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WVU tops YSU women
Penguins stifled by Mountaineer D
By Joe CATULLO, JR.
MORGANTOWN, W. VA
A full week of practice turned into a 28 percent shooting performance for Youngstown State Sunday at West Virginia.
The 25th ranked Mountaineers out-did the Penguins in almost every category during the 90-57 rout. They collected 19 more rebounds, 12 more field goals, and the list goes on and on. Coach Bob Boldon, however, saw a positive.
“We don’t have to play them again this year,” he said.
The Penguins (7-3) never led and trailed by as many as 37. They cut into the lead midway in the second half, trailing by 16 with 10:59 remaining. Then the Mountaineers (7-2) bolted to a 31-11 scoring run until the 1:18 mark.
“We played a really good team that played very well,” Boldon said. “We weren’t real crisp, and they shot the ball a lot better than us. If you’re going to beat a team that’s a top 25 team, which they are, you’re not going to do it shooting the way we shot the ball. You’re not going to be able to give up such disparity in shooting percentage.”
The Penguins could not find any rhythm or momentum in the first half, trailing 43-23 at the buzzer. YSU committed only six turnovers but shot 28.6 percent from the field while the Mountaineers shot 66.7 percent. Shar’Rae Davis tallied four of the six Penguin turnovers.
Brandi Brown struggled noticeably, collecting one point and three rebounds in the first half.
“Brandi goes through different stages,” Boldon said. “Last year she was very passive and tried to let her teammates get into the flow of things so to speak. We should’ve done a better job as a staff getting better looks.”
Brown finished with 12 points and four rebounds. Heidi Schlegel scored a team-high 13 points and added two steals to her game. She said the team simply did not follow the game plan, which was ‘to play hard and to play smart.’
“We played hard most of the time, but not the whole time,” Schlegel said. “I think the full week of practice was good for us. We just weren’t ready to play today.”
Taylor Palmer led WVU with 15 points and collected eight rebounds. Four other players, including three starters, finished in double figures. One of the other starters was Ayana Dunning tallying 13 points and 13 rebounds.
“Youngstown State ran a lot of spread and a lot of things, but this team is 7-3 and beat Pitt at Pitt and lost to Cincinnati by nine at Cincinnati,” WVU coach Mike Carey said. “This team has played a pretty good schedule coming in here.”
The Penguins return home on Thursday to face Akron, a university YSU is 37-13 all-time against, including a 78-72 victory last season.