The Youngstown State women's basketball team plays its third game in six days when it hosts Division II member Clarion, tonight at the Beeghly Center.

Tipoff is slated for 7:05 p.m. at the Beeghly Center.

The Penguins (1-8) are coming off a disappointing 84-54 home loss to Robert Morris on Monday. Sophomore Nikita LaFleur just missed her first career double-double with a career-high 14 points and eight rebounds.

Sophomore Monique Godfrey also reached double figures with 14 points against the Colonials.

Scouting the Golden Eagles
Clarion enters tonight's contest with a 3-4 overall record and has won its last two games. The Golden Eagles defeated Cheyney, 65-40, on Tuesday and Pitt-Johnston, 64-47, on Dec. 6. Leading the Golden Eagles is Jessica Albanese with 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Junior My'Kea Cohill is second on the team with 11.2 points per game. 

The Clarion Series
This will be the sixth meeting between Youngstown State and Clarion and the first since 1982. The Penguins own a 4-1 advantage in the all-time series and have won four straight games against the Golden Eagles.

LaFleur Livin' Large
Over the last two games, sophomore Nikita LaFleur has been playing a big role for the Penguins. In each of those contests, LaFleur set new career scoring highs, including 14 points against Robert Morris on Monday evening.

Branson Moving Up
Senior Lauren Branson continues her climb up the YSU all-time assists chart. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native currently has 238 career assists and needs 73 more to move into 10th place on the career chart. 

Schloemp Streak at 53
With an appearance against Clarion on Thursday evening, junior Jessica Schloemp will extend her games played streak to 54 straight games. Schloemp's consecutive games started streak ended at 34 after she did not start against Indiana State on Dec. 6.

Godfrey Has Career Night
Sophomore Monique Godfrey turned in a career performance against one of the top teams in the Missouri Valley Conference on Dec. 6. Godfrey tied a career high with 18 points and hit a career-best five 3-pointers against Indiana State that night.

Lyons Hits Career High
After posting a career-high 11 points against Indiana State, freshman Anjalia Lyons answered that by almost doubling her scoring output with 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting against Akron on Dec. 16.

Up Next
The Penguins open Horizon League play this month with league contests against Wright State, Thursday, Dec. 28, at 7:05 p.m. and Butler, Saturday, Dec. 30, at 2:05 p.m.

A Win Will 
• Snap a six-game losing streak.
• Mark YSU's second victory of the season. 
• Give Head Coach Tisha Hill her 26th career victory.
• Give the YSU women's basketball program its 449th victory since the 1975-76 season.

Last Time Out
The Penguins dropped their sixth straight contest with an 84-54 loss to Robert Morris on Monday. Sophomores Monique Godfrey and Nikita LaFleur each scored 14 points to lead the Penguins.

Karner Among League Leaders
Junior Heather Karner has been racking up some pretty impressive numbers after eight games. The 5-foot-10 guard ranks fourth in the league with 14.1 points per game and leads the circuit with 2.38 3-pointers made per game. She also ranks fourth in the Horizon League with a .778 free-throw percentage.

LaFleur Steps Up
Sophomore center Nikita LaFleur turned in her a then-career-best scoring high in the 66-58 loss to Akron on Saturday. LaFleur scored eight points on 2-of-2 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 shooting from the free-throw line.

Pendleton Hits Scoring High
Sophomore forward Ashley Pendleton turned in a solid performance at Miami (Ohio) scoring a career-high nine points and blocking four shots. Pendleton also grabbed five rebounds in 21 minutes of action.

Davis Hits Career Highs
Freshman Ta-myra Davis turned in the best performance of her young career against Duquesne on Nov. 25. The 6-foot-1 forward grabbed a career-high nine rebounds and scored five points against the Dukes.

Karner Nabs All-Tournament Laurels
Junior Heather Karner picked up some hardware at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside Classic even though the Penguins went 0-2 at the tournament. Karner was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 14.5 points per game while shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from the 3-point arc. She also posted a game-high 23 points against UNC-Wilmington on 7-of-11 shooting with five 3-pointers. 

Lyons Misses Double-Double
In her second college game, Anjalia Lyons just missed pulling off a tremendous feat. With eight points and a career-high 12 rebounds against Coppin State, Lyons was just two points from becoming the first freshman since Jen Perugini (2001-02) to record a double-double so early in her career. Perugini recorded five straight double-doubles to begin her college career. 

Vaughn Nets Career High Again
After posting a then-career scoring high of 14 points in the season opener against Cincinnati, sophomore Velissa Vaughn posted career highs with 17 points and seven assists in YSU's 78-44 win over Buffalo on Nov. 21.

Back-to-Back 78's - Most Points Since 1999-2000
Youngstown State's 78 points in back-to-back home games (156 points) is the highest two-game total to open the season since 1999-2000 when the Penguins scored 168 points in their first two home games against Bowling Green (W, 83-68) on Nov. 20 and Kent State (W, 85-74) on Nov. 23. 

Penguins Picked Seventh
The Youngstown State women's basketball team was picked to finish seventh in the Horizon League's official preseason poll of the league's head coaches, sports information directors and selected media, the league announced on Wednesday, Oct. 11.

The Penguins, who ended last season with an 8-20 overall mark and a 4-12 record in the Horizon League, tallied 72 points.

UW-Green Bay, which has won or shared the league title in each of the last nine seasons, was picked as the preseason favorite to win the Horizon League, garnering 22 of 27 first-place votes and 234 points.

Defending tournament champion UW-Milwaukee was voted second with three first-place votes and 198 points while Butler was tabbed third with one first-place vote and 192 points.

Right behind the Bulldogs in fourth was UIC with 185 points and one first-place vote followed by Wright State in fifth with 132 points and Loyola in sixth with 83 points. Rounding out the poll is Detroit in eighth with 63 points and Cleveland State in ninth with 56 points.