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Young Penguins make progress
youngstown
It’s all about baby steps this year for the Youngstown State women’s basketball team and the Penguins did just that on Saturday when John Barnes’ team picked up their first road win of the year, 65-59 over UIC.
The win came after YSU traveled to play cellar-dwelling Valparaiso on Thursday where the Crusaders picked up their first Horizon League win.
“We were very down after Valpo but coming back to win against UIC showed us we can do this if we outwork the other teams,” YSU junior Kelley Wright said. “It was a really big win. Our team really needed that morale boost.”
With injuries to major contributors since season’s beginning, wins have been difficult to come by. Barnes said the Valpo game was especially difficult after Mary Dunn went out with an injury against Green Bay. She had six minutes against UIC.
“Valpo played really well,” Barnes said. “They played really well, they made shots and executed. Defensively we struggled with matchups. They’ve got a 6-foot-4 center and we’re trying to guard her with a 5-foot-10, 5-foot-11 center — maybe. That was the big difference in that game. We couldn’t guard them inside without Mary and rebounding was difficult too.”
Defensively against UIC it was another story. The Flames were held to 33 percent shooting. Barnes called it the best defensive performance of the year.
But despite that, and the injuries forcing him to play young talent, he’s not satisfied with how his team is defending this year.
“We should be better than what we are,” Barnes said. “We showed signs against UIC but now we need to take that next step forward.
“We need that mental desire that hasn’t developed yet to get stops when we need them and to be consistent on that side of the ball.”