×

Women blow lead in defeat to CSU

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes -- YSU senior McKenah Peters battles for the ball with CSU's Mariah White (left) and Barbara Zieneiwska (right) during the second half.

YOUNGSTOWN — It was about as gut-wrenching a loss as you can get if you’re the Youngstown State women’s basketball team.

Leading by 18 points with 3:57 to go late in the third quarter, the Penguins found themselves on the losing end of a 76-73 decision Friday night at the Beeghly Center.

YSU started off hot and kept its foot on the gas throughout a majority of the contest against their rival from the shores of Lake Erie. But then Cleveland State caught fire from deep and that was combined with a flurry of YSU turnovers leading to the difficult loss.

“Taking care of the basketball is the biggest thing,” YSU oach John Barnes said. “I mean, we did a pretty good job in the first half, the second half, you just can’t turn it over and that’s been our Achilles heel all season. We just kind of threw it away to them to be honest with you.

“It’s disheartening and crushing for me and I’m sure the team’s upset too. We missed some key boxouts down the stretch, and that’s all we talk about is taking care of the basketball and making good decisions. If we box out one more time down the stretch, then we win the game, but we didn’t.”

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes YSU sophomore Maddie Schires snags a loose ball away from Cleveland State’s Julia Hintz during the first half of YSU’s 76-73 heartbreaking loss to the Vikings.

YSU (8-7, 8-7 Horizon) and the Vikings (9-7, 8-7) meet again this afternoon in their regular-season finale at 2 p.m. Friday’s loss bumped the Penguins to eighth in the Horizon League seedings, with Cleveland State in seventh. Both are all but assured of hosting a first-round tournament game on Thursday.

The Penguins attacked Cleveland State early on Friday night, with a 3-pointer off the left side of the lane from senior McKenah Peters giving her team a 16-4 lead late in the first quarter.

Senior Mary Dunn laid in the ball off a feed from senior Chelsea Olson under the basket with time expiring in the third quarter to make it 62-49 with the final 10 minutes coming up.

On YSU’s first possession in the fourth, Peters’ pass to Dunn was tipped and stolen by CSU’s Barbara Zieniewska, which was then turned right back over to the Penguins. On the ensuing possession, Peters had her pocket picked by Taylah Levy, which led to a scrum and a jump ball going to the Vikings.

It was indicative of a Penguins team that slowly let Cleveland State slide back into the game, with the Vikings making five fourth-quarter 3-pointers, and YSU going ice cold.

Peters nailed her fourth 3 of the afternoon to push the lead to 73-66 with 2:24 left, but Youngstown State failed to score on its final four possessions.

A bombardment of 3s by Levy, Zieniewska and then Levy again in the final few minutes beat the Penguins, a team that lost the lead late twice last weekend in their back-to-back at IUPUI.

“That’s kind of been our problem too, we play good for two quarters or two and a half quarters or things like that, but we just don’t play a complete game,” Barnes said.

“If we could play how we’re capable of playing for four quarters, we’re as good as anybody in the league. But we just haven’t proven that we can do that yet.”

Freshman Nneka Obiazor had a steller game for YSU, with a career-high 29 points, along with nine rebounds for her third 20-plus point performance of the year. But she only took one more shot following a huge 3-pointer with 5:58 remaining.

Her performance was the most points scored by a YSU freshman since Kristi Echelberry tallied 30 against Lock Haven in 1992, and the third-best since YSU jumped up to Division I prior to the 1981-82 season.

Cleveland State’s Mariah White was limited to 16 points, under her average of 19.8 points per game as the best scorer in the Horizon League.

Dunn recorded 12 points and eight rebounds on 5-for-16 shooting, while Peters recorded 12 on 4-for-9.

“If they’re not disappointed after this game, then they obviously shouldn’t be playing,” Barnes said. “So, the coaches will watch the film and see if there’s any changes that we can make, and go from there.”

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
     

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.85/week.

Subscribe Today