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Back to the fundamentals for YSU women
By Steve wilaj
youngstown
Last week, the Youngstown State women played two high-intensity, draining games at Beeghly Center.
The first was a buzzer-beating win against Milwaukee on Thursday, followed by an emotional eight-point loss on Saturday to Green Bay — the 17-time defending Horizon League champions.
So with a full week off before heading to Cleveland State on Saturday at 1 p.m. for their next contest, what’s the plan for the Penguins (12-3, 3-1)?
“We’re just gonna go back and re-focus on the fundamentals and little details,” third-year YSU head coach John Barnes said. “Sometimes those get away from you when you can’t do the drill work that you normally do when you have time to do it.
“We learned a lot from the last two games. Milwaukee did a lot in pushing us to the edge. And Green Bay, we had to raise our level — and the mistakes and things you’re not really good at show brightly when you go up against Green Bay. So both of those games will really help us going into Cleveland State and ones to follow.”
Despite a poor record, the Vikings (3-11, 0-4) have picked up wins against MAC schools Kent State and Bowling Green so far this season. And while CSU lost to Green Bay by 21 points on Thursday, it trailed the Phoenix by only nine points late in the third quarter.
For those reasons, the Vikings certainly have Barnes’ attention.
“They played Green Bay very tough, I thought when I watched that game on film,” Barnes said. “So they are very capable. They play well at home. It’s gonna take us to play one of our best games to get a win there.”
Against Milwaukee, Penguins junior forward Kelsea Newman hit a step-back jumper at the buzzer to break a 67-all tie. YSU then used that momentum to jump to a 28-19 lead against Green Bay midway through the second quarter, before being outscored 33-10 over a 13-minute stretch between the second and third quarters.
“We can take a lot away from that game,” Newman said. “Having a week until our next game, I think that’s really good for us in that we’ll be able to really look at that game and take what we can do to get better.”
The week of practice should allow YSU to better prepare itself for the way opponents have started guarding its leading scorer, sophomore forward Sarah Cash (13.8 points per game).
Facing numerous double-teams, she scored just six points against Milwaukee before recovering for 13 points against Green Bay.
“I think teams are trying to take Sarah away,” Barnes said. “But even with that being said, Heidi [Schlegel] was at 20 points per game [last season] and Sarah’s at 14 or something. So a lot of other players are scoring and making shots and doing different things, so it’s harder for teams to focus on Sarah.”
One of those players is sophomore guard Nikki Arbanas (11.9 ppg), who dropped 25 points on the Panthers and scored 13 points against Green Bay. In the two games combined, she shot 10 of 15 from 3-point range.
After heading to Cleveland State, the Penguins are on the road for two more games the following week (at UIC on Jan. 21, at Valparaiso on Jan. 23). Having weathered last week’s taxing two games, Barnes is sure his young team of nine underclassmen will be better off.
“I feel good about where we are with how young we are,” Barnes said. “They’re getting a lot of experience in a lot of tight games and playing good competition. So that only bodes well for the future.”