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YSU women learned from road loss to Penn State
Penguins hosting KSU on Saturday
By STEVE WILAJ
YOUNGSTOWN
When did Nikki Arbanas realize Tuesday’s 68-51 loss at Penn State was more of a learning experience than anything else for the Youngstown State women’s basketball team?
Mainly when the Nittany Lions stretched a seven-point, late-third quarter lead into a 19-point, early-fourth quarter advantage on five layups.
“Something that was really big for us was our transition defense,” Arbanas, a Penguins starting sophomore guard, said at Thursday’s news conference. “It was clearly not ready for them because they kept making layup after layup after layup after a while.
“But that’s something that we’re obviously just gonna work on and it’s good to learn from mistakes playing against a team that is good.”
After giving the Big Ten’s Penn State (4-5) a run for its money for three quarters, YSU (6-1) ran out of gas in suffering its first loss of the season. Now, third-year coach John Barnes wants his team to learn from the defeat as the Penguins welcome Kent State (3-5) to Beeghly Center at noon Saturday.
“I think Tuesday’s game definitely helped us out going against some big size — they were very athletic, they were fast,” Barnes said. “All of those things can help us going into our next game.”
The Mid-American Conference Flashes will enter YSU coming off a loss on Tuesday as well (at Bradley). Like Penn State, Barnes said KSU has size and likes to play fast — which the Penguins should be better prepared for this time.
In addition to not handling the Nittany Lions’ transition offense well, YSU made just 4 of 23 3-pointers and shot just 37 percent overall (22 of 58).
“They disrupted our rhythm a little bit and ultimately we would like to shoot a little bit better even if we do have defense right on us,” Barnes said. “I think we’re gonna shoot better Saturday and go on from there.”
One Penguin who didn’t struggle against Penn State was power forward Sarah Cash. The sophomore from Lordstown scored 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds. As was the theme of the contest, Barnes thinks the performance certainly taught Cash a personal lesson.
“Hopefully that made her realize that if she can score on them, she can score on anyone,” he said. “We did a good job of getting the ball to her and I thought we did a solid job of penetrating. All of those things can help us going into Saturday.”
YSU’s contest with KSU is the first of a three-game homestand that also includes Salem International on Monday and Lake Erie on Wednesday. The Penguins should be in good shape for all three if Tuesday’s loss at Penn State is as valuable as they believe.
“We really learned we have to play a full game,” Arbanas said. “One-hundred percent, always playing hard, always being more aggressive than the other team and outworking them.”