INDIANAPOLIS — The Cleveland State women’s basketball team came into Monday’s Horizon League semifinal with all the prior tournament experience and pedigree, having made it to Indianapolis in seven straight years, while also reaching the championship game three times in the last four seasons.
None of that mattered for Youngstown State, however.
With just one senior and a roster full of sophomores and freshmen, the Penguins made history in head coach Melissa Jackson’s second season leading the program, as YSU survived several scoring droughts to fight off the Vikings 60-55 at Corteva Coliseum in Indianapolis and reached the Horizon League championship game for the first time in program history.
“We’re the new kids on the block, right? First trip to Indy, first trip to the championship game,” Jackson said. “But our mantra all year has been grit, but it’s also been taken one game at a time. I think we are a young group led by an unbelievable sixth-year senior. But this is a very mature basketball team for how young they are, and they really take care of their business. … This has been a goal of ours ever since I stepped foot on Youngstown’s campus, and I’m very proud that we’ll be in the championship game.”
In their two prior meetings this season, the Penguins handled the Vikings fairly comfortably on both occasions. That wasn’t the case this time around.
While YSU led for the majority of the first half, the Penguins struggled to create much separation. Scoring droughts, especially a three-plus minute drought to end the second quarter, allowed Cleveland State to hang around.
YSU made just one of its last 10 shots heading into halftime, yet still maintained a narrow 24-23 advantage at the intermission.
“Even though we’re young, I feel like everyone’s got a lot of maturity, and we’ve been in all these situations before,” YSU redshirt freshman Danielle Cameron said. “We’ve gone on longer scoring droughts. So I feel like we all just stayed composed, and we know that if we keep shooting, our next shot’s going in.”
Speaking of longer scoring droughts, the Penguins’ first-half shooting woes trickled into the start of the second half. YSU went scoreless the first five minutes of the third quarter and the Vikings took advantage, going on an 8-0 run to seize control.
That run gave Cleveland State its largest lead of the game, 31-24, but Erica King stopped the bleeding by draining a three out of a timeout.
“We knew Cleveland State was going to give us their best shot,” Jackson said. “They came out after half, really punched us in the mouth. Called that timeout, settled us down and we punched back again. It shows our toughness and shows our togetherness.”
The Vikings led by five at the end of the period, but the fourth quarter belonged to the Penguins.
YSU outscored CSU 25-15 during the final quarter, which included the Penguins finally heating up from beyond the arc after starting 4-for-21. During the quarter, YSU was 5-for-7 from deep, as Cameron hit three of her game-high four 3-pointers.
“I think we were honestly kind of tired of calls not going our way, so it was obviously kind of a get back at that,” YSU sixth-year guard Casey Santoro said. “I think we just felt like the underdog the whole game. I think it goes back to believing in ourselves, and we kept telling each other that the next shot’s going in. Once we saw one fall, we knew the next couple of them were going to fall.”
With 6:34 left, the Penguins trailed the Vikings by 46-42. YSU then went on a 9-0 run to take a five-point lead with about three minutes to go.
“They got their transition game going. They got the ball down on us pretty fast. We knew that was a strength of theirs and something they really exploited in the earlier games,” CSU head coach Chris Kielsmeier said. “We really did a good job with that most of the game, but in the fourth quarter, we didn’t. I thought we missed some shots that we could have hit that you gotta finish in that moment. We made a lot of defensive mistakes and let them play to their strengths, like a lot of wide-open threes. A lot of things we’re going to regret that we felt like we could have and should have done better.”
Cleveland State wasn’t done just yet, though. The Vikings had one last push in them and went on a 7-0 run that culminated with an and-1 from Colbi Maples that gave them a one-point lead with 35 seconds left.
Out of a timeout, YSU seized on a late rotation by the Vikings, as Cameron knocked down a go-ahead corner three off an assist by Sophia Gregory that put the Penguins ahead for good.
“Not surprised they went to Colbi. She’s a big-time player that hit a big-time shot,” Jackson said. “Called the timeout, went to something that has worked multiple times against Cleveland State. Didn’t really work early on — they were ready for that, but we went to it late. I think they blew the coverage there. Dani had a wide-open three and big props to her for hitting it.”
Cameron led the Penguins with 16 points, while King continued her strong tournament with 13 points and Gregory finished with 11. Izabella Zingaro led the Vikings with a 19-point, 14-rebound double-double.
YSU’s win sets up a clash with top seed and defending champion Green Bay in the title game today at noon with an NCAA tournament autobid hanging in the balance.
The Phoenix cruised past Purdue Fort Wayne 73-48 in Monday’s first semifinal contest to advance to the championship. Green Bay also swept the season series against the Penguins, winning 56-47 in Wisconsin on Dec. 7 and 54-51 in Youngstown on Feb. 7.
“We’re excited for the opportunity to get them again,” Jackson said. “We know they’re a great opponent. They have unbelievable tradition here in the league. Kayla’s a great coach. They’re an old, experienced team, but I know our kids are going to be locked in and ready to go. We’ve defended them well and they have defended us. You have the top-two defensive teams in the league going at it again. I think it’s going to be a great championship game.”
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