The Youngstown State women's basketball team will play Northern Arizona at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday to finish its two-game stay in Las Vegas, Nev. The contest against the Lumberjacks is part of the Las Vegas Holiday Classic being played at Orleans Arena.
The game will be aired live on 1390 WNIO and iHeart with YSU play-by-play broadcaster Drae Smith on the call from courtside.
Youngstown State dropped its opening game 63-50 in Nevada on Friday to Rhode Island. The Penguins played well defensively against the preseason favorites in the Atlantic 10, but they couldn't get going offensively early enough to catch the Rams. Northern Arizona beat Portland 66-65 earlier on Friday when Olivia Moran made a game-winning layup with less than a second left. The Lumberjacks trailed by as many as 15 in the second half.
Career Highs vs. Rhode Island
- Abbie Davidson recorded her first career assist and grabbed the second rebound of her career.
- Abby Liber set a new career high with eight points. The Saint Louis transfer had six points in her career coming into the contest against her old Atlantic-10 foe.
Season Highs vs. Rhode Island
- Mady Aulbach tied her season best with two steals, matching her mark from the game against Slippery Rock.
- Shay-Lee Kirby scored a season-high 10 points. She has made a 3-pointer in all four games in which she's played this season.
Notes vs. Rhode Island
- Nine different Penguins scored in the game, and YSU got 18 points from its bench. In YSU's first three games of the season against Division I opponents, reserved had scored just 15 points combined with nine against Xavier, zero against Western Michigan and six at West Virginia.
- YSU shot 50% in the fourth quarter against Rhode Island, which, hopefully, is a sign of better things to come. After going 9-for-14 for 64.3% in the first quarter against Western Michigan on Nov. 19, YSU had shot below 38% in 10 straight quarters.
- The Penguins were plus-three in turnover margin at 22-19, but Rhode Island held a 25-15 advantage in points off turnovers.
- Abby Liber made the first two free-throw attempts of her career while scoring a career-high eight points.
- Malia Magestro scored her 700th career point in the contest. Her streak of games making at least one 3-pointer stopped at 11 as she went 0-for-4 from long distance against the Rams.
- Emily Saunders was held to season lows of two field goals and four field-goal attempts.
- Paige Shy scored five of her seven points in the first quarter and scored her 500th point as a Penguin.
- Haley Thierry scored six points, which is her most against a Division I opponent in her career.
