YSU women set for Cleveland State
Penguins look to extend winning streak to 8 against 11-1 Vikings at the Beeghly Center
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YOUNGSTOWN -- Over the past month, the Youngstown State women's basketball team has utterly dominated its competition by rattling off a seven-game win streak, winning each game by an average of 30.3 points.
But, a tough test is on the horizon.
The Penguins (8-3, 2-0) are set to host Horizon League rival Cleveland State (11-1, 2-0) tonight at 5:15 p.m. at the Beeghly Center as a part of a doubleheader with the men's basketball team, who are set to tip-off at 8 p.m.
While the Penguins have been strong over the course of December, the Vikings haven't recorded a loss since the beginning of November, which came against No. 15 Iowa State, then the 8th-ranked team in the country.
Since, the Vikings have won 11 straight games and are coming off a successful trip to the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic, where they won two games by a combined 52 points.
"They are really well-coached," Youngstown State women's coach John Barnes said Wednesday. "They are deep, big and athletic, and they are playing with a lot of confidence right now. So, it's going to be a challenge to say the least."
During its first 12 games of the season, Cleveland State has scored conference-leading 73.3 points per game and converted 42 percent of its field goals.
Impressive as that is, Cleveland State's strengths may lie with the defense.
The Vikings have only allowed 55.4 points per game this season, second in the Horizon League behind only Youngstown State, and with a relentless defensive effort, they've forced an average of 20 turnovers per game this season.
"They do a great job of just being really active and knowing their assignments," Barnes said. "They get a lot of steals, force a lot of turnovers out of it, and that really fuels them offensively, helping them get out in transition. So, we just have to try and take care of the ball. We have to rebound and execute what we want to do offensively."
After breaking out of an early season slump in which they only scored 53 points per game during their three losses, the Penguins have found their rhythm offensively.
Forward Lilly Ritz is averaging 17.8 points and 9.9 rebounds per game -- both rank second in the Horizon League. Malia Magestro is scoring 13.1 points per game this season, while Megan Callahan is tallying 9.4 points.
Part of their most recent success has been the adjustments that both Barnes' returners and newcomers have made.
With the addition of transfers Dena Jarrells, Shay-Lee Kirby and Emily Saunders, there was somewhat of an adjustment period at the beginning of the season. Barnes believes that their recent string of success has been a sign of his team becoming more comfortable together.
"I think we are playing with confidence. I think the newcomers are way more comfortable out there, and I think our returners are more comfortable with the newcomers on both ends of the floor," Barnes said. "The newcomers are playing a lot of minutes, so they have to understand what we were doing on both ends, and I think they are doing a great job of adjusting. I think early on it was difficult to execute on both ends because everyone was still trying to adjust to each other."
Defensively, the Penguins will have a lot to focus on when the Vikings take the court, as senior guard Destiny Leo, the Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year, enters the game scoring 16.8 points per game this season and has converted 44.1 percent of her field goals this season.
In their two matchups last season, Leo scored 16 points in their first matchup and 18 in their second while going 9-for-11 from the free-throw line, all of which came in their first matchup. As the third-best scorer in the Horizon League, guard Mady Aulbach knows it will take a team effort to slow Leo down.
"She's really talented, she's crafty, and she can score at all three levels," Aulbach said. "So it's really just about containing her, knowing where she is on the floor at all times, and getting back so she can't leak out. My teammates help me out a bunch too because I know they are going to run me off a bunch of screens, as they did last year."
Tonight's contest is the resumption of Horizon League play for the Penguins, and with hopes of being the top team at the end of the year, Barnes is hoping to get his team off to a good start.
"This is Game 3 of our conference season, so it's still early," he said. "We want to play the best that we possibly can, and if we do that we can live with the results."