Barnes’ Penguins control their own destiny

February 19, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

No matter what happens over the next month, the Youngstown State women’s basketball team has already had a good season.

The Penguins can still make it a great one.

Thanks to last week’s wins over Oakland and Milwaukee, the Penguins (17-7, 6-5) have surpassed last year’s win total and clinched just their second winning season since joining the Horizon League in 2001.

They’re now a half-game back of third-place Cleveland State in the league standings with five regular season games remaining.

“It’s exciting to be where we are,” said YSU coach John Barnes, who led the Penguins to a 15-16 mark last season, including 10-6 in the Horizon League. “We can finish as high as second. Or if you don’t play well and kind of tank, you can finish toward the bottom. So, we control our own destiny, which is nice.”

Tonight, YSU plays at Milwaukee, which lost to the Penguins 87-64 on Jan. 31. The Penguins then play at last-place Valparaiso on Saturday before hosting perennial power Green Bay on Feb. 28.

“We’re just trying to take it one game at a time, as clich as that is,” Barnes said. “We’ve had some good runs this year and we’ve had runs where we didn’t play so well.”

Last week’s victories were significant because the Penguins lost to both teams in late January, starting a stretch where they lost four out of five games. Three of those losses were by one possession.

“When we lost a couple games, we were still staying positive,” said senior Heidi Schlegel, who leads the team in scoring (16.4 points per game) and rebounding (10.0 per game). “That’s the way we can win going into this week — be positive and have good practices.”

The Penguins went 23-10 two years ago under Bob Boldon, tying them for third in YSU history for victories in a season with the 1996-97 team. Only the 1997-98 team (which went 28-3) and the 1990-91 team (24-4) won more.

On paper, YSU should win at least three of its remaining games, but Barnes believes the league is too balanced to overlook anyone.

“Our team understands that it doesn’t matter who they’re playing and where they stand in the league,” he said. “Anybody can beat anybody. Valpo beat Milwaukee pretty handily the other night at home. And Milwaukee beat Oakland at home pretty handily. And Oakland had beaten Green Bay the game before.

“So it really doesn’t matter. Every team, if you’re not ready to play, can beat anybody else. So we just keep pounding that [message] in and hopefully it sets in and they realize that and come ready to play both games [this week].”