Penguins are taking underdog mentality as workouts begin
Trending
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State finds itself back in a familiar -- and perhaps comfortable -- position.
The Penguins returned to the Beeghly Center this week for offseason workouts, though the fanfare surrounding the program is lower than this time a year ago.
Coming off of a 19-11 season that ended with a loss to Northern Kentucky in the Horizon League quarterfinals but began with a preseason No. 1 nod in the conference, YSU now finds itself back in the position of the hunter.
The Penguins graduated All-Horizon League First Team forward Lilly Ritz and Third Team guard Megan Callahan, leaving two sizable question marks that have put the team back under the radar.
That's just the way YSU prefers it, according to forward Jen Wendler.
"Personally, I like being in the underdog role," the fifth-year senior said. "I like proving people wrong and showing them that we can work hard. We might not be seen as winning the league, but I like being able to go into games with nothing to lose and just putting it all on the court and giving it our all."
Head coach John Barnes added, "It will be interesting to see where we get picked (in the league preseason poll). I could see it being fifth or sixth or something like that, and now we're shooting at other targets and have a chip on our shoulder again."
Also departed from last year's team are forward Tenleigh Phelps (transfer) and guard Lindsey Mack (graduation).
The Penguins added four guards to their arsenal this offseason, picking up freshmen recruits Amya McLeod (Rome, N.Y.), Bella Samz (Oconomowoc, Wisc.) and Abbie Davidson, a walk-on from nearby Salem. They also added St. Louis transfer Abby Liber, an Avon native.
Wendler praised the group's basketball IQ, adding, "They've been really good. They've stood out, and I think they're very smart coming out of high school."
Wendler also highlighted Liber's time with St. Louis, as the Billikens are the reigning Atlantic 10 Conference champions.
"She brings a lot of energy and a lot of calmness to us, which is something that we needed," Wendler added.
"I think the biggest thing is their energy and their excitement to learn," Barnes said. "They're really focused, and we throw a lot at them because we're trying to put in the fundamentals of our defense and our offense."
Helping them along, Barnes added, is a large group of seniors. YSU sports six 5-year seniors -- Wendler, Mady Aulbach, Dena Jarrells, Shay-Lee Kirby, Emily Saunders and Paige Shy -- as well as two seniors in Malia Magestro and Lindsey Linard.
"We all have a lot of experience. ... I think just translating that onto the court and into games this year is going to be good for us," Wendler said.
It's a group Barnes says will need to step up to fill the voids left by Callahan and Ritz. The latter recently signed to play professional basketball in Switzerland.
"I look back to the year we lost Nneke (Obiazor), who was the Freshman of the Year and Mary Dunn, who was a First Team all-conference player, and McKenna Peters, a 2- or 3-year starter. You know, how are we going to do it? People just stepped up. I think it's going to be by committee," he said.
Barnes added he's been especially pleased with the efforts of Kirby in the early goings of these workouts.
"We haven't done a whole lot, but I think Shay has really done a nice job. You can tell she's put in a lot of time this offseason. That's exciting because with Megan being gone, we really need her to step up," he said.
He added, "We're not looking to one player to really do too much. Everyone is going to have to do a little bit more, and it seems like teams find a way to get that done. I don't anticipate it being different this year."