By Will Clark
In a tough matchup between Youngstown State University and Cleveland State University, the Penguins faced a 13-point deficit. YSU attempted a late comeback but fell to the Vikings 53-43 on Saturday.
YSU guard Nikki Arbanas who hit a three late in the second half to bring the Penguins within seven of the Vikings with four minutes left. YSU brought their press defense and caused CSU to turn the ball over multiple times, but it just wasn’t enough. Still within eight points of the Vikings with 49 seconds left in the game, YSU guard Kelsea Newman turns the ball over. This was one of the
many challenges that the Penguins faced against CSU.
Throughout much the first half the Penguins failed to shoot over 25 percent from the field and only hitting 3-15 shots from behind the line. In addition to the poor shooting, YSU had tough time controlling the ball and committed 12 turnovers. Surprisingly the Penguins were able to stay in the game and go into halftime with a 19-18 lead.
“It’s never fun to lose but we can’t shoot well every game, we have to find other ways to get points or get good shots for other people,” Arbanas said. “You can’t always have a good shooting day … we were just off.”
The second half didn’t go any better for the Penguins. YSU was still struggling with its shooting and ball handling, but also started to get dominated on the boards. The Vikings outrebounded the Penguins 55 to 35, 20 to 10 in the second half.
“They had 18 offensive rebounds. That’s something we need to work [on], we work on it a lot but we just needed to box [out] a lot better than we did.” Arbanas said.
The Penguins finished up this poor shooting display going only 24 percent from the field and only making 6-34 shots from behind the arc, and turned the ball over 19 times.
Even though YSU had a tough shooting day froward Janae Jackson was able to finish up with team-high of nine points, four rebounds and only one turnover. Arbanas finished with eight points, four rebounds and three turnovers.
Box Score
Cleveland State 53 Youngstown State 43
Cleveland State (6-18, 3-11) — Olivia Voskuhl 7-1-16, Brooke Smith 1-12-14, Ashanti Abshaw 1-5-7, Adesuwa Aideyman 2-1-6, Khayla Livingston 1-2-4, Kayla Patterson 1-0-2, Shadae Bosley 0-2-2, Allison Mitchell 1-0-2. Totals: 14-23-53.
Youngstown State (16-9, 7-7) — Janae Jackson 3-3-9, Nikki Arbanas 3-0-8, Sarah Cash 3-1-7, Indiya Benjamin 2-0-6, Kelsea Newman 2-0-5, Alison Smolinski 2-0-5, Kelley Wright 1-0-2, Melinda Trimmer 0-1-1. Totals: 16-5-43.
Cleveland State 13 5 13 22 — 53
Youngstown State 10 9 8 16 — 43
3-point field goals: CSU 2 (Voskuhl, Aideyman); YSU 6 (Arbanas 2, Benjamin 2, Newman, Smolinski).
Rebounds: CSU 55 (Abshaw 14, Bosley 8, Voskuhl 7, Smith 7, Livingston 4, Nicolete Newman 4, Mitchell 3, Patterson 3, Aideyman, Team 4); YSU 35 (Cash 12, Arbanas 4, Jackson 4, Trimmer 3, Jenna Hirsch 3, Smolinski 2, Newman 2, Benjamin, Wright).
Steals: CSU 13 (Smith 4, Abshaw 3, Newman 3, Aideyman, Bosley, Livingston); YSU 9 (Cash 3, Jackson 2, Hirsch, Wright, Arbanas, Smolinski).
