The Youngstown State women's basketball team will try to open
2012 with a win at Butler when the Penguins play at Hinkle
Fieldhouse on Thursday at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on
1390 WNIO and the Horizon League Network. YSU is coming off a 70-48
win over Cleveland State on Saturday in its league opener. Butler
lost 48-47 in the closing seconds at Wright State on Saturday to
drop to 0-2 in the conference.
Top Storylines
- The Penguins have already surpassed their win total from all of
last season with their 7-5 start. The Penguins were 3-57 combined
in the two years prior to coach Bob Boldon's
arrival. YSU last had seven wins in its first 12 games in
1999-2000.
- The Penguins finished with 11 wins in 2011. They had three wins
combined in 2009 and 2010.
- YSU has opened the Horizon League slate 2-0 once in its
previous 10 years in the conference – 2007-08.
- YSU has lost 11 straight games against Butler. The only longer
skids against league teams are Milwaukee and Green Bay (13).
- Dating back to last season, YSU has won 10 of its last 19 games
and nine of its last 15. Prior to 19 games ago, YSU had won just
seven of its previous 85 games.
- YSU's scoring margin is plus-0.9 this year. That's improved
from minus-10.6 last year and minus-25.8 two years ago.
- Through games completed on Jan. 1, YSU ranks tied-for-ninth in
the country with 8.0 3-pointers per game.
- Brandi
Brown is the 17th player in YSU history to record 1,000 career
points. She reached the milestone against LMU on Nov. 25. She
currently ranks 13th in school history with 1,128 points.
Series With Butler
Butler has won 11 straight games against Youngstown State to
take a 17-5 lead in the all-time series. YSU's only win in the last
18 contests against Butler was on Feb. 2, 2006. The Penguins won
the first four meetings upon joining the Horizon League. Over the
last six games in the past three years, Butler has beaten YSU by an
average of 26.8 points (77-50.2).
Scouting Butler
Butler went 0-2 during the first weekend of Horizon League play,
losing 72-60 at Detroit and 48-47 at Wright State. The loss to the
Raiders came in the final five seconds. Butler started the season
1-7 but won its final three non-conference contests. The Bulldogs
average 57.3 points, which is the second-lowest in the conference.
They rank fourth in scoring defense, though, with 59.7 points per
game. Freshman forward Haley Howard leads Butler with 11.5 points
per game.
Last Game: W, 70-48 vs. CSU
Behind 23 points from Brandi Brown, YSU opened Horizon League
play with a 70-48 home win over Cleveland State on Saturday.
The Penguins scored 12 straight points early to take a 14-2
lead, and they led by double digits for the final 30:35 of the
game.
Brown's 23 points came on an efficient shooting day in which she
was 7-for-11 from the field. She also finished with 12 rebounds and
made two big 3-pointers that ended droughts.
Brown also made two free throws with 4:43 left that sparked a
12-0 run, turning a 12-point margin into a 24-point cushion.
- YSU held Cleveland State to a field-goal drought of 7:19 in the
first half and one for 7:39 in the second half. YSU outscored the
Vikings 28-3 during those stretches.
- Brandi Brown recorded her third straight double-double and the
fifth of the season. She had her best shooting day of the year,
going 7-for-11 from the field and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
Brown was 3-for-4 from distance after entering the game
5-for-29.
- Heidi
Schlegel bounced back to score 16 points on 4-for-9 shooting.
She had 1 points on 2-for-11 shooting the previous two games.
- The Penguins hit 12 triples and shot .429 from beyond the arc.
They've made at least 10 treys and shot at least 40 percent from
distance three times in the last six games.
- Monica
Touvelle went 4-for-4 from 3-point range. Only three other
players in school history have gone at least 4-for-4 in a game. She
made four triples in a game twice last year, including once at
Butler.
Last Time vs. Butler: L, 73-56
Brandi Brown's 20 points were overshadowed by Chloe Hamilton's
34 points for Butler as the Bulldogs won 73-56 on Feb. 10 in
Youngstown.
Butler scored the first 12 points of the game and led by double
digits for nearly all of the final 34 minutes. YSU missed its first
seven shots and didn't get on the board until Brown's jumper with
13:36 remaining.
YSU kept the Bulldogs from running away with the contest in the
first half and trailed by just eight two-and-a-half minutes into
second half. Butler, though scored the next 10 points to go up
46-28.
Butler shot 48 percent overall and 50 percent in the second half
YSU shot 38.9 percent overall and was 5-for-19 from beyond the
arc.
Guins Surpass 2010-11 Win Total
Youngstown State has already reached its win total from the
2010-11 season with its 7-5 start. The Penguins were 6-24 last year
and went a combined 3-57 the previous two seasons. YSU last won at
least seven of its first 12 games in 1999-2000, which was the last
time the Penguins won 20 games and advanced to the NCAA
Tournament.
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 Penguins with 15.8 points per game, and she's
gotten help in the scoring column from Heidi Schlegel's 11.3 points
and Kenya
Middlebrooks' 10.7 points. Brown was the only player that
averaged more than 10 points last year with 19.9 per game.
Shooting 40 Percent Regularly
Youngstown State has shot at least 40 percent in seven of its
last games. The Penguins had shot at least 40 percent in six
straight games prior to Christmas before shooting 25.9 percent at
Stony Brook. YSU responded to shoot 43.8 percent against Cleveland
State on Saturday. YSU's six-game 40-percent streak was its best
since 2000-01.
Guins Have Come Far in 19 Games
Dating back to last season, YSU has won 10 of its last 19 games.
Prior to that point, YSU had just six wins in its previous 83 games
(the start of the 2008-09 season). Over the last 19 games, YSU has
averaged 64.1 points, which is 12.9 points higher than the previous
83. It is also holding opponents to 62.6 points, a decrease of 9.2
points. The average difference in scoring margin is 22.1 points.
The Penguins have shot at least 40 percent in 13 of those 19 games
after shooting at least 40 percent just 16 times in the previous 83
contests.
Up Next
Youngstown State will play at Valparaiso on Saturday at 2:35
p.m. Eastern. The game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN.
