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Jackson’s actions highlight Senior Night for YSU
By STEVE WILAJ
YOUNGSTOWN
In a collegiate career where so much hasn’t gone Janae Jackson’s way, her Senior Night on Friday couldn’t have been much better.
Jackson — Youngstown State’s lone senior who, over the past four years, has endured a season-ending ACL injury, a transfer and a coaching change — scored 15 points as the Penguins downed Valparaiso, 87-66, at Beeghly Center.
The contest was originally scheduled to be part of a doubleheader with the YSU men’s team on Thursday afternoon. But a snowstorm in the greater Chicago area kept the Crusaders from leaving on Wednesday, pushing the game back a day — which just so happened to align Senior Night with Jackson’s 23rd birthday.
“I mean it wasn’t supposed to be on this night, but it was, so it made everything better,” said Jackson, who transferred to YSU from Northern Illinois in 2012 and missed all of the 2013-14 season with a knee injury.
“I think it made it even better since it was my birthday.
“And everybody made it what it was. We got the ‘W’ and everybody contributed.”
YSU (17-9, 8-7 Horizon League) was solid in all facets. The Penguins shot 52 percent, held Valpo (8-19, 4-12) to 35-percent shooting and outrebounded the Crusaders, 38-28.
Sophomore forward Sarah Cash led the way with 21 points and 11 rebounds, while sophomore guards Nikki Arbanas and Indiya Benjamin added 15 and 12 points, respectively.
Jackson scored all of her points in just 16 minutes of action in the second half, as she played just one minute in the first half due to two early fouls.
“I was really unhappy when she got two early fouls — not with her, but that it happened to her on Senior Night,” said YSU head coach John Barnes, who coached his 300th career collegiate game. “But for her to bounce back like she did — I thought she was very aggressive offensively. As a senior on Senior Night and it being her birthday, it couldn’t have went any better.”
YSU — which had lost three of its past four games and was coming off a defeat to Cleveland State on Feb. 20 — outscored Valpo, 20-10, in the first quarter.
The Penguins then took a 15-point lead into the break behind its defense, as the Crusaders shot just 25 percent for the half.
The second half was much of the same, with YSU building its lead to as large as 28 points early in the fourth.
“I felt like this was the first game in however many that we put two halves together,” Jackson said. “We came out from the beginning and kept pushing until the end. This game was a really good bounce back for us to help us get on a roll.”
In addition to Jackson getting into early foul trouble, Alison Smolinski — who started her first game since Jan. 23 — and Kelsea Newman each picked up two early fouls as well. That created early minutes for freshmen forwards Jill Blacksten (four points in 11 minutes) and Marissa Brown (five points in 12 minutes).
“Our bench had to come in and play big minutes and we didn’t miss a beat with them,” Barnes said.
YSU next hosts UIC on Sunday at 5 p.m. for its final regular-season home game. The contest was originally scheduled to be part of Saturday’s doubleheader with the YSU men’s team, but the same snowstorm that hampered Valpo also stalled the Flames.
“We didn’t really like it, but there wasn’t much we could do,” Barnes said of the delays. “I’m glad everybody got to their destination safely.”