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Dimitrov ready to turn the page
By Jon Moffett
YOUNGSTOWN
It wasn’t easy for Bojana Dimitrov to trudge through last year’s season with the Youngstown State women’s basketball team.
As one of the emotional leaders on the team, the Serbian-born point guard had a hard time coping with last year’s winless season. Dimitrov, then a junior, and the Penguins finished 0-30 and witnessed the abrupt resignation of former head coach Cindy Martin.
Dimitrov spent the summer at home in Serbia. When she returned to Youngstown, the leaves had already begun to change.
And so had her attitude.
“I said we needed to put last year behind us because that’s the only way we can get over everything and get ready for the next season,” she said. “I’m very excited. We’re all very calm and it just feels different than it did last year.”
Now a senior — the only senior on the team, actually — Dimitrov is charged with aiding in the turnaround. It will be up to her to help first-year head coach Bob Boldon apply his schemes and tendencies during the transition.
“As the only senior on the team, it’s maybe not all that easy, but I like the added responsibility,” she said. “My plan is to go back to Europe [after graduation] and play some more basketball, so for that I need a good season. And I want this team to have a good season.”
And Dimitrov said she’s already seen a positive change.
She said the team is responding to Boldon’s aggressive offense and defense. She also said that there is a better sense of trust since there are several new teammates.
The Penguins were decimated by injury in 2009. At times during the season, a “full squad” consisted of only seven girls. But with girls returning from injury, and a crop of talented freshmen, Dimitrov is excited to get things going for real.
“I think we are a better team,” she said. “I think the people who followed us last year know what was happening. At times we were only playing with six, seven girls at a time. But I’m putting that all behind us. It’s time to move on.”
The best way to move on is to move forward.
The Penguins have a tall task in their first opponent. YSU will travel to play Pitt on Friday. Playing a perennial basketball powerhouse might be a big test. But it will also show the Penguins what it takes to become an elite program.
Dimitrov said it’s very simple what the Penguins have to do: Score.
“We have to put the ball in the basket, period,” she said. “I think the only way to do that is practice. We’re getting a lot of shots; more than we got last year. And we’re all held accountable for that.”
Boldon’s offense is more fluid and aggressive than Martin’s. With fewer set plays and more creativity, Dimitrov is excited. She said it plays into her game.
“It will be much harder for the other teams to stop us, and that’s our goal,” she said. “We want to get more people involved. That’s more of the European style of the game, so I obviously like it.
“I also feel like the other players understand the game well, so we should all benefit from it.”