Game Preview
- With its seed in next week's 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship already locked in, Youngstown State is focused on building momentum for March as it wraps up the regular season at Robert Morris on Saturday. Tipoff at the UPMC Events Center is set for 3 p.m., and the contest will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN and ESPN3.
- The Penguins head to their nearest Division I rival having lost three straight games and five of their seven contests in February. YSU began the month with a 10-2 mark in conference play, but the results in the past seven contests have dropped the Penguins to 12-7 in league games and into the fourth slot in the conference tournament.
- The fourth seed gives Youngstown State a home game in the quarterfinals of the league tournament on March 2. The Penguins will play a doubleheader with the men that begins at 5:30 p.m., and the contest will be against either Northern Kentucky or Purdue Fort Wayne.
- Youngstown State is 18-10 overall, and it needs two more wins to clinch its sixth 20-win season in the last 11 years. A win Saturday would allow the Penguins to finish in a tie for third in the final standings, and YSU would reach 13 Horizon League wins for the third time in program history.
- Lilly Ritz recorded the 2,000th point of her collegiate career in Tuesday's contest at IUPUI. She scored 1,060 points over 54 games at the Division II level, and she has 944 points in her two years at Youngstown State. She ranks among the top three players in the conference in scoring, rebounding, field-goal percentage, double-doubles, steals and blocks, and she is among the top 15 players in the country in double-doubles, rebounding and field-goal percentage.
- On the perimeter, three Penguins guards – Malia Magestro, Megan Callahan and Paige Shy - are averaging at least 8.0 points and rank among the top 11 in the Horizon League in 3s per game. Dena Jarrells scored a career-high 25 points in Tuesday's game at IUPUI, and she is averaging 6.8 points and 3.8 assists.
- Callahan scored the 1,000th point of her career last week against Milwaukee. The sixth-year senior is averaging a career-high 10.7 points per game, and she ranks 26th in the country in 3-point field-goal percentage at .412.
- This is YSU's 10th season under Head Coach John Barnes, who was named the Horizon League Coach of the Year in 2021-22. Barnes is second in career victories at YSU with 169, and his .567 winning percentage is the third-best mark in school history. His 300th game at Youngstown State will be YSU's first contest in the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship.
- YSU shared the Horizon League regular-season title with IUPUI in 2021-22 as both teams finished with an 18-4 conference mark. While the core of YSU's roster is familiar, the target on the Penguins' back is not. For the first time in program history, Youngstown State was picked as the preseason favorite to win the Horizon League by the conference's coaches. Last season, YSU was picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll.
Youngstown State vs. Robert Morris
A Win Would...
- Improve YSU's overall record to 19-10 this season and its Horizon League record to 13-7.
- Snap a three-game losing streak.
- Be YSU's sixth straight over Robert Morris
- Allow YSU to win 13 Horizon League games for just the third time ever (2018-19 and 2021-22).
- Improve YSU's record in HL road games to 7-3.
- Be Head Coach John Barnes' 326th career victory and his 170th at YSU.
Scouting the Colonials
- Robert Morris is 11-17 overall and 5-14 in Horizon League play following an 83-69 loss at IUPUI on Thursday. The Colonials have won three of their last six games, and they will be either the ninth or 10th seed in the 2023 Barbasol #HLWBB Championship.
- Robert Morris statistically plays in the lowest-scoring games in the conference with an average of 118.9 points per game. The Colonials score 58 points per game while yielding just 60.9, which is the fifth-best mark in the league. RMU is holding opponents to 24.6% shooting on 3-point attempts, which ranks second in the country.
- Phoenix Gedeon averages team highs of 13.2 points and 8.6 rebounds, which both rank among the top seven in the conference. Six Colonials average between 5.2 and 7.6 points per game.
Series History
Overall: Youngstown State leads 22-7
Barnes: 8-3 • Home: 13-22 • Away: 9-5 • Neutral: 0-0
Current Win Streak: 5 by Youngstown State
Youngstown State and Robert Morris have played 29 times, and YSU has won the last five meetings between the schools located approximately 60 miles apart. The Penguins swept the three-game series last season, which included the two regularly-scheduled games and a bonus meeting that came about when NKU and Wright State both had COVID-19 cancelations. YSU won the second meeting in 2020-21, and it took the first bout in 2022-23. The teams played 14 times between 1983 and 1996, and they have met in six of the last seven seasons.
YSU is 8-3 against the Colonials in Head Coach John Barnes' tenure. Two of those wins have come in overtime, and last season's victory at the UPMC Events Center came in the final second. The 11 games in the Barnes era have been relatively low-scoring. The winning team has scored 61 points or fewer in regulation in eight of the 11 contests.
Facing former teammates
YSU's Megan Callahan is a Robert Morris alumna and will be facing her former team. She was a member of RMU's program from 2017-18 through 2020-21 and actually played against the Penguins five times as a Colonial. She earned her bachelor's degree from RMU in the spring of 2021. Callahan made the game-winning 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds left at the UPMC Events Center on Jan. 22, 2022. Mackenzie Amalia and Sol Castro are the only two current Colonials who were teammates with Callahan. Mady Aulbach was high school teammates with Amalia.
Recently vs. Robert Morris
- This Season (at YSU – Jan. 12, 2023): Youngstown State had three players combine to match Robert Morris' 48 points, and the Penguins were strong defensively in a 65-48 victory over the Colonials at Beeghly Center. Lilly Ritz posted game highs of 19 points and 14 rebounds, and Paige Shy scored 15 points while Megan Callahan posted 14. Five other Penguins combined for 17 points in the 17-point victory. YSU did not trail for the final 37:54 of the game, and a 15-3 run to end the second quarter gave it a 31-19 halftime lead.
- Last Season at RMU (Jan. 22, 2022): Megan Callahan hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds remaining to lift YSU to a storybook 59-57 victory over Robert Morris at the UPMC Events Center. The RMU graduate who transferred to YSU helped the Penguins overcome a 12-point deficit. Callahan's 3-pointer came on Chelsea Olson's eighth assist of the game. Lilly Ritz had 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Feb. 25 in YSU History
- Youngstown State is 3-6 all time in nine previous games played on Feb. 25. The Penguins are playing on the road on the date for the first time since 2012.
- Two years ago, YSU outlasted Purdue Fort Wayne for a 62-59 win in the 2021 Horizon League Tournament.
- On Feb. 25, 1996, YSU had 23 steals at Troy. That is tied for the fifth-most in program history.
Recapping IUPUI
Game Summary
Lilly Ritz surpassed 2,000 career points and recorded her 17th double-double of the season, but YSU couldn't make enough stops defensively in an 87-80 loss at IUPUI on Tuesday. Ritz had 20 points and 14 rebounds, and Dena Jarrells scored a career-high 25, but the Penguins surrendered a season-high 87 points on defense. YSU made four of its first five attempts from beyond the arc as it took an 18-6 lead less than five minutes into the game. The Penguins matched that 12-point advantage after two field goals in the first 47 seconds of the second period, but they had just two baskets the rest of the half. That allowed IUPUI to take a 44-39 lead at halftime, and YSU was never able to take the lead in the second half.
Notes
- YSU scored at least 80 points in a loss for the first time since falling 86-82 at Milwaukee on Feb. 9, 2017. The Penguins have scored at least 80 points in two of their last five games, but they've also been held to 54 in the same five-game stretch.
- Dena Jarrells scored a career-high 25 points on four 3-pointers, seven free throws and four two-point field goals. She added five assists to become the first Penguin with at least 25 points and five assists in a game since Karen Flagg on Jan. 29, 2014, against Detroit Mercy.
- Ritz scored went over 2,000 career points when she banked in a 14-foot jumper just before the third-quarter buzzer. That gave her 17 points, and she finished the night with 20. Ritz scored 12 points in the first 11 minutes of the game, and IUPUI began swarming her when she got the ball in close.
- Jarrells and Ritz became the second pair of teammates to score at least 20 points in the same game this season. At Wright State on Dec. 4, 2022, Malia Magestro and Ritz each scored 20 points.
- Youngstown State made three more field goals than IUPUI, and all three were from beyond the arc. That gave the Penguins a nine-point advantage in the field, but IUPUI held a massive 29-13 edge at the free-throw line. YSU was whistled for 22 fouls that led to 34 free-throw attempts. The Penguins had 19 charity tosses.
- The Penguins fell while for the second time in the last three games after holding a lead of a dozen points. YSU led Milwaukee 25-13 last Friday before eventually losing 75-54, and the Penguins held three different 12-point advantages against the Jaguars.
- Ritz grabbed 14 of YSU's 29 rebounds in the game. She had twice as many rebounds as any other player.
Up Next
- Youngstown State will play in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Championship on Thursday. The Penguins will be the fourth seed and will host a game in Beeghly Center that will tip at 5:30 p.m.
