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UNLUCKY NO. 13 | Penguins remain winless
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SECOND EFFORT: Youngstown State’s Brandi Brown (42) rises above Green Bay’s Kayla Tetschlag (42) and Adrian Ritchie (13) during the first half of Monday night’s game at YSU’s Beeghley Center. Brown finished with a team-high 16 points and nine rebounds — one short of earning her fifth double-double.
Having the lead against a nationally-ranked opponent rattled the team, the coach said.
By Jon Moffett
YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown State University women’s basketball team must have left its lucky rabbit’s foot at home as it fell victim for the 13th consecutive game this season.
The Penguins (0-13, 0-2) remained winless with a 76-60 loss to Wisconsin-Green Bay at the Beeghly Center on Monday night. The Phoenix (13-0, 2-0), ranked No. 18 by The Associated Press, won their 31st consecutive regular-season game dating to last season.
YSU coach Cindy Martin, who is in her second season with the Penguins, has never beaten the Phoenix in three career attempts.
“I’m very pleased with the effort tonight,” Martin said. “They’re [ranked] … for a reason. I think Green Bay is a fantastic team and I think [head coach] Matt [Bollant] does a good job.”
Three Penguins scored in double figures and Youngstown State had a six-point lead late in the first half, but it wasn’t enough.
Ten turnovers in the final five minutes of the first half doomed the Penguins. Green Bay capitalized on the miscues and turned them into a 16-0 run to end the half as part of six lead changes in the game.
The Penguins finished with 25 turnovers, 10 more than Green Bay. YSU also sent the Phoenix to the foul line 11 times, surrendering nine points.
“I think our downfall tonight was when we took that six-point lead,” Martin said. “... I just thought we got a little rattled and it’s something that we’ve got to learn from and make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
There were some bright spots for the Penguins, who will travel to face Illinois-Chicago on Thursday. Junior guard Bojana Dimitrov scored 12 points as she continues to lead the team in scoring.
Joining Dimitrov were freshman Brandi Brown and senior Rachael Manuel. Brown had a team-high 16 points and was one rebound away from her fifth double-double of the season. Manuel finished with a career-best 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
Manuel said the team lost its focus when it took the lead over its nationally-ranked opponent and let the mental pressure affect their play.
“We just kind of got a little bit rattled,” she said. “We got up a little bit and I think we got excited at first that we got a lead on them, and then they started coming back. We didn’t start playing offensively, we kind of backed down a bit.”
The Penguins shot a season-high 50 percent from the field. That figure is also higher than any game last year. The last time the team shot 50 percent or better was against Green Bay in 2006.
Martin said she’s seeing improvement with the team each game.
“It’s extremely encouraging; I’m tickled to death,” she said. “I’m proud of the progress we’ve made here at Youngstown State, I believe in our program, I believe we have something really good here. But we all want results now.”
Martin said if the team continues to play with as much effort as the past two games — against Green Bay and a Jan. 2 loss to Wisconsin-Milwaukee — the wins will start coming and the team will look better “on paper.”
The team won’t have much time to prepare as the next two contests are on the road. The Penguins will travel to Chicago to face UIC (5-8, 2-0) Thursday at 8 p.m. and then again to face Loyola (6-7, 0-2) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
jmoffett@vindy.com