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Cold-shooting YSU women fall to CSU
Vikings overcame
their cold shooting
By STEVE WILAJ
YOUNGSTOWN
It’s just the way it is.
“You can’t always have a good shooting day,” Youngstown State women’s guard Nikki Arbanas said.
And Saturday afternoon against Cleveland State, the Penguins didn’t have a good shooting day. But, heck, they didn’t even have just a bad shooting day.
Falling to the Vikings, 53-43, at Beeghly Center, YSU had a miserable shooting day — or a dreadful shooting-day or an atrocious shooting day (or any words along those lines) — finishing at 24 percent from the field (16 of 65) and 17 percent from 3-point range (6 of 34).
The Penguins dropped to 16-9 overall, 7-7 in the Horizon League and were swept in their season series against Cleveland State (6-18, 3-11). The Vikings won, 70-55, on Jan. 24 at the Wolstein Center.
“It was disappointing,” YSU head coach John Barnes said. “I thought we played pretty well defensively. ... But it’s really hard for us to win if we’re not making shots from the 3 — and I thought we had a lot of shots under the basketball we didn’t make. It was just one of those nights.
“As well as we played and as many shots as we made at Milwaukee (a win in YSU’s previous game on Feb. 13), it was the complete opposite today.”
For all of their shooting woes, the Penguins still led Cleveland State — which shot just 25 percent overall — by one point at halftime.
But the Vikings outscored YSU 13-8 in the third quarter and opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to take control of the contest. The Penguins cut a double-digit, fourth-quarter deficit to seven points twice, but never really threatened CSU’s lead.
“We can’t shoot well every game,” Arbanas said. “But we have to find other ways to get points or get good shots for other people.”
No YSU player reached double figures. Janae Jackson scored a team-high nine points, Arbanas added eight and Sarah Cash added seven points and 12 rebounds.
Meanwhile, starting point guard Indiya Benjamin shot 2 of 15 (2 of 9 on 3-pointers), starting forward Kelsea Newman shot 2 of 10 (1 of 7 from 3) and reserve guard Alison Smolinksi shot 2 of 8 (1 of 6 from 3).
“You miss some early and then they just jam up the paint and you can’t throw it in there,” Barnes said. “We were trying to stress to drive, drive, drive. But we struggled to [shoot] and then that’s the only option they give you. And when they’re not going in, it’s tough.”
As a result of YSU’s poor shooting, Cleveland State — which was led by Ashanti Abshaw’s 14 points and 12 rebounds — outrebounded the Penguins 55-35. The Vikings collected 18 offensive rebounds — something YSU hoped to prevent, but couldn’t.
“There were two main keys — keep them off the offensive glass and take care of the ball,” said Barnes, whose team committed 19 turnovers. “If we do those two things, despite not shooting the ball well, we still win the game. ... I think Cleveland State will probably say they didn’t even play that well, yet they still found a way to win.”
With the loss, YSU — which entered in fifth place in the Horizon League — falls deeper into a logjam in the middle of the conference standings. The Penguins next host Valparaiso on Thursday at 5:15 p.m.
“We all just need to pull it together as a whole,” Arbanas said. “If a couple of us don’t make shots, things like that, we need to come together as a team — especially after a loss like this.”