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YSU women’s team opens with loss
By Greg Gulas
YOUNGSTOWN
One game into the schedule, it’s apparent that the Youngstown State women’s basketball team will need to remain healthy to make any type of run this season.
On Veterans Day, it was apparent that American University looked to have the more veteran unit.
Emily Kinneston scored 16 points while Lauren Crisler added a double-double as the Eagles defeated the Penguins, 77-64 in Friday’s season opener at Beeghly Center’s Dom Rosselli Court.
Crisler registered 13 points and 10 rebounds as American, 8-23 a season ago, shot 55 percent (29 of 53) from the field and 50 percent (8 of 16) from beyond the arc.
The Eagles’ defense held the Penguins to just 28 percent (18 of 64) from the floor and a mere 12.5 percent (3 of 24) from downtown.
YSU head coach John Barnes, while admitting injuries have hit his Penguins rather hard thus far, noted that his team needs to shore up several areas as they move forward.
“It’s pretty insane,” Barnes said. “I don’t want to talk about it too much, I mean we have to do a much better job defensively with whoever is in there.
“We really struggled, especially in the second quarter and that’s what kind of dug us that big hole,” Barnes said. “We have to do a better job and offensively, when we’re not shooting well it’s really tough for us to win. We tend to shoot a lot of perimeter shots, especially without Sarah [Cash] in there.”
The Penguins have lost the services of Nikki Arbanas for the season due to a knee injury. Cash’s minutes will be limited at the outset as she recovers from her knee injury.
Kelsea Newman, Kelley Wright and Mary Dunn were injured in Friday’s opener.
Cash came off the bench to lead the Penguins in scoring with 16 points — she was 4 of 6 from the field and 8 of 9 from the charity stripe. Wright canned all 10 of her free throws and made a 3-pointer.
“A lot of young players got a lot of minutes and we’re going to need that experience, so we’re going to try to regroup and move forward tomorrow,” Barnes said. “I’m not sure of Kelsey or Kelley’s status so we might have more combinations that we have to put together.”
A Kinneston triple and bucket by Michaela Nieuwenhuizen gave the Eagles a 20-18 lead heading to the second quarter. It was a lead they would not relinquish.
American outscored the Penguins 19-8 in the second frame, holding YSU to 1 of 13 (7.7 percent) from the field in the quarter to build a 39-26 halftime advantage.
Nine points by Cash and six points from Wright pulled the Penguins to within 63-48 with 10 minutes remaining.
“It’s definitely a learning experience and really going to be good to go over the tape of the game,” Wright said. “We can definitely learn from tonight.”
YSU cut the American lead to 65-52 on a bucket by Mailee Jones 49 seconds into the final quarter, but the teams split the final 24 points of the game.
Cash scored 13 points in the second half while playing 13 minutes.
“I didn’t play as well as I thought I could have, but felt I played well enough,” Cash said considering her injury.