Shooting touch fails Penguins in loss to Oakland
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YOUNGSTOWN -- Former Youngstown State women's basketball coach Ed DiGregorio occasionally used to say his team couldn't shoot the ball in the ocean after a particularly bad shooting night.
The same could be said of Thursday's performance against Oakland in an 80-58 setback to the Golden Grizzlies at the Beeghly Center.
YSU shot 4 of 18 from the floor and 0 of 11 from 3-point range in the latter half of the first quarter, leading to a 22-8 deficit.
YSU freshman center Mary Dunn had a putback to close the Oakland lead to 9-8 with 5 minutes left in the first quarter. From there, the Golden Grizzlies (17-11, 11-6 Horizon League) went on a 13-0 run to end the quarter. Oakland shot 8 of 14 in the first quarter and 4 of 5 from 3. The Golden Grizzlies were 16 of 36 and 8 of 13 from 3 at intermission.
"Once Mary had that putback, our team was positive," Kelley Wright said. "Then they came out there and went at us. I don't think we were entirely prepared for it."
YSU finished the game 20 of 65 from the floor and 4 of 27 from 3. Oakland was 27 of 64 and 10 of 26 from 3.
The Penguins (9-19, 5-12) ended the half 11 of 33 from the floor and 1 of 17 from 3 with the only shot beyond the arc coming from Alison Smolinski with about a minute before halftime. The Horizon League's top 3-point shooter was 1 of 8 from 3 after the first 20 minutes and 1 of 11 for the game. Smolinski had five points, while Wright and Melinda Trimmer each had nine.
"It's extremely frustrating when we're known as a shooting team," Wright said. "We're known as a shooting team. When they're not going in, then we look to the inside. Oakland did a really good job of clogging the inside. It was really difficult."
Oakland outscored YSU 30 to 26 in the post, but outrebounded them 50 to 33.
"No matter how good a post is, it's hard to score against half the team out there," Wright said.
This is the second time the Golden Grizzlies defeated YSU. The Penguins fell to Oakland 80-54 on Jan. 22 in Rochester, Mich.
In years past under YSU coach John Barnes, the Penguins have had one of the Horizon League's best defensive teams. Not this year with all the team's injuries.
"Even when we weren't scoring, we were playing pretty good defense," said Barnes, whose team gives up almost 74 points a game -- about 10 to 15 more than in previous years. "Defense is really struggling."
One good thing is YSU rebounded at the foul line, shooting 14 of 17.
"I'm glad we shot well," said Barnes, whose team shot 6 of 12 in a 68-64 loss to Wright State on Saturday. "If we shoot well against Wright State, we win the game. I'm glad we bounced back and shot well at the free-throw line."
YSU was led by Dunn with 14 points.
Oakland's Taylor Jones came off the bench for 26 points, while Nola Anderson had 14 points and Leah Somerfield added 13.
Three of Somerfield's points came on a shot with 8:25 remaining. The 3-point attempt landed on the back of the rim, almost came to a complete stop and trickled into the basket for a 64-46 lead.
It was one of those nights for Oakland. Not so much for the Penguins.
"We're so limited," Barnes said. "If we're not shooting well, it's hard for us to win. They have tons of talent. They could make a run and win the tournament.
"When we shoot this poorly, it's going to end up like this."
On Saturday, YSU ends the regular season with a noon start against Detroit at the Beeghly Center.
"Hopefully we can flip-flop it and shoot the ball unbelievably well on Saturday," Barnes said.
Then, throwing it into that proverbial ocean will be much easier.