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Inside out: Penguins throttled in paint by Phoenix
YOUNGSTOWN
It was another loss in more ways than one for the Youngstown State women’s basketball team.
Not only did the Green Bay Phoenix, ranked No. 24 in the nation by the Associated Press, wallop the Penguins 84-51, YSU lost Mary Dunn to an ankle injury in the first quarter, changing the entire complexion of the game.
YSU head coach John Barnes said Dunn had swelling in her right ankle and will be evaluated today.
Dunn’s absence, mixed with Green Bay’s strength and talent down low, meant the Penguins had to look outside for scoring. YSU took 37 3-pointers in the loss, making 11. Overall the Penguins shot 29 percent for the game.
The Phoenix (18-2, 9-0 Horizon League) outscored YSU in the paint 42-8.
“It’s what they do,” Barnes said. “They’re winning over Milwaukee, who’s third in our league by 42. They can turn it on. They’re really big, fast, strong, athletic, you name it.
“They’re the premier mid-major team in the country.”
Jessica Lindstrom led the Phoenix with 19 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes while Mehryn Kraker scored 17 points. Ten different Green Bay players scored.
Alison Smolinski and Melinda Trimmer each scored 10 points for YSU.
YSU (7-13, 3-6) kept up with Green Bay initially. The Penguins made five 3-pointers in the first quarter, three of which came from Indiya Benjamin, including one at the buzzer. All of her points came in the first quarter.
“There was only five seconds left and I knew it was going to be the best shot I was going to get,” Benjamin said. “We were hype after that first quarter.”
But then the Phoenix woke up and went on a 22-5 tear throughout the second quarter that quickly erased any hope YSU had of a major upset. Green Bay adjusting to the 3-point strategy and YSU made just one of its eight 3-point attempts in the second quarter and two of 11 shots overall. The Phoenix shot 53 percent in the quarter en route to shooting 54 percent for the game.
“They got hot,” Benjamin said. “They started making 3’s and their post players are really good. They work really hard down low.”
Green Bay’s post players sparked a 43-25 rebounding advantage.
Moving forward Barnes said he’s not sure how much YSU will be forced to rely on outside shooting if Dunn is sidelined for future games, or if it was just Green Bay’s dominance in the paint that was an outlier for this game. The Penguins host Milwaukee on Saturday.
“Their size really took away the paint,” Barnes said. “I haven’t seen too much in terms of Milwaukee, but we’ll have to take a look at the film and go from there.”
Trimmer, a sophomore and West Branch graduate, was what Barnes called “the long bright spot” in the game. She made three of her four shots in 14 minutes of play.
“She did an outstanding job being aggressive and finishing at the rim,” Barnes said.