Green Bay Phoenix rise, rally to beat YSU women in overtime

February 19, 2012 at 12:10a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

It was over. Really, it was.

The bad guys were dead. The gun was empty. The script was written.

Two years removed from a winless season, one year removed from a 59-point loss, two days removed arguably from the worst defeat of the year, the Youngstown State women’s basketball team was about to do the impossible: beat the No. 12 team in the country.

Then, over a nightmarish 59 seconds, the Penguins did the unthinkable.

Then, in a five-minute overtime, the inevitable.

“We were there,” said senior Kenya Middlebrooks, whose team squandered a nine-point lead in the final minute of regulation before falling to No. 11 Green Bay, 77-72, in Saturday’s overtime game at Beeghly Center. “We had a chance to win the game and we didn’t finish.

“And it sucks.”

Middlebrooks, who scored 22 points in her final home game, made four two throws with 59 seconds left to give YSU its biggest lead, 64-55.

Green Bay cut it to seven, 64-57, on a jumper by Lydia Bauer but YSU’s Kelsea Fickiesen split a pair of free throws with 42 seconds left to make it 65-57 with 42 seconds left.

That’s when the floor dropped in.

Green Bay’s Adrian Ritchie hit a quick 3-pointer and, facing the Phoenix’s full-court pressure, Fickiesen turned it over, leading to a three-point play by Ritchie that cut it to two with 30 seconds left.

Fickiesen again split a pair of free throws on the other end with 28.2 left, but Middlebrooks fouled Ritchie on a 3-point attempt, allowing her to tie it with 19 seconds left.

YSU was forced to use a timeout when it couldn’t inbound the ball, then struggled to get the ball upcourt.

With three seconds left, Middlebrooks was forced to attempt a long, left-leaning, fadeaway 3-pointer at the top of the key that missed the rim by six feet.

“We didn’t do a real good job handling the basketball, we made some poor decisions and they made some tough shots,” YSU coach Bob Boldon said. “They capitalized on every mistake we made.”

The Penguins still had the five-minute overtime period but they were clearly emotionally and physically spent. Green Bay held YSU scoreless over the first three minutes, taking a four-point lead.

After a free throw by Penguin senior Macey Nortey, Middlebrooks got a steal and had an open look at a 3-pointer with 1:45 left.

It missed, Ritchie hit a jumper on the other end and YSU never again threatened.

“I knew on senior night, they [the Penguins] were going to step up and play well,” Phoenix coach Matt Bollant said. “Give them a lot of credit, they honestly deserved to win that game in a lot of ways.

“They played their hearts out and should have probably beat the 12th-ranked team in the country.”

Brandi Brown scored 21 points with 19 rebounds for YSU (10-16, 4-11 Horizon League), which lost at Green Bay 84-25 on Feb. 5, 2011. Fickiesen and Melissa Thompson each added 12 points.

“I thought it was a heckuva team effort,” Boldon said. “It’s hard to appreciate what you did when you didn’t win. I know others may have different opinions, our players may have different takes but my general opinion is our job is to win when we play.

“Today we didn’t do that.”

Ritchie scored 26 points, Julie Wojta had 18 and Lydia Bauer 14 for Green Bay (23-1, 13-1), which has won 19 straight Horizon League road games.

“I don’t think we took YSU lightly,” Bollant said. “I said don’t let them get going and we let them get going. I give them a lot of credit because they played with more toughness than we did and that was the most disappointing thing.

“And give our players credit. They kept believing, which is not an easy thing to do when you’re down nine with a minute left.”

Afterward, Middlebrooks struggled to hold back tears in the press conference and Boldon looked like a man who just watched a winning lottery ticket blow out an airplane window.

When asked how long it will take before he can appreciate Saturday’s effort, he paused, then said. “I don’t know. Honestly, I have no idea.”