The Youngstown State Penguins women’s basketball team (7-4, 2-1 Horizon) didn’t have a very good first day of the FIU Holiday Classic in the Miami area, as they suffered a 78-61 defeat at the hands of tournament host Florida International Golden Panthers (6-3) this afternoon at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center in Westchester, FL. Jesyka Burks-Wiley’s Panthers are now winners of five in a row.
The Penguins’ Sarah Baker scored the first pair of buckets of the day, but FIU’s Rhema Collins scored the Golden Panthers’ first seven points of the game on the other side. With Florida International down 9-5, Collins’ layup for her seventh point helped the home team start an 8-0 run, which was followed by back-to-back layups from Parris Atkins and Grecia Ferrer Leal, a free throw from Judit Valero, and another free throw from Atkins. As a result, FIU made five of its first seven shots to go up 13-9 at the 4:15 mark and never trailed for the rest of the day. The Panthers led 23-15 after one, with Collins scoring 13 points in that quarter alone.
FIU started the second quarter ready to pounce as they scored the next seven points of the period with a free throw and a tip-in from Collins, followed by back-to-back layups from Denika Lightbourne and Parris Atkins to go up 30-15 at the 7:26 mark. FIU grew their lead to 18 with an Atkins free throw and a Lightbourne layup before YSU ended the half with consecutive buckets from Sophia Gregory and Erica King, which made it 40-26 at the intermission.
The Penguins got within 11 at 49-38 following a three-point play from Paulina Hernandez with 4:22 remaining in the third quarter, but that was as close as Melissa Jackson’s team would get for the remainder of the day.
YSU made a solid 70.6 percent (12-of-17) of their free throws, but they shot a poor 34.9 percent (22-of-63) from the field and a season-worst 23.8 percent (5-of-21) on threes. King was the lone Penguin in double-figure scoring with 15 points (4-of-10 FG); with nine points each from Gregory, Hernandez, and Hayden Barrier; and eight points each for the redshirt freshman duo of Danielle Cameron and Baker.
The Golden Panthers were truly living their lives like it was golden by scoring 52 of their 78 points in the paint and recording a plus-12 rebounding margin (46-34). Although they shot a poor 17.6 percent (3-of-17) on three-pointers and 56.5 percent (13-of-23) on foul shots, they did make a solid 47.7 percent (16-of-54) of their field goal attempts.
Collins, a native of the Bahamas, stole the show today. The Georgia transfer led everyone with 28 points (11-of-17 FG) and 12 rebounds, plus a pair of blocks and a career-high of four steals. In addition to Collins’ big game, Atkins and Lightbourne – a Dayton transfer and another Bahamian – finished with a dozen points each.
Florida International by the numbers
• Collins recorded her third consecutive double-double and sixth one of the season. It’s the first time that a Golden Panthers player has notched three straight double-doubles since Ce’Nara Skanes did it in the team’s last three games of the 2018-19 season.
• The Golden Panthers are now a perfect 5-0 at home. It is their best home start to a season since 1997-98, when they went 29-2 and didn’t lose a game until their 12th.
Up next: Youngstown State will face the UMass Minutewomen on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. in the second day of the FIU Holiday Classic at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center in Westchester, FL.
James Moon (CashApp): $JRMoon1991
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