Penguin women inch closer, can’t close out Raiders

Photo by: William D. Lewis

Photo

Youngstown State’s Macey Nortey (13) looks to pass around Wright State’s LaShawna Thomas (3) in first-half action of Thursday’s game at YSU’s Beeghly Center. The Penguins came up short against the Raiders when Nortey missed a 3-point shot at the buzzer to tie the game and send it into overtime. The final score: WSU 64, YSU 61.

By Joe Scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Over the past few weeks, the Youngstown State University women’s basketball team has gone from “Hey, we’re competitive” to “Hey, we’re close” to “I’m sick of being close.”

From the look of Penguins coach Bob Boldon after Thursday’s 64-61 loss to Wright State at Beeghly Center, he doesn’t like the third stage any more than the first two.

“It’s nice that it was close but it’s still a loss,” he said. “We’re still 1-6 in the league.

“Truth is, I’m tired of losing and until we get tired of losing, it’s not going to change. We’ve talked about changing our mentality and it’s got to change.”

After snapping a 22-game Horizon League losing streak last week, the Penguins seemed poised to get their second conference win. They took a six-point lead — their biggest of the night — with 11:12 left and trailed by just two points with 90 seconds left.

But after forcing a Raider turnover with a minute left, YSU sophomore Brandi Brown drove into a double team and lost the ball. She then fouled LaShawna Thomas on the other end and Thomas hit one of two free throws to make it 64-61 with 21 seconds left.

After a YSU timeout, Brown got open for a 3-pointer, which she missed. But the ball caromed past the free throw line, where Penguin junior Kenya Middlebrooks dove on the floor, grabbed it and called timeout with six seconds left.

Boldon then drew up a play calling for Middlebrooks to come off a baseline screen for a 3-point shot, but the Raiders switched out, forcing point guard Macey Nortey to dribble right and fire up a last-second 3-pointer at the top of the key. The shot didn’t have much of a chance.

“That last one probably wasn’t a very good play,” Boldon said. “They didn’t switch out on the flare screen the previous time [when Brown got an open shot] but six seconds is different than [21] seconds.

“Macey had to take a tough shot. I probably should have drawn up something better.”

Brown finished with 23 points on 9 of 16 shooting with eight rebounds for YSU (3-15, 1-6), which has lost seven straight to the Raiders.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t close out the game,” Brown said. “We’re just trying to play hard for 40 minutes and not play one half, then slack off the next half.

“We want to play two solid 20-minute halves to beat the other team.”

Middlebrooks added 14 points, while Tieara Jones had nine points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

Thomas gave the Penguins fits, piling up 17 points to go with nine assists, beating the Penguins off the dribble and using her athleticism to create — and make — tough shots.

“All year we’ve had trouble with kids who can create their own shot,” Boldon said. “We don’t have what you would call a lockdown defender.

“I thought Macey forced her to take some tough shots and she made them. That’s what happens when you play good teams with good players.”

Molly Fox added 17 points and nine rebounds and Maria Bennett had 15 points for Wright State (11-6, 4-2), which matched its win total from last season.