The Youngstown State women's basketball team will begin its 2023-24 Horizon League schedule on Nov. 30 and play a 20-game round-robin during the regular season, the conference office announced on Tuesday.
While the Penguins will play each team twice again in 2023-24, the days on which games are scheduled and the traditional travel partner approach will be different. Youngstown State will play a conference game on six different days of the week, and there will be just one instance where it will play twice in Beeghly Center over three days like fans have been accustomed to.
Following the conference opener against Detroit Mercy on Thursday, Nov. 30, the Penguins will play at Robert Morris on Sunday, Dec. 3. The league schedule will resume on Friday, Dec. 29, when YSU hosts Wright State, and the Penguins will take on IUPUI at noon on New Year's Eve as part of a doubleheader with the YSU men's team. The three-game homestand will conclude on Thursday, Jan. 4, against Oakland.
The first of two three-game road stretches will follow, starting with a game at Cleveland State on Saturday, Jan. 6. YSU will then make the traditional trip to Wisconsin with a contest at Green Bay on Thursday, Jan. 11, and at Milwaukee two days later.
YSU will return to Rosselli Court on Thursday, Jan. 18 to take on Purdue Fort Wayne, and the first half of the league slate will conclude on Wednesday, Jan. 24, against Northern Kentucky.
The second half of conference play will begin against Robert Morris on Saturday, Jan. 27. The Penguins will then begin a string of four out of five on the road, starting with a trip to IUPUI on Wednesday, Jan. 31.
YSU's only home game in the first half of February will be on Saturday, Feb. 3, and the next three contests will be on the road. The Penguins will make the normal trek to the Detroit area to take on Oakland and Detroit Mercy on Thursday, Feb. 8, and Saturday, Feb. 10. YSU will then play at Wright State on Valentine's Day.
The final two home games will be against the top two teams in the conference standings in 2022-23. The Penguins will take on Green Bay on Saturday, Feb. 17, in Youngstown, and it will have a week break before playing at Northern Kentucky on Feb. 24. The final home game of the regular season will be on Tuesday, Feb. 27, versus Cleveland State, and the regular-season finale will be Saturday, March 2, at Purdue Fort Wayne.
The Horizon League embarked on a new scheduling strategy as part of a larger Basketball Excellence Plan that is led by the conference's presidents, chancellors and athletics directors with key input from the head coaches. The Scheduling Committee, led by the athletics directors, oversaw the entire process from beginning to end, with input from head coaches along the way.
The new scheduling model enhances the student-athlete experience by minimizing missed class time and maximizing recovery time. It also allows traditional geographic road trips such as Milwaukee-Green Bay and Oakland-Detroit Mercy to minimize travel costs. There is also no dependency on former travel partner's facility conflicts, which helps minimize long stretches of road games and time away from home.
The non-conference schedule will be announced soon.
For season tickets and group ticket information, fans can call the YSU Athletics Ticket Office at (330) 941-1978.
