Youngstown -- Youngstown State returns home for the first time
in nearly three weeks to welcome Bowling Green to the Beeghly
Center on Monday at 11 a.m.. The contest is only the second - and
the final - home game in December for the Penguins. YSU is looking
for its first win of the season in its final non-conference game.
Following the game, the Penguins will be off for the holidays until
Jan. 2, 2010. YSU's last win over Bowling Green came at Beeghly
Center on Nov. 22, 2003.
Free Kids Day Promotion
With the game being held at 11 a.m., all kids in grades
12-and-under will receive a free general admission ticket.
A Quick Look at the Penguins
YSU has opened the season with 10 straight losses due mainly to
playing shorthanded and struggling on defense. YSU has dressed a
maximum of eight players in each of its games, and leading scorer
Bojana Dimitrov missed two games with a concussion. The Penguins
have not held an opponent under 70 points this season, and teams
are shooting a combined 48.3 percent against them. YSU is averaging
53.7 points, and opponents have scored at least 89 points in three
of the past four contests.
Scouting Bowling Green
Bowling Green, winners of five straight Mid-American Conference
regular season titles, is 7-3 despite playing a brutal
non-conference schedule. Of the seven road games Bowling Green has
played, six have been against teams that won at least 23 games last
season. Defending MAC Player of the Year Lauren Prochaska leads the
Falcons with 17.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
Manuel Developing as a Scoring Threat Inside
Senior Rachael Manuel is developing into a solid scoring
threat from the post. She has scored at least nine points four
times in the last five games. She has been very close to recording
her first career double-double twice in the past two games. She was
one rebound shy at Akron on Dec. 5, and she was a point shy at
Saint Francis (Pa.) on Thursday. Manuel has 74 points this season,
which is already the highest total for a season in her career.
Ending a Rough Stretch
The game against Bowling Green is the end of a very rugged
non-conference home slate for the Penguins. The four non-conference
games at Beeghly Center were against Kent State, Canisius,
Pittsburgh and Bowling Green, a group that combined for 97 wins
last year. Kent State was 19-10, Canisius went 24-9, Pittsburgh was
25-8 and Bowling Green went 29-5.
