Penguins’ incoming freshmen are close

By STEVE WILAJ

swilaj@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The highly touted Youngstown State women’s basketball freshman class — ranked in the top-25 percent nationally in November — finally met in late June when they arrived on campus for summer workouts.

Right away, one of the five All-Ohio selections had a feeling.

“The first day I met them, I knew we were all going to be close,” Alison Smolinski said.

A few months later — although the class has been trimmed to four after top recruit Bre Berryman was forced to leave over the summer due to health issues — Smolinski’s initial thought rings true. While the freshmen group of Melinda Trimmer, Marissa Brown, Jill Blacksten and Smolinski is a talented bunch that is expected to make an immediate impact, it’s a close one as well.

“We’re actually all like best friends right now,” Smolinski said at Wednesday’s YSU Media Day inside the Beeghly Center. “So it’s a lot of fun. It’s good to have each other, because some teams don’t always have that connection like we do.”

One way the girls are connected is through their high school success in Ohio.

Smolinski, a guard from North Royalton, was a first-team All-Ohio selection in 2014 — as was former West Branch star point guard Trimmer and former Newark Catholic standout Blacksten (guard/forward). The fourth member, Brown, a forward, starred at Bishop Hartley in New Albany and was named third-team All-Ohio last season.

Apparently, though, the freshmen have more in common than just their basketball skills.

“I love these girls, they’re great,” said Trimmer, the reigning Ohio Division II Co-Player of the Year. “Us finally coming together and getting to see how we play together is a lot of fun.”

Said Blacksten, a three-time first-team All-Ohio selection: “It’s been exciting since we met in the summer. You get to hang out a lot with your freshmen and we’ve all meshed super well. We’re such great friends already.”

The girls agreed that their bonding has helped them settle into YSU, while it was also a consensus that the youngsters are excited to compete for immediate playing time — which third-year head coach John Barnes said is open competition.

Guards Smolinksi and Trimmer will try to earn backup minutes behind sophomores Indiya Benjamin and Nikki Arbanas — who both started last year for a Penguins team that finished 21-11. However, the YSU frontcourt took a hit by losing starters Heidi Schlegel (18.3 points, 9.4 rebounds per game) and Latisha Walker (10.4 points, 7.4 rebounds per game) to graduation.

That opens the door for Brown (6-foot-3) and Blacksten (6-foot-2) to compete for those minutes along with sophomores Sarah Cash and Morgan Olson, junior Kelsea Newman and senior Janae Jackson.

“I feel really lucky to be in this freshmen class,” Brown said. “We’re all best friends now — really close — and we all push each other to do our best every day.”

Barnes has noticed.

“The freshmen came in at the end of June, so they had a month and a half before school actually started to get used to the strength and conditioning and our offense and some of our defense,” Barnes said. “We talk a lot about getting better every day and improving every day and they’re really taking that to heart.”