Sunday, March 20, 2016
By StEVE WILAJ
YOUNGSTOWN
An excellent 3-point shooter herself, Youngstown State sophomore guard Nikki Arbanas can speak for all long-range specialists when she says: “3-point shooters always get excited whenever the other team plays zone, because of the wide-open shots.”
Safe to say, Arbanas and the 3-point heavy Penguins entered Saturday’s Women’s Basketball Invitational Elite Eight match-up with Maryland-Baltimore County giddy, especially knowing that the Retrievers attack with a zone defense.
After a slow start, second-seeded YSU turned that excitement for open shots into a 67-48 defeat of No. 3 UMBC at Beeghly Center.
The Penguins drained 15 3-pointers (second-most in school history) to advance to the WBI Final Four at Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
“Anytime you can keep playing in postseason, it’s great,” said third-year YSU coach John Barnes, whose team improved to 21-12. “These are good teams.
“This experience that our young players are getting is invaluable.”
Arbanas led YSU with 18 points on 6 of 14 3-point shooting while Kelsea Newman came off the bench for 15 points (4 3-pointers) and 10 rebounds.
The Penguins trailed UMBC (18-14) by seven points after the first quarter, but outscored the Retrievers 55-29 the rest of the way.
“Going into the game, we were concerned with their zone,” Barnes said. “It’s a 1-2-2 half-court trap and we haven’t seen that at all this year. It gave us problems [five turnovers in the first six minutes].
“But then we only had six or seven [turnovers] the rest of the game. I thought we settled down and made some better decisions after the initial shock.”
YSU won the second quarter, 19-7, before dominating the fourth quarter with an 18-7 advantage. Indiya Benjamin added nine points, Janae Jackson scored eight points and Sarah Cash and Jenna Hirsch each scored seven points as the Penguins shot 15 of 44 from beyond the arc.
“I thought the post did a great job of seeing that there was a lot of people on them and then kicking it out — in the first half especially,” said Arbanas, whose 86 3-pointers this season are one shy of the school-record. “That was a big key for the game.”
Another key is how YSU finished after Benjamin exited with an ankle injury after hitting a 3-pointer with 6:48 remaining in the fourth. She tweaked her ankle by landing on her defender’s foot. While the Penguins led by 10 at the time, they outscored UMBC 12-3 the rest of the game.
“[Hirsch] came in and played pretty well,” Arbanas said. “I thought she did a great job of attacking and taking Indiya’s position.”
Barnes said the extent of Benjamin’s injury is unknown, although she has battled through a troublesome ankle for the past few months.
Should the Penguins beat Louisiana-Lafayette, they would advance to the WBI championship on Saturday or Sunday.
“We’re gonna try to enjoy this for a little while and then get back to work,” Barnes said.