Game Preview
- Youngstown State's veteran team will begin what it hopes is a prolonged postseason run as it hosts Northern Kentucky on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship. The contest will be part of a highly anticipated doubleheader with the men's program, and the women will begin the evening in Beeghly Center against the Norse at 5:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN and ESPN+, and the winner will advance to the semifinals in Indianapolis on Monday.
- The Penguins are the fourth seed in the tournament after finishing with a 19-10 overall record and a 13-7 mark against conference opponents during the regular season. NKU is the fifth seed by finishing with a 10-10 mark against league teams.
- Youngstown State didn't play its best basketball in February as it went 3-5, but it is a confident and motivated group entering the conference tournament. The Penguins have nine seniors on the roster, and six of them were on last year's team that won a share of the Horizon League regular-season title but lost a home game in the quarterfinals.
- YSU is 6-1 all-time in Horizon League tournament games played on its home floor, and it went 12-4 on Rosselli Court in 2022-23. One of those victories was a 52-51 over NKU on Jan. 28, and the Penguins beat the Norse 55-51 on the road in December.
- Youngstown State is coming off a 65-51 win over Robert Morris in which it had great first and fourth quarters and fought through a sluggish third quarter. It gave the Penguins 13 Horizon League wins for just the third time in program history.
- Seniors Lilly Ritz and Megan Callahan both earned All-Horizon League accolades by a vote of the conference's head coaches. Ritz was named the League's Defensive Player of the Year, and she was selected to the First Team and All-Defensive Team for the second straight season. Callahan was voted to the third team.
- Ritz achieved two personal milestones in the final week of the regular season. She recorded the 2,000th point of her career in the contest at IUPUI last Tuesday, and she had her 100th career game in double figures against Robert Morris. She enters tournament play with 961 points in her two seasons as a Penguin.
- Callahan leads a talented group of guards to complement Ritz on the perimeter. On the wings, Callahan, Malia Magestro and Paige Shy are each averaging at least 8.0 points per game and rank among the top 11 in the Horizon League in 3s per game. At point guard, Dena Jarrells is averaging 6.8 points and ranks third in the conference with 3.9 assists per game.
- John Barnes is coaching his 300th game at Youngstown State on Thursday. Barnes is second in career victories at YSU with 170, and his .568 winning percentage is the third-best mark in school history. The 10th-year head coach was named the Horizon League Coach of the Year in 2021-22.
- This is the 50th anniversary season of Beeghly Center, which opened in 1972-73. YSU is 58-19 at home since the start of the 2018-19 season for a .753 winning percentage, and it is 33-9 in its last 42 games on Rosselli Court.
Tickets, Promotions & Fan Information
- Advance tickets for Thursday's game are available on YSUsports.com, over the phone at (330) 941-1978 or at the Stambaugh Stadium Athletics Ticket Office. The Beeghly Center Ticket Office and gates will open at 4:30Â p.m. on Thursday.
- Promotions
- Paint the City Red and Wear Red!
- Dunkin' Rally Towels - first 500 fans
- Youngstown Clothing Company Jersey - first 50 YSU students
- $2 Beer for YSU Students
- T-Shirt Giveaway - first 250 YSU Students
- Performance Dogs of Ohio Halftime Show, presented by Balto Raw
Youngstown State vs. Northern Kentucky
A Win Would...
- Improve YSU's overall record to 20-10 this season and give the Penguins their fifth 20-win season in Head Coach John Barnes' 10 seasons.
- Be YSU's third straight over Northern Kentucky.
- Allow the Penguins to reach the semifinals of the Horizon League tournament for the sixth time.
- Be YSU's 13th on Rosselli Court this season
- Be Head Coach John Barnes' 327th career victory and his 171st at YSU.
Scouting Northern Kentucky
- Northern Kentucky is the fifth seed in the tournament after finishing 16-13 overall and 10-10 in conference play. The Norse beat both Cleveland State and IUPUI during the regular season, and they had a three-point loss at Green Bay.
- Starting with a 52-51 loss to YSU in Beeghly Center on Jan. 28, the Norse have lost six of their last nine contests. Four of those losses have been by three points or fewer.
- NKU ranks third in the Horizon League in scoring at 68.8 points per game, and guards Lindsey Duvall (17.7), Kailee Davis (13.4), and Ivy Turner (12.2) all rank in the top 10 individually in points per game. Defensively, Duvall, Turner and Khamari Mitchell-Steen each average more than a steal per game, and the Norse allow just 5.4 3-pointers per game.
Series History
Overall: Youngstown State leads 8-7
Barnes: 8-6 • Home: 6-2 • Away: 2-5 • Neutral: 0-0
Current Win Streak: 3 by Youngstown State
- Youngstown State has won three straight meetings against the Norse and holds a slim 8-7 lead in the all-time series that dates back to the 2012-13 season. The teams split two non-conference meetings in 2012 and 2013, and YSU is 7-6 against NKU in Horizon League matchups. Both teams have been better on their home floors in the series. YSU is 6-2 all-time against the Norse at Beeghly Center, and NKU is 5-2 against the Penguins in Highland Heights, Ky.
- NKU won four of the first five encounters, and YSU won four straight from Feb. 16, 2017, through Jan. 21, 2019. NKU won the next three from Feb. 22, 2019, through Feb. 8, 2020, and the Penguins have won the last three.
- Eight of the last 11 and nine of the 15 overall meetings between the Penguins and Norse have been decided by four points or fewer or in overtime. Three of YSU's five losses at Truist Arena have come at the buzzer or in overtime, and both games in 2022-23 during the regular season came down to the final seconds.
- YSU assistant coach Malika Glover played guard for the Norse from 2012-15 under previous NKU coach Dawn Plitzuweit. She is a two-time NKU graduate, earning her bachelor's degree in 2014 and her master's degree in public administration in 2016.
Horizon League Tournament History
- Going back to the 2012-13 season, YSU has won a game in the Horizon League tournament in seven of the last 10 seasons. The Penguins are 6-3 in their first game of the postseason under Head Coach John Barnes. Prior to the 2012-13 campaign, YSU had a 1-11 record in the Horizon League tournament.
- The Penguins have advanced to the semifinals in five of the last 10 tournaments – in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019.
- Youngstown State is 6-1 all-time in Horizon League tournament games played in Beeghly Center. The lone loss was a 63-52 decision against Oakland last season.
- YSU has been the fourth seed once previously, in the 2014-15 season. In that tournament, Youngstown State beat Detroit Mercy 73-55 at Beeghly Center before falling 63-54 to Green Bay in the semifinals.
- Youngstown State has never played Northern Kentucky in the postseason.
March 2 in YSU History
- Youngstown State is 5-5 all-time in previous games played on March 2. Six of those 10 contests have come in a postseason tournament, and YSU is 1-5 in those games. The Penguins are 2-0 in the only two games on the date played in Beeghly Center.
- Two years ago, YSU was eliminated from the Horizon League tournament with a 77-68 loss at Milwaukee. Prior to that, the Penguins enjoyed a 64-54 win over Wright State in 2013 and a 74-61 victory over Cleveland State in 2019 in regular-season contests.
- One of the best impressive individual performances in YSU history came on March 2, 2013, when Brandi Brown had 42 points and 21 rebounds in a 64-54 win over Wright State in 2013. Brown was 13-for-27 from the field and 12-for-18 from the free-throw line in the victory over the Raiders.
Recapping Robert Morris
Game Summary
Youngstown State outscored Robert Morris 19-5 in the first quarter and 21-8 in the fourth to beat the Colonials 65-51 on Saturday in the regular-season finale. The Penguins scored 14 of the first 17 points of the game, and they held a 35-19 lead at halftime. Robert Morris scored 15 straight points as part of a 22-5 run in the third quarter to get as close as one, but YSU scored 21 of the first 24 points of the fourth quarter to regain control. Lilly Ritz and Megan Callahan both scored 17 points, and Ritz grabbed 15 rebounds. The Penguins shot 50% from the field and made 11 3-pointers as a team to improve to 19-10 overall and 13-7 in Horizon League play.
Notes
- Youngstown State made 11 3-pointers for the second straight game, and it shot 41.5% from beyond the arc on 53 attempts in the final week of the regular season. Dating back to the game against Wright State on Jan. 26, YSU has made at least 10 3-pointers in five of the last 10 contests.
- Ritz reached double digits in scoring for the 100th time in her career. She scored at least 10 points in 53 of her 56 games as a Penguin, and she reached the double-digit mark in her final 47 games at the Division II level playing at Wheeling University.
- Callahan, a graduate transfer from RMU, improved to 5-0 against her former team. In the two games played at the UPMC Events Center as a Penguin, Callahan tied for game-high honors with 17 points on Saturday, and she hit the game-winning 3 with 0.7 seconds left in 2021-22. Callahan played against YSU five times while she was at Robert Morris, and the Colonials were 3-2 in those games. That brings Callahan's career record in the YSU-RMU series to 8-2.
- Youngstown State allowed just five points in the first quarter, which was its fewest since holding Wright State to four points on Dec. 4. RMU's only points in the quarter came on a three-point play by Simone Morris with 8:12 on the clock and a two-point bucket by Alejandra Mastral with seven minutes later.
- The Penguins had their best point differential in the fourth quarter this season at plus-13. Each YSU starter scored in the period, and four different Penguins made a 3-pointer.
- Robert Morris was whistled for just 11 fouls, which tied for a season-low by an opponent. That resulted in YSU attempting just six free throws, and the Penguins made a season-low two charity tosses.
- Youngstown State was 26-for-52 overall from the field, and it shot better than 50% in the first (57.1%), second (54.5%) and fourth (61.5%) quarters. In the third, YSU was 4-for-14 from the field (28.6%) and turned the ball over five times.
