Within the Horizon League, or any conference, every coach knows their foes extremely well. In fact, it’s essentially unavoidable after hours upon hours of scouting and film study and, of course, on-court meetings up to three times each year.
It’s a reality that leads to plenty of fascinating games within the game; in the case of Cleveland State, it affects everything from how teams choose to defend players like Mickayla Perdue and Jordana Reisma, to how they try to work through CSU’s notorious matchup zone. There’s a certain sharpness to those answers in teams such as Purdue Fort Wayne and Detroit Mercy that simply isn’t present in non-conference opponents like Lamar and Bowling Green.
When the Vikings beat Youngstown State 67-53 in the Wolstein Center on Thursday night to improve to 16-4 (8-2 HL), they survived a diamond-tipped saw blade.
YSU head coach Melissa Jackson, of course, spent the 2023-24 season as an assistant at Cleveland State, living inside the Vikings program for eight months. She immersed herself in the intricacies of Chris Kielsmeier’s system, helped scout how each HL opponent attempted to beat CSU, and learned nuances that would never be apparent otherwise – before leaving to lead, arguably, the team’s biggest rival.
“She had the inner workings of our program for a full year,” Kielsmeier said. “That certainly can help you defend.”
Part of that involved YSU surprising Kielsmeier with its tactics against Reisma, the centerpiece of Cleveland State’s half-court offense, and someone Jackson called “hands-down the best post player in our league, and one of the best in the country.”
“They fronted us hard,” CSU’s coach said. “They hadn’t done that all year. I think it kind of stung us, we were off a little bit with it. The timing can be off a little bit, the pass can be off a little bit, and we didn’t get the clean looks we’re used to.”
Whether YSU’s 11-8 lead at the end of the first quarter was because of that, or because the Vikings didn’t come out of the gate with enough intensity (another piece of Kielsmeier’s assessment) the fact remains that the Penguins limited their hosts to just 2-for-13 shooting during the opening ten minutes. Cleveland State’s only made field goals during that slog came from Filippa Goula, as Jackson’s defense held Reisma, the national leader in field goal percentage, and Perdue fruitless in five attempts from the floor.
Youngstown State’s offense wasn’t markedly better early on, but it was enough, thanks largely to four early points from Cleveland-area native Haley Theirry, on her way to a ten-point, seven-rebound effort.
“We were getting to the spots, and [doing] a couple things that we put in that I thought would be effective,” Jackson said. “I thought our kids really executed.”
Kielsmeier preferred to think of it in terms of his own team.
“We were beating ourselves,” he said. “That first quarter was about as flat as we’ve started all year.”
“We just have to have a greater sense of urgency. We have to feel threatened, we have to feel like we can lose games. It’s not just the moment now, it’s also about future moments.”
Of course, there’s another dimension to all of this: the Penguins are a work in progress. Jackson’s roster is a cobbled-together collection of veteran holdovers and true freshmen recruited by the previous coaching regime, along with a handful of key transfers – including former Vikings forward Faith Burch, who jumped to YSU alongside Jackson. CSU, meanwhile, is essentially a finished product, a championship contender with star players recruited specifically to, and trained in, Kielsmeier’s preferences.
So while Jackson’s experience, and a little bit of extra motivation, was enough to get off to a good start, the upset bid’s margin for error fizzled quickly once the Vikings rose to meet the game and counterpunched.
“Our defense, that second quarter, started flying a little more,” Perdue said. “It’s still not really where we want it, but it was causing a little bit of havoc, because we were just ball pressuring more and getting a lot more tips on balls. It was definitely the ball pressure.”
That pressure manifested itself in a 25-5 run that spanned most of the period, driven largely by CSU’s stars. Perdue got things started in earnest with five points on consecutive possessions, including three free throws that gave the Vikings the lead for good (part of her 9-for-9 effort from the charity stripe), after drawing a foul behind the three-point line.
Just after halftime, the Springfield, OH native knocked down a three-pointer that unofficially pushed the game into blowout territory, shaking off a slow start to collect 16 points in her 55th Cleveland State game, including her 1,000th point in green and white.
“That’s a lot of points in a short period of time,” Kielsmeier said.
“Micky, she’s the best scoring guard in our league,” said Burch, her former teammate. “She gonna do what she do.”
Reisma and Guerreiro went next, as the latter collected five assists in the second quarter alone, three of those to the former, as CSU eventually solved Youngstown State’s unexpected post defense.
Guerreiro helped fuel the decisive run as much as anyone, with two of her four steals occurring during the period. The graduate engineering student that Jackson described as “an unbelievable glue kid” casually flirted with a triple-double, finishing with game highs of 18 points and 12 rebounds (including the 500th carom of her career), plus seven assists.
“Sara does everything on the stat sheet that doesn’t show up a lot, and sometimes they do show up a lot,” Kielsmeier said. “Obviously, 18 and 12 shows up a lot, but she also had seven assists and did some great reads. She plays tough. Sara’s a tough, physical basketball player, and you just love coaching those kind of kids.”
“That second quarter, we got a little fatigued, and they ran it down our throats,” Jackson lamented. “Their transition is unbelievable, and we got away from what was working a little bit in that first quarter.”
Cleveland State’s lead peaked at 43-22 midway through the third quarter, after a Destiny Leo three capped an 11-0 run that also included triples from Perdue and Macey Fegan, though the margin hovered between 15 and 20 for most of the second half. It only settled at 14 after YSU, paced by Jewel Watkins’ 15 tallies, scored eight of the game’s final ten points.
Ultimately, the program further along in its progression decisively won the day, though Jackson pointed out that what she gained from coaching with Kielsmeier has the potential to extend well beyond a good first quarter against the Vikings.
“I learned a lot last year that I think we can take from them, and hopefully instill it in our program,” she said. “That’s the level that we want to be at.”
“Not just their Xs and Os, I learned championship level. I think Chris is a heck of a coach, I think he pushes the right buttons. I was very grateful for those eight months here.”
