43
YSU women open with test
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Last season started with a buzz-kill. This year just starts with buzz.
For the YSU women’s basketball program, all it took was a couple wins.
“I think the mindsets are completely different this time this year than they were just one year ago,” said Penguins coach Bob Boldon.
Boldon started last season, his first, with a 31-game losing streak hanging over his head and a lineup with just one senior starter.
But after beginning the season 0-3, the Penguins posted back-to-back wins over Bucknell and Ohio, then quietly (and steadily) improved, finishing the regular season on a three-game home winning streak.
Now the Penguins enter Friday’s opener at West Virginia with the Horizon League’s preseason player of the year in junior forward Brandi Brown, four returning starters (three of them seniors) and some positive press.
“There’s probably a little bit of buzz around the team,” said Boldon, who went 6-24 in his first year. “I think our team has shown their unselfishness with their genuine happiness for Brandi and for her success.
“I think that does provide a little bit of enthusiasm and a little bit of excitement to get things going.”
Brown led the league in scoring last year with 19.9 points per game and was tied for fourth with 9.2 rebounds. She’s surrounded by senior guards Macey Nortey (4.6 points and a team-best 2.8 assists per game) and Kenya Middlebrooks (8.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg), senior forward Tieara Jones (7.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and sophomore guard Liz Hornberger (3.2 ppg).
Add in some much-needed depth (a weak spot the past two years) and a second year in Boldon’s system and it’s easy to see why the Penguins are so optimistic, despite getting picked last in the preseason Horizon League poll.
“Last year’s team, a week out [from the opener], I felt like we weren’t as far [along] as we are this year,” said Nortey, who has 84 career starts. “We’ve learned so much already and just the progression I’ve seen compared to last year is just amazing.
“It’s kind of comforting and exciting in the same sense because I know we have so much more to learn.”
For the second straight year, YSU will begin the season playing a Big East power. Last year, the Penguins lost to Pitt, 86-66, in the opener. Friday, they’ll play a West Virginia team that went 24-10 last year and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The Mountaineers return just one starter but Boldon knows they’ll be a big test.
“Whenever we played them, it was going to be a challenge,” he said. “Our weaknesses will be exposed. We’ll find out exactly what we’re not good at.
“All your non-conference games, you’re hoping to learn a little bit, get better and prepare yourself for your conference season.”