Correspondent picture / Robert Hayes. YSU’s Casey Santoro drives previous RMU’s Myriam Traore on Wednesday evening at UPMC Events Center in Moon Township, Pa.. She scored a game-high 19 factors for the visiting Penguins.
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — For many of the season, the Youngstown State ladies’s basketball workforce has discovered a option to reply in the face of adversity. For the second straight sport, the Penguins struggled to seek out a solution after getting “punched in the mouth” on Wednesday evening.
Despite main at halftime, a stagnant second half offensively proved to be YSU’s undoing in a 55-40 street loss to Robert Morris at the UPMC Events Center, because the Penguins dropped back-to-back video games for the primary time this season.
“We gotta be tougher. We really gotta be tougher. You gotta be tough when you go on the road. You gotta be tough when it’s a close game and you get punched in the mouth a little bit,” YSU head coach Melissa Jackson stated.
“We weren’t aggressive in that second half. Again, here’s another game where we got punched in the mouth, and we didn’t respond. Until we grow up a little bit and respond better when that happens, we’re not going to win any league games, regardless if it’s a big-time game.”
Points had been arduous to come back by for many of the night, with each groups sitting atop the Horizon League in opponent field-goal share.
By the tip of the primary quarter, YSU and RMU had been a mixed 8-for-32 from the ground because the Colonials sat on a 10-9 benefit.
The Penguins (13-7, 6-4 Horizon) then began to discover a rhythm throughout the second quarter, taking as a lot as a six-point lead, earlier than main 21-20 at halftime.
Erica King opened the second half with a 3-pointer — one in all solely three on the evening for YSU — to stretch the Penguins’ lead. But from there, RMU took over.
The Colonials (13-6, 6-4 Horizon) outscored YSU 18-11 in the third quarter to take what would show to be an insurmountable six-point lead — it could have been extra, however Casey Santoro knocked down a 3 at the third-quarter buzzer to maintain the Penguins inside putting distance heading into the ultimate interval.
“I loved our response to start the game. I thought we had two really good days of practice, so I knew they were going to come ready to go, but I think we were content with a good 20 minutes,” Jackson stated. “In this league, you gotta play 40 minutes. So I really hope this group buckles down and puts together 40 minutes of toughness and playing hard, because when we do that, we’re pretty good.”
RMU pulled away in the fourth quarter, as YSU struggled to seek out any form of success offensively. The Penguins shot 25% from the ground in the second half, whereas the Colonials shot 52.4%.
Outside of 19 factors from Santoro and 13 factors from Sarah Baker, the remainder of the workforce managed simply eight factors.
“Just a lack of toughness,” Santoro stated. “I think we got punched a little bit in the second half, and we just kind of got in our heads mentally. I think not being mentally tough led to one mistake after the next, and maybe not making baskets that we normally would make.”
RMU places numerous measurement and size on the ground, with simply one in all its 5 starters measuring in under 5-foot-11, and following go well with with extra measurement off the bench.
As a outcome, the Colonials dominated on the boards, outrebounding YSU 44-22 with an 11-2 edge on the offensive glass.
Jackson insisted that the Colonials’ measurement didn’t trouble them, however with the Penguins hesitant on many pictures that they’d often take, it appeared to at least be in the again of their minds.
“I think all of that was our doing, us being unaggressive,” Jackson stated. “You saw there were moments where we had wide-open layups, and we were shooting little 5-footers. Go up and score, go to the basket, and again, we didn’t do that.”
RMU turned the ball over 22 instances, with YSU getting 13 steals. But the Penguins had been unable to transform that into any significant offense, managing simply six factors off turnovers.
“We need to get layups off those and had multiple opportunities to do that. For whatever reason, especially in the second half, we shied away,” Jackson stated. “I thought we were very aggressive to start the game. Bodies were flying, some calls weren’t made, but we were still pushing it in transition. The tempo was exactly what we needed it to be. Second half, for whatever reason, I don’t know, we backed off. We pulled it out. We wanted to be three happy again. Not the aggressiveness that we wanted.”
YSU nonetheless sits in a three-way tie for third in the Horizon League at 6-4, however the margin for error is shortly shrinking, particularly because the Penguins return residence to host Cleveland State on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Zidian Family Arena.
“As I told them, I know we’re a young team. We’re a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” Jackson stated. “But I’m not waiting until they’re juniors and seniors. This team is special. We have the makings of a very special group and can put together a great run. We need to do it now and not wait for years to come.”