Canisius rallies from 16 down to defeat YSU 65-59
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YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State has struggled to find consistency this season.
With how the second half played out on Thursday, it was a microcosm of the Penguins' season thus far.
The third quarter was emblematic of "good" YSU -- when the shots are falling and the team is complementing that with stops on the defensive end of the floor. But then came the fourth quarter, when "bad" YSU once again reared its ugly head.
After trailing Canisius at halftime, the Penguins put together a monster third quarter, leading by as many as 16 points near the end of the period. But, the Golden Griffins rallied with an equally impressive fourth quarter to hand the Penguins a heartbreaking 65-59 defeat.
"The game is 40 minutes long, and we only played hard for 30," fifth-year Paige Shy said. "We threw our punch in the third and then they gave it back to us in the fourth and we got a little bit flustered. We're still trying to work through that and figure that out as we go into conference (play)."
Trailing Canisius (7-3, 2-0 MAAC) by six at halftime, YSU (4-8, 0-2 Horizon) went back to what it does best to open the third quarter.
Emily Saunders got things started with a layup in the post, then Dena Jarrells picked up where she left off in the first half by hitting a three. Abby Liber got into the action with a layup-and-1, and all of a sudden, YSU was off to the races.
"I just think (we had) momentum," Shy said. "I feel like shots were falling and we were getting some and-1s and some rebounds here and there, and I feel like we feed off of that energy. We just ran with that."
In seemingly a blink of an eye, the Penguins had opened the second half on a 16-0 run.
YSU shot 9-for-14 (64.3%) in the third quarter and outscored the Golden Griffins 25-6 during the period.
"We were very fundamental. We set great screens, we found people when they were open and we shot the ball confidently," acting head coach John Nicolais said. "(Those) were primarily the big things. We talked at halftime about just slowing down a little bit and making sure that we were trying to make contact on stuff with getting people off of screens. Then, in theory, you set a great screen, you got a great chance to be open. So it just put (Canisius) on their heels a little bit defensively."
Then, in the fourth quarter, everything that was working for YSU vanished.
Brooklyn Thrash began Canisius' rally by hitting her second three of the game with 0:48 to go in the third quarter. Then Grace Heeps hit a three to begin the fourth, and all of a sudden, the Penguins' lead was down to 10.
The shots kept falling for the Golden Griffins, who shot 10-for-15 (66.7%) from the floor in the fourth quarter, including hitting five three-pointers.
Canisius tied the game at 57 with 3:03 to go, and scored eight of the game's final 10 points over the final minutes.
"I think the big thing was that we spent a lot of time looking over our shoulder for them to come back instead of just continuing to play the way we played for three quarters," Nicolais said. "We got tight and we were short on timeouts, and (weren't) able to use it right away to where we had some time late to be able to run stuff for late-game situations. We went from playing confident and aggressive in three quarters to once a shot or two went in, then it turned into hanging on or playing not to lose instead of playing to win."
Meanwhile, after a hot third quarter, YSU regressed back to the mean, shooting 3-for-13 (23.1%) in the final period.
A lot of that had to do with how Canisius adjusted to Jarrells defensively. After she had 19 points and five assists through three quarters, the Golden Griffins opted to face-guard Jarrells and keep her off the ball as much as possible. She hit just one shot in the fourth quarter to finish with 22 points to lead the Penguins.
"Initially we had told them that we wanted to -- the clock was our friend, so to speak, so we didn't have to go too fast to run stuff," Nicolais said. "But I think that did bother us a little bit to where it pushed Dena off to the wing and (be) not as involved. Probably could have used her as a screener a little bit more, but credit to Canisius for throwing that wrinkle in there. I would have wanted us to try to go inside a little bit more than what we did, and I felt like we settled from outside a little bit, but we'll have to improve on that."
YSU now has a little more than a week off for the holiday before opening Horizon League play against Wright State on Dec. 29.
"We just need to self-reflect and leave the past in the past," said Shy, who finished with 20 points after missing most of the past two games. "We talked about, at the end of our season, If we keep losing here and there -- looking back, these losses will mean nothing. But if we turn things around, looking back, these losses will have helped us grow into the team that we want to be for conference.
"Because with conference (play) it's a whole new season. We're playing for a championship, seeding, so every game is important. (We just need to) get our minds right and self-reflect to see what we each can do better to help us win."
nmadhavan@tribtoday.com
Canisius 65, Youngstown State 59
C: 20 11 6 28 -- 65
YSU: 19 6 25 9 -- 59
CANISIUS (7-3, 2-0 MAAC): Sisi Eleko 6-19 1-2 16, Mackenzie Amalia 3-10 2-3 11, Brooklyn Thrash 5-6 0-0 12, Grace Heeps 1-6 0-0 3, Bri Rozzi 2-7 0-0 6, Athina Lexa 5-10 1-2 11, Giana Hernandez-Boulden 1-1 1-2 3, Jane McCauley 1-4 0-0 3. TOTALS: 24-64 7-11 65.
YOUNGSTOWN STATE (4-8, 0-2 Horizon): Emily Saunders 3-5 1-2 7, Mady Aulbach 1-9 0-0 2, Dena Jarrells 7-12 2-2 22, Abby Liber 1-5 1-1 3, Shay-Lee Kirby 1-5 0-0 2, Paige Shy 7-11 4-4 20, Malia Magestro 0-3 0-0 0, Haley Thierry 0-0 0-2 0, Lindsey Linard 1-4 1-1 3. TOTALS: 21-54 9-12 59.