43
YSU women earn 2nd win against Ohio U
By Jon moffett
Youngstown
The streak continues for the Youngstown State women’s basketball team. And for the first time in more than two seasons, it’s not a bad thing.
The women won their second-straight game with a 60-52 win over Ohio University. That gives the Penguins their longest winning streak since the 2007-08 season.
After a sluggish start, head coach Bob Boldon must have given quite the pep talk. The Penguins (2-3) came out and played an inspired second half, shooting 54 percent and limiting the Bobcats (2-2) to 18 points.
“We wanted to make sure we were playing with energy,” Boldon said. “The main thing is we wanted to make sure we had an energy level that was acceptable for a Division I level of basketball.”
Shooting has been the Achilles’ heel for the Penguins for several season. But Boldon said he was encouraged be smart shot selection and execution in both wins. The Penguins shot 43 percent for the game.
The Penguins defense also showed up to play.
The Bobcats were forced to take 25 three-pointers, something they weren’t comfortable doing. They had only attempted 44 such shots entering the game.
Also stepping up was junior guard Tieara Jones.
Jones blocked three shots and posted a career-high 14 points. The Rayen graduate scored all of her points in the second half.
Jones said it’s a lot more fun to hear fans cheering after a win than to sulk off the court following a loss.
“I can’t explain it,” she said. “It’s an amazing feeling to come back home and play basketball and help out in any way that I can.”
The Penguins trailed by as many as 18 points late in the first half. The score was 34-19 at the break in favor of the visitors. They were shooting just 30 percent in the opening half.
But Jones said Boldon told them at the intermission that a more solid effort would win the game.
“He just kind of stressed to get back to what we know and to follow the scouting report he taught us for this particular game, because we changed a lot of our defensive principles for this game,” Jones said of Boldon. “He prepared us really, well in his gameplan.
“We weren’t executing in the first half,” she added. “We were giving up a lot of offensive rebounds and they were getting us with the press and we were turning the ball over a lot. But he told us that we could easily outscore this team in the second half 40-12.”
Actually, the Penguins were able to outscore the Bobcats 41-18 in the second half.
The gameplan wasn’t as difficult as Boldon wanted it to seem: clog the middle and force them to shoot outside shots.
“The was the gameplan,” he said with a smile. “I wanted to make it sound more in-depth, but it’s really not. That was the gameplan.”
The Penguins will travel for their next three games. Up next is a trip to Kent State on Wednesday at 7 p.m.