YSU women’s basketball begins offseason practices
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YOUNGSTOWN -- A season ago at this time, Youngstown State women's basketball was flying under the radar and welcoming nine newcomers to its program as offseason workouts got underway.
This year, as summer practices begin, the Penguins return much of the nucleus from last season's squad that finished 24-7, took a share of the Horizon League regular season title and made the WNIT. YSU also took in another impressive haul via the transfer portal this summer, welcoming in three players with prior Division I experience.
As such, they acknowledge they're going to be the hunted rather than the hunters this season, and that makes these summer workouts all the more important.
"We're going to be challenged night in, night out (this season)," head coach John Barnes said. "We're going to have a target on our backs, and we have to realize that everything is tougher when you're expected to do good things. So combatting that starts right now."
So far, Barnes says the workouts haven't delved too deeply into live basketball, and instead have consisted mostly of drills and conditioning.
As such, there isn't a ton of evaluation based on five-on-five, Barnes said, and instead he's looking for energy and effort.
"The biggest thing is just energy, effort, level of hustle and work, which I'm seeing," he said. "It's too early to really evaluate the newcomers, because we're not really getting into too much depth on five-on-five or competing in terms of up and down (the court), that type of thing. It's a lot of drill work right now, but I'm very encouraged by their effort and their work ethic. So it's been good."
For the newcomers, it's been an opportunity to coalesce with the YSU roster and get their bearings. In the portal, the Penguins welcomed Shay-Lee Kirby (Austin Peay), Dena Jarrells (Chattanooga) and Emily Saunders (Tennessee), each of which played together and with fellow Penguin Paige Shy during AAU. They also inked freshman recruit Mackenzie Hurd.
"It's nothing new by now. We're familiar with the coaches and everything, so just getting to know the girls, especially on the court," Jarrells said after practice Friday. "We had our off-court sessions getting to know each other and spending time with each other, but now we're really starting to fill out that (on-court) chemistry. So I think it's going to be great."
So far, the pace and intensity are what stand out to Jarrells, a point guard.
"We go hard every day. It's very intense," she said. "Us newcomers, we expected that coming into a winning program. ... I knew what to expect, but I never realized it was this much intensity. It's not something I was used to, because the conference I was (playing in) was very slow tempo, and this is a different ballgame. I'm excited to get started."
Speed and tempo are something returning guard Mady Aulbach has noticed, too.
"The three (transfers) have so much experience, so all of our drills are super fast-paced, super competitive," she said. "We don't have to teach a lot. I feel like ... speed and knowledge, those are things you can't teach. Experience is something you can't teach, and I think we see that in all of our drills so far."
As for the offseason hype, Aulbach says YSU is more focused on itself rather than any outside noise.
"I think a lot of our conversations have centered around the fact that we need to focus on what we can do and how we can better ourselves and what we're doing to set ourselves apart from the competition, and not so much what other teams are doing," she said. "And also on just remaining humble. We only had one really good year. We're a constant contender in the Horizon League, but that was just one really good year for us, so I think remaining humble and not getting too high up and not letting our highs get too high or lows get too low.
"Just remembering we are really good, but we work really hard and focus on ourselves. Remaining true to that will help us stay hungry and humble this year."
jwhetzel@tribtoday.com