Coming off of a Thanksgiving weekend road trip, Youngstown State returned to the Beeghly Center and showed no sign of any road fatigue.  The Penguins seized an early lead and coasted to a 80-55 victory over MAC-opponent, Western Michigan to go to 4-3 on the season.  Last season, the Penguins put up a total of six wins.  To have four in seven games says a lot about just how far the program has moved forward in such a short time.

The win was the first for YSU at home this season.  It was also the first time a Lady Penguins team has won by more than 20 points since 2006, when they defeated Buffalo by 34.

Youngstown State never trailed in the game.  In the first half, they had a lead as big as 13 points with 7:52 until the break.  The most impressive part about the first half was that the Penguins scored 30 points and Brandi Brown only had two of them.  The knock against the Penguins going into this season (picked to finish 10th out of 10 teams), was that there was no balance around Brown.  Those same voters then turned around and elected Brown as the Horizon League Preseason Player of The Year.  The fact that the Lady Penguins could account for 28 points in a half without Brown disqualifies all of the preseason inaccuracies and negative speculation of the league voters.

In the first half, Monica Touvelle and Liz Hornberger had six points each. Tieara Jones and Devan Matkin had four each, and Macey Nortey and Heidi Schlegel had three each – pretty balanced scoring.  Brown did make her presence known with eight rebounds.

Brown (above), who played most of the game with her left nostril stuffed full of gauze, was used sparingly in the second half.  She scored six points in the first five minutes of the second half and finished the game with 12 points and 14 rebounds in just 30 minutes.  It didn’t seem like a double-double, but the numbers don’t lie.

“Last year, it was pretty much as Brandi goes, this team goes”, remarked Coach Bob Boldon.  “We play better when we play more balanced.  With all of the attention on Brandi, it is nice to see the other players step up.  We have played good offensive games, and we have played good defensive games.  This was the first time this year we had both.”

With 9:10 left in the game, Youngstown State increased their lead to 61-34 on a couple of threes by Schlegel.  The Penguins finished with 80 balanced points.

“I was really happy that we played so well as a team”, said Schlegel.  “We had four players in double figures and we are playing as a team rather than individuals.  Off the floor, we are really gelling as a team and that is helping us on the court.”

The Penguins got 15 points out of Schlegel.  It is nice to see her playing instead of sitting, she adds another dimension and plays bigger than her size.  Nortey had a very solid night finishing the game with 11 points and 6 assists, was 7-9 from the free throw line, 2-3 from the floor, had three steals, and even gathered a rebound.

Brown and Nortey, native Californians, recently traveled home to play a couple of games over the holiday weekend.  Sports information director for basketball, John Vogel, talked about the trip and spending time with both families.

“It was a very rewarding Thanksgiving weekend on the road”, commented Vogel.  We spent tome with both Macey and Brandi’s families and some of the other parents made the trip.  It was nice to see that kind of support that far away from home and the players enjoyed it as much as the parents who made the trip.”

The Penguins welcome Bowling Green as part of a doubleheader on December 6 at Beeghly Center.  Tipoff for that game is at 5:15.