The Youngstown State women's basketball team will try to improve to 5-0 at home and win its ninth game in 2012 when it hosts Bucknell on Saturday at Beeghly Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:35 p.m., and the game will be the second half of a doubleheader with the YSU men's team. Live audio will be available on 570 WKBN and iHeartRadio, and live video and stats will be on YSUsports.com.
The Penguins are already off to their best start through 11 games since the 1997-98 season and are coming off a big 80-71 victory over Akron on Dec. 20. YSU got 25 points and 15 rebounds from senior forward Brandi Brown in the win over the Zips, who entered the game with an 8-3 record. Brown grabbed her 1,000th career rebound and moved into fourth place on YSU's career scoring list in the victory. Freshman point guard Shar'Rae Davis filled up the stat sheet with 17 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists. The win gave the Penguins a 3-0 record against the MAC this season.
For her efforts, Brown was named the CollegeSportsMadness.com Horizon League Player of the Week for the fourth time this season. She continues to lead the conference with 11.8 rebounds per game, and her 19.7 points per game ranks fourth in the league. Davis is the league leader with 4.8 assists per game, and Liz Hornberger's 2.7 3-pointers per game also paces the circuit.
Bucknell, like YSU, is off to its best start in more than a decade. The Bison have won seven of their last nine contests to improve to 7-4, its best start since 2000-01. Under first-year coach Aaron Roussell, the Bison are averaging 12.9 more points than they did a year ago and lead the Patriot League with 64.2 points per game. Shelby Romine averages 14.7 points, which ranks third in the conference, and is coming off a career-high 29 points against Saint Peter's.
YSU will finish its non-conference schedule at VCU on Jan. 4 at 7 p.m.
Tickets
Tickets are available for purchase on YSUsports.com, by phone at (330) 941-1YSU, and at the main YSU Athletics Ticket Office in Stambaugh Stadium through Friday at 5 p.m. The Beeghly Center ticket office will open at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
#YSUWBB Summary
- YSU is in its 38th season in 2012-13 and its third under head coach Bob Boldon.
- The Penguins are averaging 9.0 3-pointers per game this season, which is tied for second-most in Division I. They averaged 9.2 3-pointers per game last season.
- YSU is plus-8.0 in scoring margin this season. That's a 10.9-point improvement from last season and a 33.8-point improvement from three years ago.
- YSU averaged 64.6 points last season, its best scoring average since 2001-02. The Guins are averaging 67.2 points this year.
- Opponents are scoring 59.2 points per game against YSU. They averaged 67.5 points last year.
- YSU will play the 1,000th game in its history against Green Bay on Jan. 19.
- Senior Brandi Brown is a preseason all-league pick after being a second-team honoree the past two seasons.
A Win Would
- Give YSU nine wins in its first 12 games for the first time since 1997-98.
- Give YSU a 5-0 start at home for the first time since 1999-2000.
- Be the 499th in program history
Game Recap vs. Akron
YSU got a game-high 25 points from Brandi Brown and 17 from Shar'Rae Davis to top Akron 80-71 in a spirited home game on Dec. 20.
Brown grabbed her 1,000th career rebound in the contest while also moving into fourth place in school history in career points.
YSU did not trail for the final 31 minutes but often had to fight off Akron. The Penguins led by six at halftime and just 43-42 five minutes into the second half. YSU scored the next seven points and countered a six-point Zips run with a 16-5 bulge that gave it a 67-54 lead with six minutes remaining.
- YSU committed 13 fewer turnovers (22-9) and outscored the Zips 23-7 off turnovers. The nine turnovers by the Penguins were a season low.
- Davis was 6-of-8 from the field and knocked down a career-best three 3-pointers. She also had six rebounds, four steals and three assists.
- Brown had half of YSU's 30 rebounds. She grabbed the 1,000th rebound of her career with 7:43 left in the second half.
- YSU improved to 4-0 at home for the first time since 1999-2000.
- Akron's final lead came at 17-15 with 11:31 left in the first half. The Penguins scored eight straight points to go up 23-17.
- The Penguins had three 7-0 runs and an 8-0 run during the contest. Davis scored seven straight points at one point during the first half to put YSU up 32-21.
- Karen Flagg had a career-high seven assists.
- YSU made at least 10 3-pointers for the fourth time this season. Six different players sank at least one trey.
- Heidi Schlegel grabbed five offensive rebounds, and YSU had seven points off her three offensive boards in the second half.
Scouting Bucknell
Bucknell is under first-year head coach Aaron Roussell and has already won two more games than it did in 2011-12. The Bison have won seven of their last nine contests, and one of the two losses in that span came in overtime. They beat Saint Peter's 69-62 in overtime in their last game on Dec. 22. Junior guard Shelby Romine is averaging a team-high 14.7 points. The Bison are out-rebounding teams by 10 per game.
Last Time vs. Bucknell
Youngstown State's Kenya Middlebrooks made two free throws with 9.8 seconds remaining to lift YSU to a 57-56, come-from-behind win at Bucknell on Nov. 16, 2011, at Sojka Pavilion.
YSU trailed by 17 early in the second half and was down 56-48 late. Two three-point plays made the score 56-54 with 1:53 left.
Brandi Brown went 1-for-2 from the line with 14.4 seconds left, and Tieara Jones grabbed the offensive rebound. Middlebrooks was fouled on a jumper and sank both free throws. Bucknell's Amy Zehner missed a 12-foot jumper as time expired.
Series With Bucknell
YSU has won five straight meetings against Bucknell and leads the all-time series 5-1. The Bison won the first matchup in 1989, but YSU won each of the next three years. The Guins have defeated Bucknell in each of the last two years. The 71-57 win over the Bison on Nov. 24, 2010, at Beeghly Center, snapped a 34-game losing streak. The Penguins have outscored the Bison by an average of 14.5 in the second half in the last two years. Bucknell held a halftime lead in both meetings.
