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Benjamin scores 22, but YSU women fall
YOUNGSTOWN
Down the stretch the Youngstown State women’s basketball team just didn’t have enough to overcome Detroit Mercy on Senior Day at the Beeghly Center.
The Titans pulled away in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Penguins 31-23, which was enough for a 83-67 win.
YSU head coach John Banes compared this game to the matchup the teams had earlier this year in Michigan. In that game, the Titans led 56-49 going into the final quarter and outscored YSU by 10 to pull away.
“It was very similar to our first game,” Barnes said. “They’re just so senior-dominated and are so experienced and we’re obviously thin. We fought as hard as we could and hung in there. But [Rosanna] Reynolds took over in the fourth quarter.”
Reynolds scored 14 of her 21 points in the second half and grabbed nine rebounds. Brianne Cohen scored 17 points (including her 1,000th career point) and Haleigh Ristovski had 10 points and 12 rebounds for UDM (16-13, 12-6 Horizon League).
For YSU (9-20, 5-13), Indiya Benjamin scored a game-high 22 points. Alison Smolinski and Kelley Wright each scored 11 points and Mary Dunn finished with 10.
Shooting just 5 of 17 from beyond the arc entering the fourth quarter. Detroit Mercy shot 4 of 6 in the final quarter to put the game away.
“They made big shots down the stretch,” Barnes said. “Their shooters made shots and we had open looks we needed to make to keep pace. We got great looks, I thought, the whole game and we just didn’t hit them.”
YSU looked to make a real charge at the lead early in the fourth when Benjamin hit a 3-pointer to cut the UDM lead to 53-49. Tamira Ford hit a layup about two minutes later to keep it within five. But Detroit’s hot shooting took over from there.
Benjamin had seven points in the final quarter as she tried to take over down the stretch to keep her squad in the game. Barnes said the team began to create plays for her after Detroit Mercy showed her more pressure. They brought up their posts to set screens, which got Benjamin free.
“I just wanted this win really bad,” Benjamin said. “Detroit is really good and it was Senior Night so I wanted to try to get this win for our seniors.”
While it wasn’t the abysmal shooting night the Penguins had on Thursday against Oakland where YSU was 4 of 27 from beyond the arc, the shots still weren’t falling consistently enough to be effective.
Consequently, the Penguins shot just seven free throws as they were trying to get their good outside looks to drop.
“We are a 3-point shooting team and we like to shoot outside shots,” Benjamin said. “But they were clogging up our inside too, which made it difficult.”
With the loss, the Penguins solidify themselves as the No. 8 seed in the upcoming Horizon League Tournament. That means the Penguins will play ninth-seeded Valparaiso at 2:30 p.m. on March 3 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Benjamin said the feeling of playing in a one-and-done setting will be different. But she said all the team can do is keep giving the effort they’ve been giving.
“We just have to give it all we can,” Benjamin said. “We’ve been doing it all season. Playing in a win-or-go-home situation will be different, but nobody wants this season to be over yet.”