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Penguins celebrate birthday, victory
By Steve Wilaj
Youngstown
For the past four or five years — she can’t remember exactly — Indiya Benjamin has celebrated her birthday on a game day. And each time, the Youngstown State freshman point guard picked up a victory.
So with her 19th birthday falling on Saturday as the Penguins hosted Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Benjamin certainly wanted to keep her personal win streak going.
“I didn’t want my first year of college to be my first loss,” she said. “So I tried to come out with a good game.”
Did she ever.
With a large amount of family “hooting and hollering” in the stands, Benjamin sparked YSU with 16 first-half points, paving the way to a 22-point halftime lead and eventual 87-64 Penguins victory at Beeghly Center.
The birthday girl finished with 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting. She connected on all four of her 3-point attempts — all of them coming in the first half.
“I was just feeling it,” Benjamin said. “I was relaxed and trying to play my game and shots were falling for me today. I owed my team from my performance last game, so I wanted to come out with a sense of urgency.”
The Penguins (15-5, 4-3 Horizon League) entered Saturday as losers of two straight games. They surrendered a 16-point halftime lead at home to Detroit on Wednesday before falling by a point, 59-58. But there was no second-half letdown against Milwaukee (7-13, 3-5).
Paced by Heidi Schlegel’s game-high 24 points and nine rebounds, YSU never let the Panthers back into the contest after leading 51-29 at the break.
“Against Detroit, we just didn’t make shots,” Penguins coach John Barnes said. “But some shots went in today and it kept our confidence up and we kept playing pretty solid defense.
“We really wanted to get back in the win column and now go on a streak and make a little run. We felt that maybe we let a couple get away and we’re trying to get those back.”
YSU’s 51 first-half points were the most by the Penguins since they scored the same amount on Feb. 24, 2002 at Wright State. In the first 20 minutes, YSU shot 17 of 31 overall, 7 of 13 from behind the arc and 10 of 12 from the foul line.
The Penguins also outrebounded Milwaukee 22-9 and finished the game with a 36-19 advantage.
YSU finished the contest 29 of 49 from the field (59 percent), 11 of 21 from 3-point range. The Penguins made 18 of 22 free-throw attempts.
“Coach just told us to not let up because that’s what we kind of did last game,” Benjamin said. “So we all tried to come out with the same sense of urgency that we did in the first half.”
Saturday marked the second consecutive game in which Kelsea Newman replaced Jenna Hirsch in the Penguins’ starting lineup. Hirsch started the first 18 games of the season.
Both responded well against the Panthers, as Newman scored 15 points and Hirsch added 12.
“I think Jenna and Kelsea have done a great job,” Barnes said. “That’s what’s great about this team. They don’t care who’s starting or getting the glory as long as we’re playing together and getting wins.”