Wilaj: Penguins grew a lot in 2015-16

He joked about it a few times throughout the season (at least I think they were jokes), but although John Barnes often doubted it, he made it through the 2015-16 Youngstown State women’s basketball campaign with a full head of hair.

See, at times, it seemed that the third-year YSU coach might need to invest in a toupee for next fall.

But when the Penguins’ season came to an end on Wednesday, they boasted a 21-13 record and a deep postseason tournament run — even through all their ups, downs and down-to-the-wire games.

No, YSU didn’t reach the most prestigious Final Four.

Still, the Penguins’ season ended much later than most when they lost in a Women’s Basketball Invitational semifinal at Louisiana-Lafayette earlier this week — certainly not bad for a team of nine underclassmen and a typical starting lineup of three sophomores, one freshman and a senior.

“I’m very pleased with the season and how it went,” Barnes told The Vindicator on Friday. “For such a young team, we grew a lot as the season went on. It’s a pretty big accomplishment — 21 wins and making the semifinals of a postseason tournament and being one of the last teams in the country still playing. So I’m very happy with it.”

And, for a bonus, Barnes still has all — or at least most of — his golden-blonde hair.

Here’s a look back at YSU’s third 20-plus win season in four years in which the Penguins played the highest amount of games in program history.

WILD FINISHES

The dramatic endings started immediately — a two-point season-opening win against Canisius after trailing by 20 at halftime, as Sarah Cash made two free throws with 0.6 seconds left.

By Jan. 2, there were two more games in which Cash drained free throws in the final seconds to lift YSU to victory (vs. Radford on Nov. 20 and at Detroit on Jan. 2).

The Penguins also notched a win against Milwaukee on Jan. 7 on Kelsea Newman’s buzzer-beating shot, a gut-wrenching 72-69 win vs. Wright State on Jan. 28 and a Horizon League Tournament opening-round two-point win against Oakland March 10 on Janae Jackson’s basket with 2.2 seconds left.

In all, YSU won six games by four-or-less points and lost one by one point (vs. Detroit on Feb. 6).

“We faced a lot of adversity and were down in a lot of games,” Barnes said. “We just never gave up and we kept working hard and stuck with it. We were able to turn things around a lot of times in the second half when we were down double-figures. It just showed the never-give-up attitude of the team.”

BALANCED SCORING

Entering the season, Barnes was concerned with how his young team would replace the scoring of Heidi Schlegel and Latisha Walker — YSU’s top two senior scorers in 2014-15. Turns out, there was no reason to worry.

Starting forward Cash (a Lordstown graduate) had a terrific sophomore season, averaging a team-high 14.1 points per game to go along with 7.1 rebounds. She earned second-team all-conference honors just a year after joining the Penguins as a walk-on.

Meanwhile, the sophomore backcourt duo of Indiya Benjamin and Nikki Arbanas was strong in its second season as starters. Arbanas averaged 11.3 points and set the school’s single-season 3-point record (89), while Benjamin — despite battling an ankle injury for the second half of the season — notched 9.9 points.

Also, the well-liked-by-her-teammates Jackson had a solid senior season, averaging 9.3 points and 6.2 rebounds. And junior shooter Newman averaged 6.5 points off the bench.

“A big key was Sarah Cash having a great year,” Barnes said. “So for her to step up this year like she did was just huge for the success of the team. It was just very balanced and no one cared who scored, as long as we got wins.”

FRESHMEN FOUR

Prior to the season, Barnes brought in a highly-regarded recruiting class of freshmen Alison Smolinski, Jill Blacksten, Melinda Trimmer and Marissa Brown.

Smolinksi — a guard who averaged 5.6 points — saw the most action (34 games, 19 starts), while Trimmer played in 30 and forwards Blacksten and Brown played 29 games each.

“It’s a learning process,” Barnes said. “There were a lot of ups and downs for the freshmen class, but overall, they all improved and helped us win at times.”

On Trimmer, a West Branch graduate who averaged 7.7 minutes per game, Barnes said: “I thought Melinda grew a lot this year. It’s such a different level of play from high school to college, especially in the Horizon League. So I think it was difficult for her at first, but she grew up a lot and realized the things that she has to work on. I’m very happy with how she’s coming along.”

LOOKING AHEAD

Losing just Jackson to graduation, Barnes and YSU’s youthful roster has plenty to build on and look forward to in the near future.

No doubt, the Penguins should fare better in next year’s conference tournament (lost to Wright State in the quarterfinals) and you would think they should be playing in a postseason tournament other than the WBI afterward.

So, yeah, the 2015-16 season tested Barnes patience — and hair, of course — but he certainly sees a bright future.

“That experience that our young players had of fighting through to the semifinals and learning how to advance in a tournament,” Barnes said, “it’s just so valuable as far as next year and the future.”

Write Vindicator sportswriter Steve Wilaj at swilaj@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Steve_Wilaj.