Frustrated by close losses, Penguins hope for more wins

By Jon Moffett | January 26, 2011 at 12:01a.m.

Youngstown

Bob Boldon is finding himself using the “F” word more so now than maybe ever before.

The word has come up a lot lately, after several close losses, a few near misses and a couple of heart-wrenching games. And the “F” word is starting to permeate through the locker room, too.

Yes, “frustration” is on the lips of the Penguins a lot these days.

Boldon, the first-year women’s basketball coach, has said many times how frustrating it has been to watch his team come so close, yet walk away with few wins. No coach likes to lose, and every loss eats away at Boldon a little more.

“I have had enough losing this year to last me a very long time,” Boldon said. “I guess it’s part of the process. And you hope that at least the team is learning from this process.”

The Penguins (3-16, 1-8 Horizon League) are three months into Boldon’s first year of rebuilding the struggling program. But even now, there have been more close games in his first season than in the past two combined.

Junior Macey Nortey said it has been tough to see the progress and improvement in practice and on game days, but not see it in the standings.

“Words can’t even describe it,” she said. “It’s just like we’re right there. And then after a game, you start to think about what one mistake did I do, or what one mistake did we as a team do to cause this close loss. It’s just frustrating.”

Though the Penguins haven’t technically been eliminated from winning the conference, it’s all but guaranteed at this point. Boldon said the rest of this year’s focus should be on winning games to improve the team’s seeding in the conference tournament. Then, hopefully, it can make some noise.

“At that point, you move on to your next goal, which is to compete in the conference tournament,” he said. “If you can do some work between now and then you could possibly get a home game or improve your seeding.”

This week is the Penguins’ open week. They’ll hit the court again on Jan. 29 when they host Cleveland State at the Beeghly Center. It will be the last game for the first go-around of conference play.

After that, the Penguins will see all of their conference foes one more time before the tournament.

Boldon said it’s easier to play a team the second time. You know their tendencies a little bit better, and you have film of them playing you.

“I think it’s nice for us from a coaching standpoint to see how they’re actually going to guard us. [The first time around] you get to watch them play other people and see how they guard other people,” he said. “Our offense is fairly unique. It’s not rocket science, but it’s a little different. We don’t ball-screen as much as other teams, so a lot of times we’re watching tape on how they guard ball screens and it’s irrelevant.”

Nortey said while she is excited to see some teams again — and hopefully change the outcomes of some games — the team is focused on Cleveland State. There’s no looking back, and no looking ahead.

“We do still have a task in front of us, and you can’t jump the gun and think about next week or the next couple of weeks,” she said. “You just have to take it day by day and game by game.”

Asked if Cleveland State, which is the closest Horizon opponent, was the Penguins’ chief rival, Boldon said the team had to win a few before it had a true rivalry.

“I feel like Michigan football,” he said.