• Game Notes

The Youngstown State women's basketball team will complete a five-day, two-game road trip on Sunday with a 3 p.m. contest against Wright State at the Nutter Center. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN, iHeartRadio and the Horizon League Network.

The Penguins enter Sunday's contest on a three-game winning streak and as victors in four of their last five. YSU beat UIC 67-54 in Chicago on Thursday, improving their record to 14-5 overall and 4-2 in conference play. The 14 overall wins are tied for the most since 1999-2000, and the four Horizon League wins match the total from each of the past two seasons. To get their 15th and fifth wins, the Penguins will have to stop a 10-game losing streak to Wright State that dates back to March 12, 2008.

Brandi Brown had 20 points and 10 rebounds in Thursday's win over the Flames, which was the 50th double-double of her career. Liz Hornberger hit three big second-half 3-pointers, one of which came when UIC trimmed a 12-point margin to five, en route to 12 points. Monica Touvelle scored 11 points behind three 3-pointers, her 11th straight contest with multiple 3-pointers. Touvelle's back-to-back 3-pointers halfway through the first period started a 19-6 run for the Penguins that turned an 18-16 deficit into a 35-24 halftime advantage.

Wright State is 10-10 overall and 4-3 in conference play following a 67-66 win over Valparaiso on Thursday. The Raiders have won three of their last four contests, and two of their three losses in league play have come to first-place Green Bay. Preseason conference player-of-the-year Kim Demmings is averaging 19 points and 5.8 rebounds as one of three Raiders averaging double figures. Wright State leads the all-time series with YSU 24-20.

The Penguins will compete the first half of league play on Thursday when it hosts Detroit at 5:15 p.m.

#YSUWBB Summary

• YSU is in its 38th season in 2012-13 and its third under head coach Bob Boldon.
• The Penguins have already matched their win total from last season at 14.
• The Penguins are averaging 8.5 3-pointers per game this season, which is ranks eighth in the country. They averaged 9.2 3-pointers per game last season.
• YSU is plus-8.9 in scoring margin this season. That's an 11.8-point improvement from last season and a 34.7-point improvement from three years ago.
• YSU is averaging 65.6 points this season, up one point from last season. It's the best scoring average since 2001-02.
• Opponents are scoring 56.7 points per game against YSU, the lowest since 1978-79. They averaged 67.5 points last year.

A Win Would

• Give YSU 15 wins in its first 20 games for the first time since 1997-98.
• End a 10-game losing streak to Wright State and a six-game skid at the Nutter Center.
• Improve YSU to 5-2 in Horizon League play for the first time ever.
• Be the 504th in program history.

Game Recap vs. UIC

Youngstown State had five players score at least seven points and hit 11 3-pointers in a 67-54 win at UIC on Thursday evening.

Brandi Brown finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Liz Hornberger (12) and Monica Touvelle (11) joined her in double figures. UIC's Rachel Story finished with 19 points.

After UIC led 18-16 with 11:30 left, YSU finished the half on a 19-6 run. Hornberger hit two big 3s in the second half once UIC cut a 12-point deficit down to five.

• YSU matched its overall and conference win totals from last season. The Penguins also won their seventh road game, their most since 1999-2000.
• YSU had tremendous balance in playing time with Melissa Thompson's 31 minutes being the team high.
• The Penguins had scoring edges of 18-4 off turnovers, 15-0 off offensive rebounds and 20-5 off the bench.
• Brandi Brown recorded her 50th career double-double.
• YSU had two 8-0 runs in the final 11 minutes of the first half.
• YSU made 11 3-pointers for the second straight game. It's the first time the Guins have had two consecutive games with at least 10 3-pointers.
• The 11 3-pointers came from three players. Brandi Brown and Liz Hornberger had four apiece, and Monica Touvelle had three.
• YSU out-rebounded its third straight opponent, its longest streak in Coach Bob Boldon's three years.
• Brown scored all nine of her first-half points in a span of just more than three minutes.
• YSU snapped a nine-game losing streak in Chicago.

Scouting Wright State

Wright State is 10-10 overall and 4-3 in Horizon League play following a one-point win over Valparaiso on Thursday. The Raiders were picked to finish third in the conference preseason poll, and their three losses have come to the top two preseason teams (Green Bay twice and Detroit). Preseason Player of the Year Kim Demmings hit the game-winner Thursday night, and she is averaging 19 points. KC Elkins and Ivory James are also averaging double figures.

Last Time vs. Wright State

Wright State used runs of 10-0 and 13-0 in the second half to pull away in an 84-62 win over YSU on Feb. 23, 2012, at the Nutter Center.

After 14 lead changes and nine ties in the first half, Wright State led the entire second half and outscored the Penguins 43-23. That included an 18-5 edge in the final six minutes.

Three Raiders scored at least 20 points, led by Courtney Boyd's 24 points. Brandi Brown scored 12 of her team-high 18 points in the second half.

Series With Wright State

Wright State has won 24 of the 44 meetings against YSU in a series that dates back to 1979 YSU beat its old Mid-Continent Conference foe 18 of the first 22 times, but Wright State has had the edge lately. The Raiders have won 10 straight against YSU. YSU lost by three twice in 2010-11 and by five in overtime last January.

14-5: Best Start in 15 Years

• Youngstown State has 14 wins in its first 19 games for the first time since the 1997-98 season, 15 years ago.
• With at least 11 games remaining, YSU has already matched or surpassed the win totals from each of its previous 12 seasons, including last year when the Penguins were 10-20.
• YSU's four conference wins are already tied for the most since 2007-08.
• The 10 non-conference wins tied the 1997-98 team for the most in school history.
• The Penguins won their first six home games for the first time since the 1991-92 season.
• YSU's seven road wins are the most in the last 13 years.

Brown Named Academic All-District

• Brandi Brown's list of career accomplishments got a little longer this week when she was named Capital One Academic All-District.
• Brown is one of five players in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois to earn Academic All-District honors. She is now an Academic All-America candidate.
• She is the first YSU women's basketball player to earn academic all-district honors since Lauren Branson earned second-team honors in 2007-08.
• Brown has also been named the Horizon League Scholar-Athlete of the Month in back-to-back months.
• Brown holds a 3.75 GPA in communications studies.

The Winning Formula

• With the regular season almost 2/3 through, some trends have emerged as keys to YSU wins.
• YSU is 14-1 when shooting at least 35 percent from the field and 10-0 when opponents shoot less than 40 percent.
• The Penguins are 12-2 when allowing fewer than 60 points and 13-1 when they at least match their opponents in points in the paint.
• The Guins are 10-0 when at least tying in rebounding margin. Along the same lines, they are 11-1 when at least tying in second-chance points.
• YSU is 12-2 when at least three players score in double figures.

Re-Discoving Its Outside Touch

• The Penguins have made 11 3-pointers in each of their last two games. It's the first time this season that they've made double-digit 3-pointers in back-to-back contests.
• YSU has also shot at least 35 percent from long distance in each of its last three contests. Prior to the most recent three games, YSU had shot below 35 percent in seven straight games.
• In that seven-game stretch, YSU shot 28.4 percent from the arc and went 4-3. In the other 12 games this year, YSU is shooting 36.4 percent from the arc and is 10-2.

Rebounding Getting Better

• YSU has held a rebounding edge in nine of its first 19 games and is minus-0.1 in rebounding margin for the year. While that's still below Coach Boldon's liking, it's a tremendous improvement from recent years. YSU was minus-5.1 last year and minus-9.0 in Boldon's first season in 2010-11. In fact, minus-0.1 is YSU's best mark since being plus-0.5 in 2005-06.
• YSU has out-rebounded three straight opponents for the first time since 2009-10.
• YSU was a combined plus-23 in rebounding margin in two games last week, out-rebounding Cleveland State by 10 and Loyola by 13. Youngstown State had not out-rebounded back-to-back opponents by double digits in seven years – since Jan. 28 and Feb. 2 in 2006.
• The Penguins have out-rebounded five of their last seven opponents and are 4-0 in conference play when holding an edge on the glass. YSU is plus-0.7 in rebounding margin in conference play, even with a minus-24 at Valparaiso to start league play.

Brown is Horizon League Player of the Week

• Youngstown State senior Brandi Brown is the reigning Horizon League Player of the Week, averaging 26 points and 16.5 rebounds in leading YSU to two victories last week.
• Brown has been named the conference player of the week three times this season and six times in her career. That is second-most among active players in the conference.

Brown at the National Level

• Brandi Brown ranks 13th in all of Division I with 11.4 rebounds per game, and she is 17th in scoring with 20.1 points per game.
• Brown is one of four players in the country who rank in the top 20 in both scoring and rebounding. She joins Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike, Middle Tennesee's Ebony Rowe and Cleveland State's Shalonda Winton.

Responding from Losses

• A key to YSU's success so far has been responding from losses with emphatic wins.
• Following losses, YSU has won its next game by an average of 19.8 points. The closest games were decided by nine points – against Cleveland State and Akron. YSU led Cleveland State from start to finish and led Akron for the final 31 minutes.

Slowing Down the Pace

• Youngstown State head coach Bob Boldon has emphasized a slower pace throughout the season.
• The Penguins are averaging 67.9 possessions per game this season, which is the lowest for YSU since joining the Horizon League in 2001-02. The Penguins averaged 71.9 possessions per game last year, which was their highest since 2002-03.
• YSU plays at the second-slowest pace in the conference behind Green Bay (65.6 per game).

Benefit of Defined Roles

• YSU has employed the same starting line-up in 18 of its 19 games this season. The only game that the combination of Brandi Brown, Shar'Rae Davis, Karen Flagg, Liz Hornberger and Melissa Thompson was Wilmington, when Monica Touvelle stepped in for an injured Hornberger.
• Additionally, Heidi Schlegel has been the first player off the bench in each of the last 14 games she's played in.
• Last year, YSU employed 10 different starting combinations in 30 games. The Penguins used seven starting lineups in coach Bob Boldon's first season.

Penguins are Horizon League's Top Free-Throw Shooting Team

• Youngstown State owns the Horizon League's best team free-throw percentage at 72.3 percent.
• Heidi Schlegel is the top individual free-throw shooter in the conference at 85.7 percent. Shar'Rae Davis ranks ninth at 74.5 percent, and Brandi Brown is 13th at 68.5 percent.
• YSU has slowed down at the line in league games, making 68.2 percent of its attempts. That mark ranks eighth in the conference. Schlegel is third individually in league play at 88.9 percent.

Brown Sets Two Records, Eyes More

• Brandi Brown set her first two career records in YSU's two games last week.
• She broke YSU's record for career free-throw attempts against Cleveland State on Jan. 24, and she set the record for career free-throw makes against Loyola two days later. Brown is 377-for-557 in her career from the free-throw line.
• Brown is also four starts, 89 rebounds and 342 minutes from other career records. She currently ranks second in YSU history in rebounds and third in points.
• In 109 career games, Brown has 1,798 points, an average of 16.5 per game. Wanda Grant is second with 1,829 points, and Dorothy Bowers is first with 2,324. Brown is 32 points shy of passing Grant, and she needs to average roughly 18.4 points the rest of the season to reach 2,000.
• Brown has 1,090 rebounds and needs to average roughly 8.1 rebounds the rest of the season to break Wanda Grant's school record of 1,178.
• Brown is one of only three players in both YSU and Horizon League history to surpass 1,700 points and 1,000 rebounds.

Among D-I Leaders in 3's Per Game

• Through games completed on Jan. 31, Youngstown State ranked eighth in Division I with 8.5 3-pointers per game.
• The Guins ranked fifth nationally last year with 9.2 3-pointers per game and set school and Horizon League records for 3-pointers made in a season last year with 275.
• In fact, YSU has set and re-set the school record for 3-pointers made and attempted in Coach Bob Boldon's first two seasons.
• The Penguins have made at least seven 3-pointers 36 times in the last 49 games dating back to the start of last season.

A Much-Improved Defense

• YSU has held opponents to an average of 56.7 points per game this season. That is a 10.8-point improvement from last season
• The Penguins haven't allowed fewer than 64 points per game since 1990-91, and they haven't allowed fewer than 60 points on average since 1979-80.
• Although it's higher than desirable, opponents' .413 shooting percentage is the lowest since the 2006-07 season.
• Last season, the Guins ranked second-to-last in the Horizon League scoring defense (67.5 points per game). This season, they are second in the HL in scoring defense.

An Impressive Turnover Margin

• The Penguins rank third in the Horizon League with a plus-3.7 turnover margin. The fourth-place team is minus-0.3. Plus-3.7 is the sixth-best margin in school history and the best 1999-2000.
• YSU has outscored opponents off turnovers 16 times in the first 19 games and is 13-3 in such contests. The Guins are outscoring opponents off turnovers by an average of 9.8 points per game.
• The Penguins rank second in the Horizon League with 19.4 turnovers forced per game.
• YSU is committing 15.5 turnovers per game, which ranks fifth in the HL. If it holds up, that will also be a school record for fewest turnovers per game over a season. The record is currently 16.0 in 2010-11.

Academic Success

• The YSU women's basketball team posted a team grade-point average of 3.52 during the fall semester, which was the highest of any team on campus.
• Four Penguins – Brandi Brown, Liz Hornberger, Taylor Hvisdak and Kelsea Newman – registered a 4.0 GPA.
• YSU ranked sixth on the WBCA Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll during the 2011-12 academic year with a 3.550 GPA.
• Brown was voted the Horizon League Scholar-Athlete of the month for both November and December.

Schlegel is HL's Top Bench Player

• Schlegel is averaging a league-best 10.2 points off the bench this season, and she's added 4.6 boards per contest.
• Among players eligible to be named the Horizon League's Sixth Player of the Year (must come off the bench 67 percent of the time), Schlegel is out-scoring the closest player by 3.4 points per game. She is also the leader in minutes off the bench.

Tapeless Touvelle on a Hot Stretch

• Since junior Monica Touvelle stopped taping an injured finger on her non-shooting hand on Nov. 30, she is shooting 45.2 percent (33-of-73) from 3-point range in 14 games. In the five games she wore the tape, she shot 28.6 percent (10-of-35).
• Touvelle is shooting 47.4 percent in league play, which ranks second in the conference.
• Touvelle has made at least two 3-pointers in 11 straight games dating back to YSU's win over Wilmington on Dec. 9.
• Touvelle has made 121 3-pointers in her career, which is the 11th-most in school history.

B.B.'s Double-Doubles

• YSU senior Brandi Brown has posted 14 double-doubles in 19 games this season. That ranks as the sixth-most in the country.
• Brown has 50 double-doubles in 109 career games, just under 46 percent of the time. She had 14 as a freshman, 13 as a sophomore and nine as a junior.
• She began this season with five straight double-doubles, which was the best streak of her career.