Two seasons ago, Detroit’s Yar Shayok and Youngstown State’s Brandi Brown were in a two horse race for Horizon League Newcomer of The Year.  Shayok walked away with the hardware despite being inferior in a vast majority of the statistics.  Unfortunately for Brown, that Penguin team went 0-30.  Kenya Middlebrooks was part of that Cindy Martin regime.  She has endured plenty of heartbreak.  The senior, on this night, was absolutely on fire and finished with 30 points and the Penguins rode her coattails to a 80-67 win.  The hoop looked as big as the ocean for this game anyway.

Fast forward to 2012.  Not to demean, but Shayok comes off of Detroit’s bench now.  Brown is living up to a well-desrved honor as Horizon League Conference Player of The Year.  The Penguins were riding their longest losing streak of the season (four), but matched the program’s win total for the last three seasons combined with their ninth win.

“It was a good challenge”, commented Coach Bob Boldon afterwards.  “Brandi got into foul trouble last week in Milwaukee and we looked like we didn’t even know how to play basketball.  We came back, had two real good practices and proved how much these players have matured in a short period of time.”

In the first half, Brown and her Penguin teammates were fluent on both ends of the court.  Brown amassed nine first half points, mostly against a much larger defender, Detroit’s freshman standout, Shareta Brown.  The Penguins also got nine from Melissa Thompson who got the start en route to a 35-26 halftime lead.  The Titans struggled shooting the ball in the first half on nine of 29 shooting (31%).

As the second half started, Detroit cut into the YSU lead with a couple of quick buckets, but Brown hit a three to make it a 38-30 game. Shareta Brown made it a 38-33 game as she lumbered through the paint (a la Jerome Bettis), got fouled, hit a basket, and converted the free throw.  Kenya Middlebrooks showed some aggression as she cut through three Titans and converted while being fouled.  Middlebrooks converted the free throw and YSU seemed to, up to this point anyway, keep the Titans safely in their rear-view mirrors.

In fact, Middlebrooks went on a spree.  She nailed two more threes to increase the YSU lead to 50-42 and was in some kind of zone.  The argument could be made that the supporting cast around Brandi Brown is why the Penguins have already more wins this season than the past three combined.  Boldon-ball is exciting and loaded with chucks beyond the arc.  Newcomer Devan Matkin hit a three with 10:57 left in the game to solidify the Penguins margin to 57-46.

The Penguins built the lead to as much as 18 in the second half, but the Titans used a very effective full-court press that obviously rattled YSU and allowed Detroit to crawl back into the game.  The Penguins were ahead 70-56 with over five minutes to go when Brandi Brown collected her fifth foul.  The rest of this team is not chopped liver, and they proved it by keeping the game out of reach, building the lead back to 19 with just over three to play.

Middlebrooks went 8-10 from three (80%) and finished the game with a career high 30 points.  She came into the game leading the Horizon League with 44 three-pointers and only increased her margin with her outstanding performance.  Before fouling out, Brown collected 16 points on 5-7 shooting.  Thompson contributed twelve more for the Penguins, also a career high.

“The preparation and pregame help you get ready”, remarked Middlebrooks.  “It’s a very big win for us and we needed a win really bad.  When you get those wide open looks, you take the shots, and fortunately, they were falling for me tonight.”

Middlebrooks said she follows the same ritual every game and did nothing special to prepare.  The result, however, was very special.

Detroit (9-11, 5-3 HL) got 21 from Shareta Brown who went 9-12 from the free throw line.

YSU will host Wright State Saturday in the first game of a men/women doubleheader.  Tipoff is set for 4:30.