The Youngstown State women's basketball team plays the two teams
tied for second place in the Horizon League standings at Beeghly
Center this week, starting with Detroit on Thursday. Tipoff against
the Titans is set for 7:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on
570 WKBN and YSUsports.com. The Guins, who are starting a four-game
home stand, have lost four straight contests while Detroit is
coming off a 75-64 win over Wright State on Saturday.
Top Storylines
- YSU is on a season-long four-game losing streak. The Penguins
had not lost back-to-back games all season before the streak.
- The Penguins have already surpassed their win total from all of
last season with their 8-10 start. The Penguins were 3-57 combined
in the two years prior to coach Bob Boldon's arrival.
- YSU's next win will give it nine wins, matching its total from
the previous three seasons combined.
- YSU's scoring margin is minus-2.1 this year. That's improved
from minus-10.6 last year and minus-25.8 two years ago.
- Through games completed on Jan. 21, YSU ranks sixth in the
country with 8.4 3-pointers per game.
- The Penguins average 10 more points and shoot 11.6 percent
higher in the second half than in the first half. They've been held
to under 30 points in the first half in five straight games.
- Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year Brandi Brown is
averaging 20.1 points and 9.7 rebounds in league play.
- Kenya Middlebrooks made five 3-pointers on Saturday at
Milwaukee and leads the Horizon League with 44 treys.
- Kelsea Fickiesen is averaging 8.8 points in the last four
games.
Series With Detroit
Detroit is 16-12 all-time against Youngstown State in the series
that dates back to 1983. YSU won five of the first eight meetings
and claimed five straight victories against the Titans in the
2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons. Since then, Detroit has won the last
six meetings, including 66-57 last year in Youngstown.
Scouting Detroit
Detroit is second in the Horizon League standings with a 5-2
mark against conference foes. The Titans lost their first six games
and seven of their first nine, but they've gone 8-2 since. The
Titans beat Wright State 75-64 on Saturday in a battle for second
in the league standings. Freshman Shareta Brown is a league
Newcomer-of-the-Year candidate, averaging 15.6 points and 8.7
rebounds while shooting 55.6 percent. Senee Shearer adds 9.8 points
per contest, and six other Titans average between 7.0 and 5.8
points. Autumn Rademacher is in her fourth season as Detroit's head
coach.
Last Game: L, 76-68 at Milwaukee
Milwaukee built a big first-half lead and shot 56 percent to
hold off Youngstown State 76-68 on Saturday afternoon at the
Klotsche Center.
The Panthers led by as many as 16 points in the first half and
were able to withstand YSU's rally, which cut the margin to three
with 10 minutes remaining.
YSU's Kenya Middlebrooks led all scorers with 19 points, 15 of
which came on five 3-pointers. Brandi Brown had 14 points in
limited action because of foul trouble, and Macey Nortey scored a
season-best 12 points to go along with seven assists.
YSU made just three of its first 20 attempts, but it made 21 of
their final 41 shots, including 7-of-10 to close out the first
half. UWM, though, led 9-1 through the first four minutes and 25-9
with 7:38 remaining.
- YSU was held to under 30 points in the first half for the fifth
consecutive game.
- Brandi Brown picked up three fouls in the first eight minutes
and played just 24 minutes in the game. That was her fewest ever in
43 Horizon League games.
- Still, Brown scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds while
going 6-for-14 from the field.
- Freshman guard Kelsea Fickiesen made her second straight start,
scoring nine points and tying for the team lead with two steals.
Five of her points came in the final 30 seconds of the first half.
Fickiesen is averaging 8.75 points over the last four games.
- Kenya Middlebrooks drained five 3-pointers to up her season
total to a league-best 44. She's made at least four treys in five
different games this season.
- Heidi Schlegel, YSU's second-leading scorer, missed her third
straight game with ankle tendinitis. The Penguins have lost each of
those three contests.
- All 16 of Milwaukee's points in the final nine minutes came in
the paint or at the free-throw line. UWM posts Sami Tucker and
Courtney Lindfors combined for 31 points and 17 rebounds in 47
minutes.
Last Time vs. Detroit • L, 52-43
Detroit went on a 17-2 run in the first half and scored 12 of
the final 14 points of the game to win 52-43 on Feb. 17, 2011, at
Calihan Hall.
Brandi Brown scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for YSU,
which led 41-40 with 7:26 remaining. No Penguin other than Brown
scored in the final 14 minutes.
Detroit shot just 33.3 percent and committed 10 more turnovers
than the Penguins but held a 55-31 edge in rebounding. Dominique
Dixon came off the bench to score 12 points to lead Detroit.
YSU shot 25 percent overall and 26.1 percent from 3-point range.
The Penguins committed a season-low five turnovers.
The Penguins led 16-7 prior to Detroit's 17-2 run. Detroit hit
seven of its final eight shots in the first half.
Playing Good "D" Is The Key
Five of Youngstown State's last six opponents have shot at least
48 percent, and the Penguins have gone 0-5 in those five games. In
contrast, only two of YSU's first 12 foes shot at least 42 percent.
Opponents were shooting .385 against YSU through the first 12 games
but have shot a combined .482 in the last six games. Opposing teams
are averaging 9.9 more points as a result. YSU is 6-2 when holding
opponents to under 40 percent shooting.
Missed Free Throws Also Hurting
In four of YSU's last six losses, the margin of defeat has been
equal to or fewer than the number of missed Penguins' free throws.
YSU went 12-for-21 against Milwaukee on Saturday and lost by eight.
The Penguins went 2-for-7 in regulation versus UIC on Jan. 14 and
lost in overtime. YSU was 15-for-20 from the stripe in a five-point
loss to Loyola on Jan. 12, and the Guins went 13-for-21 from the
free-throw line in a seven-point loss at Stony Brook on Dec.
27.
Guins Surpass 2010-11 Win Total
Youngstown State has already reached its win total from the
2010-11 season with its 8-10 start. The Penguins were 6-24 last
year and went a combined 3-57 the previous two seasons. YSU last
won at least eight of its first 17 games in 2007-08. With its next
win, the Penguins will match their win total from the previous
three seasons combined.
Shooting/Making 3s at Record Pace
YSU set school records for 3-pointers made and attempted last
year, and it is on pace to break those records in 2011-12. This
year, YSU is averaging 8.4 3-pointers made and 26.7 attempts. On
average, they made 6.8 per game and attempted 24.8 last year. The
Penguins' 744 attempts last year set the school record by more than
180. YSU's 151 treys in 2011-12 are already the 12th-most for a
season in school history. More than 47 percent of YSU's field-goal
attempts are from beyond the 3-point arc. The Guins' shooting
percentage is .315 this season, up from .276 last season.
Guins Among NCAA's Best at 3s
Through games completed on Jan. 22, YSU ranks sixth in the
country with 8.4 3-pointers made per game. Florida Gulf Coast, led
by YSU head coach Bob Boldon's mentor Karl Smesko, leads the nation
with 11.9 treys per game.
- YSU is the country's only Division I school whose men's and
women's basketball teams rank in the top 10 nationally in
3-pointers per game. YSU's men's team ranks eighth in the country
with 9.3 treys per game.
Needing First Half Offense
YSU has trailed at halftime in eight of its last nine contests
and has lost in six of those eight games. For the year, the
Penguins are 5-0 when leading at halftime and 3-10 when trailing.
YSU is shooting 11.6 percent better and averaging 10 more points in
the second half. Brandi Brown averages 12.1 points in the second
half and 5.0 in the first half.
- YSU has done a poor job getting off to good starts recently.
The Penguins have scored 11 points or fewer in the first 10 minutes
in four of the last five contests.
Benefit of Balanced Scoring
For the first time in nine seasons, Youngstown State has at
least three players averaging double figures in points. Brandi
Brown leads the Guins with 17.2 points per game, and she's gotten
help in the scoring column from Heidi Schlegel's 10.8 points and
Kenya Middlebrooks' 10.1 points. Brown was the only player that
averaged more than 10 points last year with 19.9 per game.
Road Success Has Been Key
YSU has been particularly successful on the road with six wins
in 11 tries this season. With at least five road games left, YSU
has already matched its highest number of road wins in the last 12
seasons. The Penguins were 6-11 on the road in 2007-08, and they
have not had more than six road wins since going 9-7 in 1999-2000.
The Penguins had one road win combined over the past three seasons.
YSU won five straight games on the road earlier this season from
Nov. 13 to Dec. 18. The last time YSU won five straight road games
was in 1997-98.
Brown Off to Solid Start in HL Play
Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year Brandi Brown has
gotten off to a very solid start in conference play. Brown is
averaging 20.1 points and 9.7 rebounds in seven conference games.
She has scored at least 20 points on five occasions and registered
three double-doubles. In league games, she ranks second in the
circuit in scoring and tied-for-third in rebounding. Brown battled
foul trouble to finish with 14 points and eight rebounds in 24
minutes at Milwaukee.
Fickiesen's Strong Start to Career
Freshman guard Kelsea Fickiesen has had a very solid start to
her promising career. She has started three of the past five games
and averages 19.8 minutes. Fickiesen leads the team with a .452
shooting percentage and ranks second and assists (31) and third in
steals (25). She has averaged 8.8 points in the past four
games.
Middlebrooks Among Best 3-Point Shooters in Horizon, YSU
History
Youngstown State senior guard Kenya Middlebrooks ranks eighth in
school history with 130 career 3-pointers in 108 games. She has 44
in 18 games this year and leads the Horizon League with 2.4
3-pointers per game.
Middlebrooks had just 28 triples in 139 attempts in the first 66
games of her career – 0.4 per game and 20.1 percent shooting.
She has 102 makes in 284 attempts over her last 42 games – an
average of 2.4 per game and 35.9 percent. Middlebrooks has
attempted the fourth-most triples in school history with 423.
Brown A Regular in Double Figures
YSU junior Brandi Brown has provided plenty of "wow" moments in
her career, but her consistency is perhaps what's most impressive.
Brown has scored in double figures in 44 of the last 48 games
dating back to the beginning of last year. She's scored at least 20
points in 24 of those 48 games. She had scored at least 10 points
in 29 consecutive games dating back to Dec. 20, 2010 before being
held to eight points at Ohio on Dec. 9, 2011.
Schlegel Providing a Big Lift
Redshirt freshman Heidi Schlegel has been a valuable part of
YSU's rotation in the early part of the season. Schlegel has
started 13 times and ranks second on the team in scoring with 10.8
points per game. Her 4.7 boards rank second, and her .441
field-goal percentage is third. Schlegel has scored in double
figures seven times. She has missed the last three games with an
injury and is considered day-to-day.
Nortey, Middlebrooks Have Plenty of
Experience
Seniors Macey Nortey and Kenya Middlebrooks are two of the most
experienced players in the Horizon League. Middlebrooks has played
the fourth-most career minutes in the league, and Nortey is sixth
on the list.
Middlebrooks has played 3,186 minutes in her first 108 games.
That is the fourth-most in school history, according to stats that
are available. Nortey's 3,068 minutes rank ninth in school history.
Nortey has started 99 games, which is the sixth-most in YSU
history.
Up Next
Youngstown State will play Wright State on Saturday at 4:35
p.m.
