YSU women look to rebound against Detroit

January 28, 2015 at 12:09a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown senior Latisha Walker is battling a sprained ankle. Freshman Indiya Benjamin has an injured shoulder. Freshman Morgan Olson missed the last game with an illness and several other freshmen are battling mental and physical fatigue.

Oh, and there’s still more than a month left in the regular season.

“We’re gonna be tired,” senior Heidi Schlegel said. “Everyone’s tired. Both teams are tired. It’s gonna come down to who wants it more and who’s more focused.”

That was a problem last Saturday. The Penguins gave up a season-high 85 points in a three-point loss at Oakland, although it didn’t help that Walker (the team’s best shot blocker and interior defender) was limited to 14 minutes.

“We weren’t mentally prepared to go into that game,” Schlegel said. “We made a lot of mental errors.

“On our end, it comes down to defense. We didn’t play good defense at Oakland.”

Things should get a little easier, at least defensively, when the Penguins play host to Detroit tonight at Beeghly Center.

The Titans (7-12, 2-4) are scoring a league-low 64.7 points per game despite having four players that average at least 9.9 points per game. They also rank last in field goal percentage (38.6) and rebounding margin (minus-4.7).

Still, Detroit has split with YSU each of the last three years.

“Detroit’s a good team,” Schlegel said. “They’ve got some really, really good guards. They’re really quick. They’re well-coached. They have a really, really good coach. They’re tough every year.

“I think our biggest key is we’re gonna have to focus on what we can control. We need to get back to those little things and be mentally focused and be ready to play.”

Schlegel leads the Penguins (14-4, 3-2) with 15.7 points per game, but she’s gotten a lot of help the last two games from Benjamin (who had a career-high 22 points in last Thursday’s win over Wright State) and freshman guard Nikki Arbanas (who had 20 against Oakland).

Until last week, YSU had never had a freshman score 20 or more points in a Horizon League game, a span of 221 contests.

Benjamin played just 10 minutes against Oakland — but she and Walker both practiced on Monday. YSU coach John Barnes expects them to play tonight.

“This time of year, you’re gonna have that stuff and you’ve just got to play through it,” he said.

Walker’s injury, and her foul trouble against Wright State, forced Barnes to play freshman Sarah Cash (Lordstown) a combined 47 minutes over the last two games and she’s responded, combining for 16 points.

“It’s next person step in and step up,” Barnes said. “That’s why everyone practices hard all year. When you get your opportunity, you’ve got to make the most of it.”