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YOUNGSTOWN -- Alison Smolinski was knocked down underneath the Wright State basket.
She laid on the ground in the final couple of minutes of last Saturday's game, trying to get her wits about her. The Youngstown State University sophomore guard suffered a headache following the game.
The 5-foot-9 player had a concussion during the January meeting with the Raiders. Rest assured, this time wasn't a repeat. Sinus issues were plaguing Smolinski.
"Right after the game, I wasn't doing so hot," said Smolinski, whose team is hosting Oakland (16-11, 10-6 Horizon League) at 7 p.m. tonight. "I'm feeling a lot better now. Been sick the past couple of weeks. Headache right after and some symptoms that could've been a concussion. After that, I had dinner and was good to go the next day."
Her shooting? Well, that's been good to go all season.
She came off the concussion and soon became the HL's leading 3-point shooter. Smolinski leads the league with 75 3-pointers and averages three per game. She averages 16.7 points in league play, which ranks fifth in the conference. Smolinski has connected on 14 more 3-pointers than any other league player, and nine more than another player in the country since Jan. 14 -- her first game back from concussion protocol.
She said junior shooting guard Nikki Arbanas and senior forward Kelsea Newman, both out for the season with ACL tears, have shaped her as a shooter.
It was the confidence she didn't have last year.
"They helped me out a lot, gave me a positive attitude, confidence and a positive mindset shooting, and not to think about it as much as I used to my freshman year," Smolinski said. "I thought in my head (that) every shot had to go in or I was going to get ripped out or something.
"It's all about mindset now."
That mindset changes heading into tonight's Oakland game at the Beeghly Center. YSU was blasted, 80-54, at the O'rena on Jan. 22.
"Oakland is very scrappy, athletic, long. I think our main focus is going to be breaking their press," Smolinski said. "Their press is very good.
"Our effort was not there. We didn't play how we can or capable of. Playing at home is going to be much better for us."
YSU (9-18, 5-11) played well and almost defeated Wright State, the Horizon League's best team, in a 68-64 loss last Saturday.
"To take them right to the wire definitely makes you feel like we can compete with anybody when we're playing well," YSU coach John Barnes said.
Considering most of the Penguins' starting lineup was decimated with knee injuries to Arbanas, Newman and Lordstown native Sarah Cash, the team's leading returning scorer, Barnes didn't figure his team would be on the brink of 10 wins.
Players like Mary Dunn, a four-time Horizon League Freshman of the Week and all-freshman team candidate, Melinda Trimmer and others have raised the level of their games to compliment returning point guard Indiya Benjamin.
"I wouldn't necessarily say I'm happy with it, but things could've been a lot worse," Barnes said. "I'm happy how players, especially young players, have stepped up and taken the reins of a Division I team in a good league."
No player has stepped up more than Smolinski, who Barnes said at one time has carried this team on her back.
"It's unbelievable how much she's grown as a player and how aggressive she is now," he said.