early foul trouble. The dynamic sophomore forward earned three fouls in the first half. But Brown, who entered the game with a Horizon League-leading 20.2 points per game, still found her way to the basket. She finished with a game-high 16 points and 10 rebounds.

She had 12 of the team’s 20 points at the intermission.

Boldon said the Penguins need to take an initiative on the scoring end to allow Brown a breather. Freshman Monica Touvelle, a Boardman High graduate, was second on the team with six points. Five Golden Flashes scored in the double figures.

It was poor shooting again that doomed the Penguins. Boldon has stressed that part of the game probably more than any other because of his fluid offense. But the team shot just 24 percent in the game, going 16-of-68 from the field.

“We were 5-of-38 and we shot 13 percent from the 3-point line,” Boldon said. “That’s not very good.”

Shields, a senior, made her first start for the Golden Flashes. She finished with four points and two rebounds in 10 minutes.