Youngstown State continues its challenging January road stretch this week by traveling to wintry Wisconsin for a pair of games. The Penguins and Green Bay will play on Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern at the Kress Center, and the contest will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN, iHeart, ESPN+ and the ESPN app.

Gameday Info

YSU at Green Bay

A Glimpse at the Guins

• The Penguins will also play at Milwaukee on Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern in their first experience of back-to-back games on a single road trip since the Thanksgiving tournament in Las Vegas.
• YSU has gone 2-2 since Horizon League play resumed after the holiday break, and it had its two-game winning trend snapped on Saturday at Cleveland State. The Vikings outscored the Penguins 21-4 in the opening quarter, and YSU got no closer than 10 the rest of the afternoon. Youngstown State entered that game having beaten IUPUI 58-56 and Oakland 70-63 in its last two outings.
• Thursday's contest will feature the top two scoring defenses in the conference. Even after allowing 79 points at Cleveland State, YSU ranks second in the Horizon League allowing just 60.4 points per game. Six of the Penguins' 10 losses have come when they've allowed 65 points or fewer, and they have dropped four games by six points or less. Offensively, YSU is averaging 57.4 points, which is the bottom mark in the HL.
• Forward Emily Saunders leads the Penguins with 11.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in her first season as a starter collegiately. She leads the Horizon League and ranks 12th in the country with a .641 field-goal percentage, and she is also the HL leader while ranking 21st nationally with 2.3 blocks per game. Saunders is one of six fifth-year seniors on the team.
• YSU has nine returning letterwinners and three starters back from last year's squad that went 19-11 and tied for third in the Horizon League standings.
• John Nicolais is serving as YSU's Acting Head Coach while John Barnes is on leave to focus on personal family matters. Nicolais has been with the program since 2013-14, and he served as YSU's Associate Head Coach in each of the past two seasons.
• YSU is 33-15 in Horizon League play since the start of the 2021-22 season, and it has won at least 13 conference games in three of the past six campaigns.
• Youngstown State has enjoyed tremendous success at Beeghly Center. The Penguins have had a winning record at home in 10 of the last 11 seasons, and they are 63-24 on Rosselli Court since the start of the 2018-19 campaign.

Program Staples

• Shooting 3s: Youngstown State led the Horizon League in 3-pointers per game in eight straight seasons from 2014-15 through 2021-22. The Penguins have made at least 200 3-pointers every season since 2010-11 except the COVID-19-shortened campaign in 2020-21. Individually, a Penguin has ranked in the top seven of the Horizon League individually in 3s per game in each of the last 11 seasons.
• Strong In The Post: The Penguins have had a post be named to the Horizon League's first, second or third-team in nine of the last 11 seasons and 14 times in the last 17. They've had a first-team honoree in three of the last five years, including each of the last two.
• Sharing The Ball: A Penguin has led the Horizon League in assists per game in six of the last eight years. As a team, the Penguins have paced the conference in assists per game in three of the last five campaigns, including 2022-23.
• Academics: YSU has appeared on the WBCA Academic Top 25 Honor Roll 12 times in the last 13 years. The Penguins have been in the top 10 in five of the last eight years. The Penguins were second in both 2019-20 and 2020-21, and they were 12th in 2022-23.
• Postseason Play: YSU has played in the WNIT or the WBI in six of the last 11 years.

Youngstown State vs. Green Bay

A Win Would...

• Improve YSU's overall record to 7-10 this season and its Horizon League record to 3-4.
• Be the Penguins' second straight at the Kress Center.
• Give YSU three wins in its last five meetings against the Phoenix.
• Be YSU's first conference road victory.

Milestone Watch

• Mady Aulbach is three field goals shy of 100 in her career, and she's seven rebounds away from 300 in her career.
• Dena Jarrells needs four assists to reach 350 in her career. She is also two 3-pointers shy of 175 in her career.
• Shay-Lee Kirby is 11 assists and 11 steals shy of 100 of each in her career.
• Lindsey Linard needs three rebounds for 100 in her career.
• Malia Magestro is 10 points away from 800 in her career and 12 3-pointers shy of 150.
• Emily Saunders needs 19 points to reach 400 in her career.
• Paige Shy is one 3 from 150 in her career, nine assists from 200 and 15 points from 750.

Scouting the Phoenix

• Green Bay is 12-3 overall and sits at the top of the Horizon League standings with a 5-0 conference record. The preseason favorites have won seven straight contests, and each of its league victories has been by at least 12 points. The Phoenix beat a pair of top-25 opponents in non-conference play, winning 65-53 at No. 22 Creighton on Nov. 16 and 59-48 over No. 23 Washington State in Mexico on Nov. 25. Green Bay was ranked fifth in last week's College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 Poll.
• Green Bay ranks among the top 10 teams in the country in free-throw percentage (.820), field-goal percentage (.494), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.7) and fewest turnovers per game (11.8). The Phoenix lead the league in those categories as well as scoring defense, and they rank second in the conference offensively averaging 75.1 points per game.
• Six Phoenix players are averaging at least 7.7 points per game, and Maddy Schreiber is the scoring leader with 13.3 points per game while shooting 62.8% from the field. Bailey Butler leads the conference in assists, assist-to-turnover ratio and steals, and she has made all 24 of her free-throw attempts this season.

Series History and Matchup Notes

Overall: Green Bay leads 45-6
Barnes/Nicolais Era: 5-16 • Home: 3-20 • Away: 3-23 • Neutral: 0-2
Current Win Streak: 1 by Green Bay

• Green Bay has won 44 of the 51 all-time meetings with Youngstown State in a series dating back to Jan. 21, 1993, when both teams were members of the Mid-Continent Conference. All 51 contests have been in league play or a conference tournament.
• Of YSU's six wins, five of them have come in the 10-plus seasons in the John Barnes and John Nicolais era. The Penguins are 5-16 against the Phoenix since Barnes and Nicolais joined the program in 2013-14. Barnes coached for a season at Green Bay alongside Kevin Borseth in 2012-13 immediately before becoming YSU's head coach. The pair also coached together at Michigan in 2011-12, and both are former head coaches at Michigan Tech.
• While Green Bay has a sizable hold on the all-time series, YSU has closed the gap under Barnes, particularly in the last eight meetings. The Penguins are 3-5 in the last eight encounters, and the losses include a two-point margin in the semifinals of the 2019 Horizon League Championship and two double-overtime setbacks. YSU won 63-60 at the Kress Center in 2023, and it lost 70-69 in double overtime in 2022.

Last Meeting

Feb. 19, 2023 – at Youngstown State

Green Bay scored 18 of the first 22 points of the game, and Youngstown State was never able to recover in a 67-54 loss on Feb. 19, 2023, at Beeghly Center. YSU missed its first 13 attempts from 3-point range as it got in the early hole. Green Bay led by as much as 25 midway through the third quarter, but the Penguins made a charge with a 19-4 run and trailed just 53-43 with 7:48 left. That's as close as they would get. Lilly Ritz registered game highs of 20 points and 14 rebounds, and she was 9-for-14 from the field. Dena Jarrells added 11 points, and Megan Callahan had nine.

Recapping Cleveland State

Game Summary

Emily Saunders blocked the most shots by a Youngstown State women's basketball player in 20 years, but the Penguins could never get into a rhythm offensively and fell 79-37 on Saturday at Cleveland State.

Saunders blocked all seven of her shots in the first half to post the highest total by a Penguin since Tara Fleming blocked seven against Butler on Jan. 21, 2004.

Offensively, Haley Thierry paced the Penguins with seven points while Mackenzie Hurd hit a pair of 3-pointers while scoring a career-best six points. Collectively, YSU was out of sorts against Cleveland State's 2-3 zone as it shot 20.6% overall and went a combined 2-for-27 from the field in the first and third quarters.

The Penguins were 6-for-33 from long distance, and Cleveland State forced 25 turnovers.

Sara Guerreiro scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while going 8-for-10 from the field to lead the Vikings. Colbi Maples matched her with 17 points, and she had four of Cleveland State's 19 steals. CSU shot 44.3% from the field and scored 46 points in the paint, and the Vikings also grabbed 20 offensive rebounds.

YSU's first field goal came when Malia Magestro hit a 3-pointer on the Penguins' last possession of the opening quarter. Cleveland State led 21-4 after 10 minutes, and it held a double-digit advantage the rest of the way. A 3 by Dena Jarrells two minutes into the second quarter capped a 7-0 run for YSU that made the score 21-11, but the Penguins did not score for more than three minutes as Cleveland State built its lead back to 17.

Notes

• YSU blocked eight shots, which was its most in a game since having nine at UIC on Feb. 10, 2018.
• Emily Saunders recorded seven of those eight blocks and became just the fourth Penguin to have at least seven in game. She joined Donna Djorovic, Tara Fleming and Evelyn Rohland. Fleming had the most-recent seven-block performance on Jan. 21, 2004, against Butler.
• Saunders added a career-high four steals, topping her previous high of two.
• YSU had a season-high 11 steals, which was the most by a Penguins team since having 15 against Mount Vernon Nazarene on Dec. 21, 2022.
• Mackenzie Hurd set new career highs with two 3-pointers and six points. She also played nearly 17 minutes, which was the most in her career.
• Bella Samz played 11 minutes, which was her most against a Division I opponent this season.
• The Penguins had their lowest scoring output and field-goal percentage since Nov. 20, 2018, when they shot 17.2% and scored 34 points at Kent State.
• YSU had its lowest-scoring quarter of the season with four in the first period.
• The Penguins were whistled for 19 fouls, making the fifth straight game they committed at least 18 infractions. YSU had 18 fouls just once in the first 11 games.
• Cleveland State had 54 rebounds, which was the most by an opponent this season. YSU allowed at least 20 offensive rebounds for the second straight contest.
• The Vikings recorded 19 steals, which was the most by an opponent since VCU had 23 on Nov. 9, 2013, in the first game coached at YSU by John Barnes.
• YSU did not have a player score in double figures for the first time this season. Haley Thierry was the Penguins' top scorer with seven points, and she added a team-best six rebounds.

Up Next

The Penguins will conclude their time in the Badger State on Saturday with a contest at Milwaukee. Tipoff against the Panthers is set for 1 p.m. Eastern, and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and 570 WKBN.