Staff photo / Greg Macafee Youngstown State point guard Mady Aulbach throws a past into the post Saturday against St. Francis Brooklyn. YSU hits the road this weekend to play NKU and Wright State.

YOUNGSTOWN — It hasn’t been a perfect start for Youngstown State women’s basketball, which finished 2-3 through its November slate.

While YSU isn’t where it wants to be quite yet, count coach John Barnes among those who hasn’t been surprised — or phased — by what’s transpired.

“I think that we’re kind of where I thought we were going to be,” Barnes said. “I think people outside the program may have thought we would or should be in a different place, but we have some newcomers that are playing a lot of minutes, and we’re a different team this year than last year. We’re trying to find our identity.

“It’s going to take a little bit longer than I think a lot of people hoped, but I thought we made a big step forward in our last game in terms of defense and offense, and it was a great time for it headed into league play.”

Indeed, the Penguins are coming off a 70-41 win over St. Francis Brooklyn, which snapped a three-game losing skid. In the win, YSU also shook off some shooting woes that plagued it in losses to Akron and Western Michigan.

That was a shot of confidence for the Penguins, which hit the road this week to begin Horizon League play Friday against Northern Kentucky (7 p.m., ESPN+) and then Sunday against Wright State.

“It was definitely a game we really needed,” said guard Mady Aulbach. “We needed to see some shots fall after a couple rough shooting games, but I think it just reminded us of what we know we’re capable of and the potential we have. … So seeing a whole game come together for us just gave us the confidence we needed going into league play.”

The Penguins will get a challenging first league contest, as NKU (3-3) enters as a battle-tested team. The Norse just played Akron on Monday, and fell 70-69. YSU fell at Akron on Nov. 18, 61-44.

Northern Kentucky is paced by a talented backcourt of Lindsey Duvall, Kailee Davis and Ivy Turner, though Davis did not suit up against the Zips.

Duvall averages 22.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, while Davis adds 14.5 points and Turner scores 12.2 points per game.

“They have arguably the most dynamic backcourt in our league,” Barnes said. “With Duvall, Davis, Turner and (Khamari) Mitchell-Steen, they’re very good across the board, and have Souder in the post. They’ve got an outstanding team, and I think playing at their place is always a tough place to play. So it’s going to be a challenge.”

Souder is averaging 6.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, while Mitchell-Steen scores 8.7 points and grabs 4.3 rebounds per game.

Of Duvall in particular, Aulbach added, “Just her ability to score on all three levels (stands out). She’s never afraid to shoot — she gets a lot of shots off in a game. The other guards in the backcourt make that possible for her because they take on some weight as well. (We need to) make sure we always have a hand up with her and give her respect for the shooter that she is.”

And, as Barnes alluded to, there’s the challenge of being away from home. YSU is 0-3 in road contests this season, with losses to Akron, Western Michigan and Penn State.

But, he hopes playing those challenging non-conference games away from the Beeghly Center has prepared his squad for the rigors of league play.

“We put a tougher schedule together because of the team we have coming in, and definitely going back on the road is a challenge, especially to start the league (schedule),” he said. “But we’re well prepared for that. If we played not good teams mostly for three or four at home or something like that, it doesn’t really prepare us well for going on this road trip and playing really good NKU and Wright State teams.”

jwhetzel@tribtoday.com