YSU remains nightmare for Horizon squads

January 26, 2014 at 12:08a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown State women’s basketball team is off to a dream start in the Horizon League.

And it started with a wake-up call.

Behind a torrid opening 12 minutes, the Penguins defeated visiting Oakland, 79-64, on Saturday to improve to 5-0 in the conference and take a two-game lead in the league standings.

It is YSU’s best conference start since 1997-98, when the Penguins won their first six games in the Mid-Continent Conference and eventually advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

“I think after the Akron game, we woke up,” senior forward Karen Flagg said of a 91-75 loss to the Zips on Dec. 29. “I didn’t think we were going to wake up and we did.”

Flagg scored 11 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out four assists for the Penguins (9-9).

YSU jumped out to a 23-5 lead on the Grizzlies (8-11, 3-3), who entered the game tied for third in the conference standings.

YSU led by as many as 25 early in the second half before the Grizzlies started chipping away.

“We’re growing,” YSU coach John Barnes said. “It’s hard to come out and play a half like we did in the first half and keep that same intensity and build on that lead.

“That’s what we want to do. The best teams can do that. We’re not there yet. We’re still striving to be that.”

Oakland got its deficit down to six points, 57-51 with 7:56 left, but Flagg hit a jumper and Schlegel followed with two free throws and a 3-pointer to get it back to double digits. The Grizzlies never again threatened.

“I think we relaxed off our defense,” Flagg said. “We weren’t scoring and we had to wake up after the [8-minute] media timeout.”

Schlegel scored 25 points — her 10th game this season with 20 or more — and nine rebounds as YSU held a 42-40 edge on the glass.

Liz Hornberger added 18 points and five assists and Latisha Walker had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Penguins, who committed just eight turnovers.

“Eight turnovers, that was outstanding,” Barnes said. “Oakland forces 17 turnovers a game so we did a great job of taking care of the basketball and shooting when we were open.

“I’m just proud of how we held on.”

Betha Watterworth scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Oakland before fouling out with five minutes left. Elena Popkey added 13 points and Olivia Nash had 11.

The Penguins finish off a four-game homestand with a Wednesday game against Detroit (3-16, 0-6) — the league’s only winless team.

“We don’t want to look forward too far,” Barnes said. “We’re just trying to stay grounded. I know this is uncharted waters for the team and the program for a long time and a lot of players haven’t been in that spot, but luckily, for my sake, I’ve been able to be involved as an assistant or a head coach with teams that have been in this [first-place] position. Hopefully I can help them learn how to react in these situations.”