The Youngstown State women's basketball
team heads to Chicago this week for two games against teams it
played well in the first go-around of the Horizon League schedule.
The Penguins will play at Loyola on Thursday at 8:05 p.m. EST and
at UIC on Saturday at 4 p.m. EST.
The Guins were outscored 26-16 in the
final 10 minutes against Loyola when the teams played on Jan. 31 as
the Ramblers won 56-42. YSU led UIC 27-17 in the first half but did
not score in the final 3:32 of the period and shot 12.9 percent in
the second half on Jan. 29.
The Penguins (2-23, 0-14) are coming off
two of their better efforts in Horizon League play last weekend.
YSU had its second-best shooting and scoring day of the season
against Detroit last Thursday in a 70-62 loss. The score was tied
at halftime, but Detroit outscored YSU 41-33 in the second period
by shooting 51.6 percent. Wright State used a similar formula on
Saturday as it shot 53.1 percent in the second half to turn a
one-point halftime lead into a 68-51 lead.
Three of YSU's guards scored at
least 14 points in the two games over the weekend. Jaquetta Westley
poured in 16 against Detroit, which was her highest total since
scoring 20 at Toledo on Dec. 30. Kelsey Gurganus added a
season-high 15 against the Titans. She and Westley combined to go
11-for-18 from the field and hit six of YSU's season-high
eight 3-pointers. Macey Nortey scored a career-high 14 points and
matched her career-high with six assists versus Wright State.
With leading rebounder and scorer Nikita
LaFleur out for the third straight week, YSU was outrebounded 78-52
and outscored 66-40 in the paint last week. LaFleur, who sprained
her ankle in the first meeting against Loyola, has been progressing
well in her rehab and could suit up this week. LaFleur was
averaging 9.1 points and 8.8 rebounds before her injury.
The Penguins, who have been taking much
better care of the basketball throughout the conference schedule,
averaged 16.5 turnovers in the two games last week. They have
committed 17 or fewer in six of their past seven contests.
Despite YSU's better play last week,
the two losses pushed YSU's losing streak to a school-record
15. The Penguins have not won since Dec. 20 against Akron.
Scouting Loyola
Loyola sits in ninth place in the Horizon
League standings with a 2-12 mark in the circuit and a 7-17 overall
record. The Ramblers won 70-66 at Milwaukee last Thursday behind 18
points from Maggie McCloskey and 17 from Keisha Collins. They then
lost 88-44 to Green Bay on Saturday. Loyola ranks sixth in the
Horizon League in scoring offense but ninth in scoring defense. Its
.427 field goal percentage ranks third, and the Ramblers lead the
league in 3-point shooting by making 37.8 percent. Elyse VanBogaert
(11.5 ppg), McCloskey (10.7 ppg) and Collins (10.5 ppg) all rank in
the top 18 in the league in scoring.
