Youngstown State begins a three-game homestand that will extend into the second half of conference play when it hosts Purdue Fort Wayne at Beeghly Center on Thursday. Tipoff against the Mastodons is set for 6:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN, iHeart, ESPN+ and the ESPN app.

Gameday Info

YSU vs. Purdue Fort Wayne

Tickets, Promotions & Fan Information

Tickets | Gameday & Parking Information | Visitors Guide | Promotional Schedule | YSU Mobile App - iOS - Android

• 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 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
• Promotions
  • Thirsty Thursday - $2 Beer All Fans
  • Burgan Real Estate Welcome Back Students Night
  • YSU Student T-Shirt Giveaway and first 100 YSU students will receive pizza courtesy of Pizza Hut
  • AAA Card Game - General Admission Tickets BOGO

A Glimpse at the Guins

• YSU enters this stretch with a 6-12 overall record and a 2-6 mark against conference opponents, but the Penguins have an opportunity to elevate in the league standings with just one road game in the next 25 days.
• The Penguins are coming off a 66-58 loss at Milwaukee on Saturday in which they led by nine in the second quarter and trailed by 16 in the fourth before making a charge. YSU cut the deficit to 60-58 with 2:20 left but did not score the rest of the contest.
• Malia Magestro and Dena Jarrells combined to make seven 3-pointers in the game at Milwaukee, and YSU had nine as a team for its most in a conference contest this season. That duo combined for 35 of YSU's 58 points.
• Jarrells ranks among the top four in the league in 3s and assists per game. Fellow fifth-year senior Emily Saunders is shooting 62.4% from the field and leads the conference with 2.2 blocks per game. They are YSU's top two scorers at 10.2 points and 10.9 points, respectively.
• YSU ranks second in the Horizon League in scoring defense at 62.1 points per game. Seven of the Penguins' 12 losses have come when they've allowed 66 points or fewer, and they have dropped four games by six points or less. Offensively, YSU is averaging 56.9 points, which is the bottom mark in the HL.
• 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 33-17 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. Purdue Fort Wayne

A Win Would

• Improve YSU's overall record to 7-12 this season and its Horizon League record to 3-6.
• Be the Penguins' sixth straight over Purdue Fort Wayne at Beeghly Center.
• Improve YSU's all-time record against the Mastodons to 11-3.
• Give YSU seven wins in eight meetings with PFW since the 'Dons joined the Horizon League in 2020-21.

Milestone Watch

• Mady Aulbach is three field goals shy of 100 in her career, and she's four rebounds away from 300 in her career.
• Dena Jarrells needs four points to score points to reach 400 as a Penguin and 46 to get to 1,000 in her collegiate career.
• Shay-Lee Kirby is 11 assists and 11 steals shy of 100 of each in her career.
• Malia Magestro is eight 3-pointers shy of 150 and seven field goals shy of 250.
• Emily Saunders needs six points to reach 400 in her career.
• Paige Shy is one point away from 750 in her career and four assists from 200.

Scouting the Mastodons

• Purdue Fort Wayne is 11-7 overall and sits fourth in the Horizon League standings with a 5-3 mark against conference opponents. The Mastodons are a veteran team, and they reached 10 wins through 15 games for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
• The 'Dons lead the HL with 8.7 3s per game, and they are shooting 35% from long distance. They are fifth in the conference in both scoring offense (71.4 ppg) and defense (64.5), and they are fifth overall in field-goal percentage. PFW ranks third in the conference with 8.4 steals per game, and it sits fifth in turnover margin.
• Amellia Bromenschenkel is one of the most complete players in the conference as she leads the Mastodons in points, assists, steals, blocks and rebounds. She is one of seven Mastodons who are averaging at least seven points. Audra Emmerson leads PFW with 1.8 3-pointers per game, which ranks sixth in the circuit.

Series History and Matchup Notes

Overall: Youngstown State leads 10-3
Barnes/Nicolais Era: 6-1 • Home: 7-1 • Away: 3-2 • Neutral: 0-0
Current Win Streak: 1 by Purdue Fort Wayne

• Youngstown State leads the all-time series with Purdue Fort Wayne 10-3, and the Penguins have won seven of the last meetings. They have also won five straight against the Mastodons in Youngstown. YSU had won seven straight in the series before Purdue Fort Wayne won 67-65 in Indiana in the last matchup.
• YSU had its highest scoring output ever in a Horizon League game in a 102-60 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne when the series resumed on Feb. 5, 2021. Since then, YSU has scored in the sixties in all six meetings as the Mastodons have improved. Defensively, the Penguins have held Purdue Fort Wayne to 60 points or below in six of the seven meetings since the 'Dons joined the Horizon League before the 2020-21 season.

Last Meeting

Feb. 2, 2023 – at Purdue Fort Wayne

Purdue Fort Wayne made 11 of its final 14 attempts from the field to rally for a 67-65 victory over Youngstown State on Feb. 2, 2023, at the Gates Sports Center. The Penguins led 49-43 after Malia Magestro hit a 3-pointer with 45 seconds remaining in the third period, but the Mastodons hit a 3 following an offensive rebound on their final possession of the quarter and went on to go 10-for-13 in the fourth. YSU trailed 65-59 with less than 90 seconds left and tied the score on a 3-pointer by Megan Callahan and three free throws from Paige Shy. Shayla Sellers scored the game-winning basket with 22.5 seconds left, and she blocked YSU's Lilly Ritz near the buzzer in a defensive stop.

Recapping IUPUI

Game Summary

Youngstown State had a frantic comeback bid in the fourth quarter come up short, and the Penguins fell 66-58 at Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon.

YSU led 32-23 with 2:37 left in the first half after Malia Magestro made three 3-pointers in a span of 74 seconds. However, the Panthers scored the final eight points of the second quarter as part of a 24-2 run that stretched nearly nine minutes into the third quarter. That gave Milwaukee a 47-34 lead, and the Panthers extended the lead to 55-39 a minute into the fourth.

The Penguins caught a spark and went on a 21-3 burst to get within 60-58 with 2:20 remaining. YSU did not score the rest of the contest, and Milwaukee's Kamy Peppler hit a dagger 3-pointer with 24 seconds left to give the Panthers a five-point cushion. UWM added three free throws for the final tally.

Magestro led the Penguins with 18 points, and she made four of the team's nine 3-pointers. Dena Jarrells finished with 17 points while making three 3s, and Emily Saunders had nine points and nine rebounds.

Peppler, who leads the Horizon League in 3-pointers, finished with 24 points on five 3s, one two and seven free throws. Milwaukee also had nine 3-pointers, and the Panthers made a triple in the final 30 seconds of each quarter.

YSU scored on its first three possessions of the game and led 8-2 after three minutes, and the Penguins held a 14-9 advantage at the end of the opening period. Jarrells' second 3 of the first 11 minutes gave YSU a 17-11 lead early in the second quarter, and Magestro scored 11 points in the period as Youngstown State took its largest lead of the day at 32-23. After Magestro's 3 with 2:37 remaining in the second period, YSU's only points until the 1:17 mark of the third was a layup by Abby Liber with 4:33 on the third-quarter clock.

Notes

• Youngstown State made nine 3-pointers in Milwaukee, which was its most since making nine at St. Bonaventure on Dec. 16. The Penguins' high 3-point total this season is 10 against Northern Arizona in Las Vegas.
• For the second straight meeting between Youngstown State and Milwaukee, the Panthers torched the nets on 3-point attempts. UWM made nine of its 17 attempts for 52.9%, which was the highest success rate by an opponent this season. Last season at Beeghly Center, the Panthers went 14-for-24.
• The Penguins outrebounded the Panthers 38-34 and held the edge in each half. It was the first time they won the rebounding battle since they outrebounded Wright State 36-29 on Dec. 29. It was just the second time YSU had a rebounding edge over its opponent since Saint Francis (Pa.) on Dec. 9.
• Four different players had at least one block in the game, and YSU finished with five blocks as a team. Emily Saunders had a team-high two blocks, and Mady Aulbach, Malia Magestro and Haley Thierry each had one block. Aulbach and Magestro tied their career highs in blocks, and Thierry tied her season high.
• Saunders finished with nine points and a team-high nine rebounds. It was the fourth time this season that she grabbed at least nine rebounds in a game. She also set a new career high with three assists. Saunders had two assists twice previously in her career, and her highest mark for 2023-24 was one in a game.
• Magestro tied her season high with four 3-pointers, which she also had in the season-opening win over Xavier. She went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the second period alone, and she added a long two in the 11-point quarter. Her final triple came at the 2:47 mark of the fourth and brought the Penguins to within 59-56.
• Magestro scored her 800th career point in the contest. All 814 points in her career have come in a Youngstown State uniform.
• Jarrells surpassed 350 career assists and 175 career 3-pointers in the game. She finished with 17 points, and she had a fourth 3-pointer taken off the board when a replay ruled her toe was on the line.
• Lindsey Linard grabbed her 100th career rebound.
• Milwaukee's four steals tied for the fewest by an opponent this season.
• The Panthers played without leading scorer Kendall Nead, and they had three players get whistled for two fouls in the first quarter.

Up Next

Youngstown State will have a rare weekend without games this weekend, and its next contest will be against Northern Kentucky on Jan. 24 at Beeghly Center. The game against the Norse will conclude the first half of Horizon League play, and it will begin at 6:30 p.m.