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Akron stops Penguins at home
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YSU's Tieara Jones (32) fights Kent's Sina King (42) for the loose ball under the YSU basket during their game at Beeghly Center on Thursday night.
Akron 70 - YSU 56
Next: YSU vs. Stetson in Hatter Holiday Classic, Monday at 1 p.m.
By Jon Moffett
Youngstown
It’s been a long December for the Youngstown State women’s basketball team.
The team has been on the road all but one game this season. The lone home game, Thursday’s contest with Akron, resulted in a 70-56 loss.
The Penguins (2-7) seemed at home for a good portion of the game. But the Zips (6-4) took advantage of an off night by the Penguins and capitalized with 15-1 run in the game’s final minutes.
Head coach Bob Boldon said the Penguins needed to do a better job of capitalizing on several miscues by Akron, who had 22 turnovers. YSU had 17.
“We missed shots,” Boldon said. “We had three open threes in the last three minutes, and we missed all three of them.
“Defensively, we made a couple steals, but then we gave it back to them,” Boldon said. “And then we were in position to make another play, I thought, and we didn’t see the basketball. So it ended up being a three-point play for them.
“The whole last 10 minutes didn’t go our way,” he added. “But it’s mostly our fault for not making it go our way.”
The teams were tied with five minutes to go in the game. YSU scored only one more point while the Zips took advantage of several miscues and dropped in 15 more.
By the end, the Penguins were simply heaving up shots and hoping something went in.
The Penguins went 9-of-39 from beyond the arc and shot just 31.7 percent from the field.
“I think we were getting some good looks on offense, we just weren’t knocking them down,” junior forward Tieara Jones said. “For a certain stretch, we stopped going to the glass.
“And if you’re not knocking down shots, it’s always good to crash the boards,” Jones said. “And we didn’t do that.”
Admittedly, Boldon’s offense features a lot of long balls. But with the team behind late, the rushed shots led to the lopsided score. The Penguins led by one with seven minutes to go.
Boldon said the team took the right shots, but ball just didn’t go where he had hoped.
“I would say two or three of them were bad shots because we rushed them,” Boldon said. “And some of the times, they were bad shots because a better shooter was open.
“But we don’t shoot the ball incredibly well from two-point range. We’re not a really skilled offensive team from anywhere.
“There’s a bigger return on 3s, so if were can hit a couple we get an extra point every time we make one,” he added. “And teams are really making it difficult for us to get to the rim.
“That’s not a green light to start firing up three-pointers. I think we probably need to look at the tape and probably be more selective.”
One of the main reason for the three party was the off night by Brandi Brown.
Boldon said teams are starting to key on the sophomore forward and force her teammates to beat them. And by slamming the door in the middle, Brown is forced to kick the ball outside.
Brown finished with eight points and five rebounds before fouling out with 3:25 to play.
Jones led the team with 15 points, and junior Kenya Middlebrooks was right behind her with 14. Jones also had five assists, two blocks and a steal. Middlebrooks, who was 4-0f-11 from deep range, had since rebounds and a steal.
Defensively, the Penguins weren’t all bad.
Jones said even thought the defense put forth a good effort, all it takes is one cog to stall for the entire machine to break down.
“It’s one person. Not to say it’s one person every time, but it’s a different person every time. And that’s something we have to change,” she said. “It has to be everybody on the same page and everybody playing hard, all five of us.”