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On off night, YSU women find a way
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Youngstown State’s Karen Flagg shoots a jump shot over Detroit defenders Haleigh Ristovski (2) and Senee Shearer (23) during the first half of Wednesday’s game at YSU’s Beeghly Center. Flagg had a career-high 26 for the Penguins, who downed the Titans, 80-71, and are 6-0 in Horizon League play.
On off night, YSU women find a way
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
As Youngstown State’s women’s basketball team was warming up for Wednesday’s game against last-place Detroit, senior forward Karen Flagg noticed something different about the team’s focus.
It wasn’t there.
“You could tell,” she said. “Our main players needed to wake up, and that’s what happened in the second half.”
After falling behind by 14 points in the first half, the Penguins rallied down the stretch, dropping Detroit 80-71 at Beeghly Center to stay perfect in the Horizon League.
YSU (10-9, 6-0) is off to its best conference start since the 1997-98 season, when it won the Mid-Continent Conference and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
“We’re happy to be where we are,” YSU coach John Barnes said. “We struggled a little bit tonight but we found a way to pull through. I thought we grinded really hard in the second half and fought and fought and fought and finally got a little bit of a lead and were able to stretch it out.
“I give Detroit a ton of credit. They played really hard, they played really well and they took us out of our game.”
Flagg poured in a career-best 26 points — nine more than her previous high — to go with eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks and zero turnovers. She scored 16 points in the first half to keep YSU in the game.
“I tried everything I could so we wouldn’t lose to Detroit,” she said. “I mean, not them in particular, but to keep this undefeated record. And playing hard is one of them. And keeping everyone together.”
Added Barnes, “Karen just did what a senior should do tonight. We had players struggling and she just really took over. She made her 3s, she made her free throws, she took care of the basketball, rebounded. I mean, there’s not much she didn’t do.”
YSU outscored Detroit 44-31 in the second half but the Penguins didn’t take the lead until Heidi Schlegel’s layup made it 65-64 with 5:43 left. Jenna Hirsch added a layup and Flagg hit a jumper to make it a five-point game with 4:14 left and Detroit never recovered.
Schlegel missed her first 12 shots but still finished with 16 points (on 5 of 19 shooting) and 14 rebounds. Freshman Jenna Hirsch also scored 16 points (on 5 of 21 shooting) and had six rebounds and six assists. Freshman Kelsea Newman added 11 points off the bench, hitting her first three 3-pointers in the first half.
“Kelsea, she has no conscience,” Barnes said. “If she doesn’t play for three games or plays 20 minutes, she’s going to come in there and give you a great effort. That’s what we need from her right now. She relishes that role and doesn’t complain when she doesn’t play and is happy when she does.”
Senee Shearer — the Horizon League’s leading scorer at 20.5 points per game — scored 17 points for Detroit (3-17, 0-7), which is the conference’s only winless team. Haleigh Ristovski added 15 points and Tayelor McCallister had 14.
And while Flagg felt Detroit took advantage of YSU’s lack of focus, Barnes wasn’t so sure.
“All we talked about was being ready to go and being focused,” he said. “So, hopefully we were. I think Detroit just came out and played really well.”