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Butler does in YSU
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GUARD DOG: Canfield's Jillian Halfhill, back, watches as teammate Cally Wollet (3) tries to take the ball from Poland's Abby Brenoel (11) during Saturday's game at Canfield High School. The Cardinals proved too much for the Bulldogs, winning 59-27.
Penguins commit 25 turnovers in defeat
By JOE SCALZO
Vindicator Sports staff
YOUNGSTOWN — More than halfway through this nightmare of a season, YSU women’s basketball coach Cindy Martin once again did her best to find small victories in yet another defeat.
UHer best player, freshman Brandi Brown, had another solid game.
UHer players kept hustling.
UNobody got injured.
Martin didn’t mention that last one following Saturday’s 74-48 loss to Butler at Beeghly Center, but after dressing just seven players, she didn’t need to.
Making things worse, two players (Maryum Jenkins and Macey Nortey) fouled out in the closing minutes. Fortunately, Brown didn’t pick up her fifth foul, helping the Penguins avoid a dreaded five-on-four situation.
(According to NCAA rules, teams can play with fewer than five players.)
YSU (0-17, 0-6 Horizon League) was called for 15 of its 20 personal fouls in the second half, prompting Martin to criticize the officiating in her first comments afterward without being prompted.
“I just didn’t think we had a very good officiated game today as far as consistency,” she said. “I thought it was called one way in the first half and a different way in the second. On our side, one thing we need to do a little better is adjust to the calls.
“They let both of us play a lot, so it was consistent from that standpoint. But half-to-half, it changed.”
The fouls, of course, didn’t make nearly as big of a difference in the outcome as the Penguins’ turnovers (25, including 17 in the first half) and interior defense (Butler scored 52 points in the paint).
YSU managed to keep it close for the first 15 minutes, trailing by just four (18-14) before the Bulldogs scored the final six points of the half. The Penguins never threatened after that, but they continued to play with good energy, if not good results.
“I still coach and I still work hard because they’re [her players] still working hard,” Martin said. “They’re awesome and I love them very much and they’re working their tails off for the situation.
“They’re the ones that are having to deal with the embarrassment with the record they have now. They’re holding themselves high, they’re classy, they’re ladies on and off the floor and I just have a lot of respect for them.”
Brown finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds in 38 minutes for YSU, another double-double for the only player in the Horizon League averaging one.
“We didn’t get her the ball enough,” Martin said.
Nortey, who leads the league in assists with 5.2 per game, struggled with Butler’s physical play, particularly when she was coming off on-ball screens. Nortey had nine turnovers against just three assists.
“Looking back, maybe I put Macey in some bad situations,” said Martin, who felt Nortey wasn’t getting calls when she got hip-checked. “[But] I think she needs to do a better job of seeing [the hip-checks] because they’re definitely going to be on her next time as well.”
Melanie Thornton scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Butler (10-6, 3-2), doing much of her damage inside.
Kenya Middlebrooks scored 11 points for the Penguins, who were missing leading scorer Bojana Dimitrov, who is probably out for another week with a sprained PCL in her knee. Dimitrov, a sophomore in her first year at YSU, was averaging 12.9 points per game.
Boardman High graduate Makala Gasparek added a career-high seven points.
scalzo@vindy.com