The Youngstown State women's basketball team will wrap up its best regular season in 15 years when it plays at Detroit on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Calihan Hall. The game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN, iHeartRadio and the Horizon League Network.
The Penguins are coming off a key stretch where they won three home games in five days to remain in second place in the Horizon League standings and surpass 20 wins for the first time since 1999-2000. YSU is 21-7 overall and 11-4 in conference play, and a win over Detroit or one loss by Loyola will give the Penguins the No. 2 seed in next week's Horizon League Tournament. YSU has already set a school record for Horizon League wins, and its 21 regular-season victories are the most since 1997-98. Youngstown State has already clinched a home tournament game that will be played on March 13, and the Penguins can finish no worse than third regardless of this week's outcomes.
YSU beat Valparaiso 72-50 on Monday behind a combined 56 points from Monica Touvelle, Brandi Brown and Shar'Rae Davis. Touvelle led all scorers with 20 points, 18 of which came from behind the 3-point arc, and Brown and Davis both finished with 18 apiece. YSU led by as many as 15 in the first half and went on a 12-1 run early in the second half once the Crusaders cut the margin to four. Brown surpassed 2,000 points for her career in the win.
While her 18 points against Valpo is nothing to shrug off, Brown averaged twice that output over her previous two games last week when she scored 39 points against UIC last Thursday and 42 against Wright State on Saturday. She is the reigning espnW National Player of the Week and the Horizon League Player of the Week. Those 42 points are the fourth-highest output in a game this season, and Brown had the first 40-20 game in a contest between two Division I teams since 2007. She ranks second on the conference in scoring while leading it in rebounding and double-doubles.
#YSUWBB Summary
- YSU is in its 38th season in 2012-13 and its third under head coach Bob Boldon.
- The Penguins already have their most wins in a season since 1999-2000.
- The Penguins are averaging 8.4 3-pointers per game this season, which ranks eighth in the country. They averaged 9.2 3-pointers per game last season.
- YSU is plus-7.9 in scoring margin this season. That's a 10.8-point improvement from last season and a 33.7-point improvement from three years ago.
- Opponents are scoring 57.1 points per game against YSU, the lowest since 1978-79. They averaged 67.5 points last year.
- YSU is averaging 65.1 points this season, up 0.5 points from last season.
A Win Would
- Give YSU 22 victories, tying for its fourth-highest win total in school history.
- Be YSU's 22nd of the regular season, which would be the third-most in school history.
- Give YSU a school-record 12 Horizon League victories.
- Be YSU's 10th on the road, which would be its most since 1997-98.
Game Recap vs. Valparaiso
Youngstown State capped a key three-game homestand with a convincing 72-50 victory over Valparaiso on Monday night at Beeghly Center.
YSU led by as many as 15 in the first half, but Valpo cut the deficit to four a minute into the second half. Monica Touvelle hit one of her six 3s on YSU's next possession, and the Penguins started a 12-1 run. They led by double digits for the final 16:55 and had a largest lead of 25.
Touvelle finished with a game-high 20 points, and Brandi Brown scored 18 points en route to reaching 2,000 for her career.
- Brown's 2,000th career point came off a spinning lay-up from the left low block with 16 minutes on the clock. Liz Hornberger had the assist.
- Touvelle reached 20 points for the third time this season. She had one game above 15 points in her first two seasons combined.
- Touvelle matched her career high with six 3-pointers, and YSU finished with 11 as a team. That was their highest since Jan. 31.
- Shar'Rae Davis added 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
- The Penguins had 18 assists, matching their highest in Horizon League play.
- YSU outscored Valparaiso 32-9 off turnovers. The Penguins committed nine turnovers, and Valpo had 25.
- Leading 50-38, the Guins put the contest away by scoring 13 consecutive points from the 8:52 mark to 6:20.
- YSU's interior defense held Valpo forwards Tabitha Gerardot and Gina Lange to a combined 14 points. They scored 41 points together in YSU's game at Valparaiso on Jan. 12.
- Hornberger matched her career high with four steals.
- Ashley Lawson made the first 3-pointer of her career and played 11 minutes.
Scouting Detroit
Detroit is 15-11 overall and 8-6 in conference play heading into the final week of the regular season. The Titans stopped a three-game losing streak on Saturday with a 66-40 victory over Milwaukee. Sophomore forward Shareta Brown is third in the conference in scoring at 20.5 points per game, and she is the league leader in field goal percentage at .575. Detroit has the league's top scoring offense at 71.2 points per game.
Last Time vs. Detroit
Karen Flagg scored a career-best 17 points, and YSU hung on for a 58-53 win over Detroit on Feb. 7 in a scrappy battle for second place.
YSU had a slow start and trailed by seven four minutes in, but the Penguins led by 56-45 with 4:36 left. Detroit scored the next eight points and missed four 3-pointers that would have tied the score in the final minute.
Monica Touvelle hit both one-and-one attempts from the free throw line with three seconds left for the final margin. Brandi Brown added 12 points and 18 rebounds for YSU.
Series With Detroit
Detroit is 17-14 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. Detroit then won six straight contests versus the Penguins before YSU won 80-67 last year at home. YSU beat Detroit 58-53 at Beeghly Center on Feb. 7, but its last win in Detroit was Feb. 14, 2008.
