YOUNGSTOWN — Since Melissa Jackson took over as head coach of the Youngstown State women’s basketball team in the spring of 2024, the Penguins have had their northeast Ohio rival’s number.
Prior to her arrival in Youngstown, Jackson spent one season as an assistant coach at Cleveland State. The knowledge she gleaned from her time on CSU’s bench has been invaluable for the Penguins ever since.
Jackson improved to 3-1 against her former program on Sunday, as the Penguins stifled the Vikings defensively, running away with a 61-38 victory at Zidian Family Arena, as both teams braved Winter Storm Fern to play.
“Truthfully, I think it definitely plays a role. I know their system very well,” Jackson said. “I think we know how to defend them. I think that’s the biggest key. … I know how to beat them, but it really comes down to our kids executing that, and we 100% did that today.”
Even though it wasn’t a banner day for the Penguins (14-7, 7-4 Horizon) offensively, it didn’t matter because of how YSU defended the Vikings (15-7, 5-6 Horizon).
The Penguins took away a lot of what CSU does well, which includes defending and helping on Izzy Zingaro in the post, cutting off driving lanes for Colbi Maples and Jada Leonard and defending the 3-point line.
“We put Sophia (Gregory) on Izzy with her athleticism and size. I think that was the right call there,” Jackson said. “We put Erica on Colbi, I thought that was the right move. We’re always going to front them (in the post) and have great help-side and force them to move the ball and make some passes that I don’t think they’re accustomed to making.”
Maples had just three points on 1-of-11 shooting. Zingaro and Leonard combined for 24 points, but they were the only Vikings to make more than one field goal.
“I thought we locked into the scouting report,” Jackson said. “We knew going in we had to win this game with our defense and our rebounding, and I thought all five of our players were connected. I think how we defend Cleveland State is really, really good, but in order for that to work, everybody’s gotta be on the same page.”
The Vikings were rattled by YSU’s defensive activity, and as a result, they shot just 29.2% overall and turned the ball over 23 times. Fifteen of those were steals by the Penguins, which also finished with nine blocks, including three apiece from Gregory and Paulina Hernandez.
“You can always control your defensive effort, so I think that’s what we were doing,” YSU redshirt freshman Danielle Cameron said. “Some of our other games that we were not being as successful on the defensive end, we would take a couple plays off or not have as much effort on rebounds. So I think today, we were just really locked in on playing 100% every single possession, finishing every single possession with a box out and rebound.”
On the offensive end, YSU started hot in the first quarter as it found plenty of open looks against CSU’s patented zone.
The Penguins outscored the Vikings 22-13, as Cameron hit three of her five threes during the period. She finished with a game-high 17 points.
Then in the second quarter, YSU pulled away for good as it held CSU to just two points and led 36-15 at halftime.
“We knew they play the zone, it’s kind of a staple of their program,” Cameron said. “They’re pretty good at it. They usually can disrupt a lot of things we do. So we put in a couple plays, and everybody was confident and knocked down a shot. So we executed those new plays very well.”
The third quarter was much like the first. The Vikings were better offensively, but the Penguins still outscored and outshot them.
Sarah Baker was the other YSU player to finish in double figures, scoring 12 points, while Gregory and Hernandez each also had nine points. Gregory also pulled down 10 rebounds and had six assists.
Even though YSU only shot 38.1% overall, the Penguins had 18 assists on 24 made field goals, in addition to hitting 9-of-27 from beyond the arc.
“I thought we were really aggressive early on,” Jackson said. “We talked a lot about when we play Cleveland State, you’ve gotta let it fly. You gotta penetrate the gaps, you’ve gotta move the ball and you’ve gotta have high assists. … So I think our kids were really locked into some of the things we tried to do offensively. They worked early on. Give Cleveland State credit, they took them away in the second half, but it was really important we started aggressive today.”
YSU will prepare for its Detroit road swing later this week, as it visits Detroit Mercy at 7 p.m. on Thursday and Oakland at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Hence then, the article about ysu shuts down cleveland state in 61 38 win was published today ( ) and is available on TribToday ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( YSU shuts down Cleveland State in 61-38 win )
Also on site :