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Green Bay routs YSU women
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
After trying (and failing) to duplicate Green Bay’s pressure during this week’s practice, Youngstown State women’s basketball coach John Barnes might want to try a new approach next time:
Get in a MRI machine.
Try to shoot.
The visiting Phoenix dominated in every known statistical category — and probably a few that haven’t been invented yet — en route to a suffocating 73-27 victory in Saturday’s Horizon League game at Beeghly Center.
The Penguins finished with second-fewest points in a game in YSU history, just ahead of the 25 scored in an 84-25 loss to Green Bay on Feb. 25, 2011. That game was also the largest margin of defeat in YSU history.
“Defensively, they’re one of the best teams I’ve seen throughout my coaching career of 20 years,” Barnes said. “They’re just really good.”
The Penguins (19-8, 8-6) entered the game second in the Horizon League in scoring at 71.4 points per game but finished just 6 of 40 from the floor and 2 of 25 from the 3-point line. The game was close for about three minutes before the Phoenix jumped out to a 17-4 lead.
“We could have been mentally tougher,” Barnes said. “They punched us in the mouth and we were kind of staggering the whole game.”
The Penguins had nine first-half turnovers and trailed 40-11 at halftime. When asked if his team was ready for the moment, Barnes said, “Well, we had 13 turnovers in the first half of the last game against them, so that’s an improvement.”
When asked if it would have mattered if the Penguins were ready for the moment, Barnes admitted, “Probably not. They’re just really good.”
YSU senior Heidi Schlegel, who had scored 38 points in back-to-back games, finished with a season-low six points. It was also the first time Schlegel failed to score at least 14 points in a Horizon League game this season.
“She really requires a lot of attention,” Green Bay coach Kevin Borseth said. “We just tried to give her as much as we could.”
Latisha Walker scored 11 points with five rebounds to lead YSU.
Kaili Lukan had 14 points and five rebounds for Green Bay (24-4, 14-1), which had already clinched its 17th straight conference title. The Phoenix also swept the season series — Green Bay beat YSU 66-43 on Jan. 10 — after losing both games to YSU last year.
Borseth said last year’s losses had nothing to do with this year’s wins. The difference, he said, was last year’s YSU team had Liz Hornberger, who scored in double figures in both games.
“She just tore us up,” he said. “She was a bugger. We just never did stop her.”
Despite the loss, YSU can still finish with just its second 20-win season since joining the Horizon League in 2001-02. The Penguins play at Cleveland State on Wednesday — the teams are tied for third in the league standings — before finishing at home against Valparaiso on Saturday.
“As a coach, it’s disappointing but it’s part of the process,” Barnes said of the loss. “We’ve got to learn from it and we’ve got to get better from it.
“We’ve got a big game on Wednesday.”