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YSU women putting ugly loss behind them
YSU women putting
upset loss behind them
By STEVE WILAJ
YOUNGSTOWN
It’s a fact that Youngstown State women’s coach John Barnes acknowledged at Tuesday’s news conference. It stems from the Penguins shooting just 43 percent from the field in an upset loss to Cleveland State on Saturday — and more importantly, just 7 of 25 from 3-point territory (28 percent).
“You’re not gonna shoot the ball well every night,” Barnes said.
Facts are facts.
And here’s another one: YSU’s path doesn’t get any easier as it hits the road for contests at UIC (9-8, 0-6 Horizon League) tonight at 8 p.m., and Valparaiso (6-11, 2-4) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
But the Penguins (12-4, 3-2) are ready for a fresh start.
“We’ve moved on from [Cleveland State],” Barnes said. “We had a really good practice yesterday and hopefully we’ll have another one today and play well on this road trip.”
YSU can certainly use a successful road trip to stay afloat near the top of the conference standings.
The Penguins currently sit in fourth place in the Horizon League as one of three teams with two conference losses (Detroit and Milwaukee are the others). Green Bay and Wright State — which YSU hosts on Jan. 28 — are the top two teams (both 5-0).
Another reason the Penguins’ loss at CSU hurt, a win against the Vikings would have gave YSU sole possession of third place behind the perfect top two. But the young group is trying to forget about Saturday.
“After the game, we were all upset about it because we knew we could play better,” said reserve sophomore guard Kelley Wright, who scored 11 points against CSU. “So it was really disappointing when we came out with a loss.
“But we’re responding a lot better. Before practice [on Monday] we were kind of coming together and were like, ‘OK, we need to get going and practice hard.’ We didn’t have the best week’s practice for that game, so we’re not taking any chances. We’re going hard and we’re already hustling more than we did last week. So hopefully that’ll get us better prepared.”
YSU needs to prepare for 6-foot-3 senior forward Ruvanna Campbell, who leads UIC with 17.2 points and 12.5 rebounds per game.
“Just an incredible player and a great athlete,” Barnes said. “She can score from the block, from the outside, she gets a ton of steals [and] she’s a great rebounder. ... She’s a major force and we’re gonna have to try to contain her as a group.”
Campbell also became the Flames’ all-time leader in rebounds on Jan. 14 — breaking a 37-year-old school record.
Coincidentally, cleaning the glass has been a problem for YSU. The Penguins are being out-rebounded by an average of 9.4 rebounds per game. The Vikings won the rebounding battle, 42-32.
“We have about three rebounding drills that we do now every day at practice,” Wright said. “We’ve been working on our technique a little bit more. ... Overall, we just have to get after it.”
And after four days to digest their ugly loss, the Penguins are certainly ready for that opportunity.
“The thing with our team is I feel like we can beat anybody,” Barnes said. “But on any given night, anybody can beat us. We don’t have a wide margin of error, so we need to play well.”