Youngstown State plays its first road game of the 2024-25 season on Saturday morning at Bucknell. Tipoff against the Bison at Sojka Pavilion is set for 11 a.m., and the game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN, iHeart.com and ESPN+.
Gameday Info
A Glimpse at the Guins
- The Penguins finished up a perfect four-game homestand to begin the season with a 64-56 victory over Mercyhurst on Tuesday in what was another 11 a.m. tip. YSU is 4-0 this season and will be on the road for nine days in a 10-day stretch as it plays road contests at Bucknell and Xavier and two neutral-site games in Puerto Rico.
- Malia Magestro scored a career-high 25 points, including 18 in the second half, in YSU's win over Mercyhurst. The fifth-year senior is YSU's most-experienced player, and she went over 1,000 career points during the season-opening homestand. She has scored in double figures in all four games this season and is averaging 15.8 points. Magestro is one of five returners from last season's squad, and fellow returner Abby Liber leads the Horizon League with 9.5 rebounds per game as she produces in her increased role.
- Jewel Watkins leads the Penguins in scoring at 16.5 points per game, and the senior transfer scored at least 14 points in each of her first three contests at YSU. Watkins is among a large group of talented newcomers that includes four transfers and six freshmen. Sarah Baker has been named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week in each of the first two weeks of the season, and she is averaging 6.3 points and 6.0 rebounds.
- The Penguins are playing their first road game of the Melissa Jackson era on Saturday. Jackson is in her 17th consecutive season coaching in Northeast Ohio, having spent 15 at Akron and one at Cleveland State. She accumulated a 72-69 record over five seasons as Akron's head coach.
- YSU's defense has limited its first three opponents to an average of 49.8 points per game, and no team has scored more than 56 points. The Penguins are outscoring opponents by 22.3 points per game, and they are outrebounding teams by an average of 15 per contest.
Youngstown State at Bucknell
A Win Would...
- Give YSU its eighth 5-0 start to a season in program and its fourth since 2014-15.
- Be YSU's first over Bucknell since a 55-47 triumph on Dec. 2, 2015.
- Give Head Coach Melissa Jackson her 77th career victory, her first over Bucknell, and her fifth at Youngstown State.
Milestone Watch
- Faith Burch is 15 points away from 250 in her career.
- Malia Magestro is 18 points away from tying Alison Smolinski's total of 1,061 career points for 22nd in program history.
- Haley Thierry needs 10 assists to reach 100 for her career. She is 19 points from 250 in her career.
- Jewel Watkins is 35 points away from 800 in her career.
Scouting the Bison
- Bucknell is 1-4 this season against a tough slate that includes road games at Penn State and Pittsburgh. Two of Bucknell's losses were 64-61 at Pitt and 62-59 at Merrimack. The Bison beat Mount St. Mary's 63-47 in their home opener on Wednesday evening.
- Ashley Sofilkanich leads Bucknell with 18.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, and she has scored at least 20 points in four straight games. She was named to the 2023-24 All-Patriot Defensive, Rookie and Third Teams. She is one of four returners from last year's team that went 13-18 overall and 9-9 in Patriot League play. Bucknell has nine newcomers, including six freshmen and three transfers.
- The Bison were picked to finish eighth in the Patriot League's Preseason Poll.
Series History and Matchup Notes
Overall: Youngstown State leads 8-4
Jackson: 0-0 // Home: 5-1 // Away: 3-3 // Neutral: 0-0
Current Win Streak: 2 by Bucknell
- Youngstown State is 8-4 all-time against Bucknell in a series dating back to Jan. 16, 1989. The Bison won the first meeting, and Youngstown State claimed eight of the next nine encounters from 1990 through 2015. Bucknell has won the last two games in the series by a combined 11 points. YSU is 5-1 at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center against Bucknell and 3-3 in Lewisburg.
- The programs played six straight seasons from 2010 through 2015, and YSU won five of those six games. They took a pause during the 2016-17 campaign, and Bucknell won both ends of a home-and-home in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Last Meeting: Youngstown State cut a 19-point deficit down to four three different times in the fourth period but could never catch Bucknell in a 73-68 loss at Sojka Pavilion on Dec. 18, 2018. The Bison jumped out to a 13-2 in the first five minutes of the game, and they led 58-41 heading into the fourth quarter. Youngstown State started the fourth on a 16-3 run to get within four with 6:13 left, but it did not make a field goal for five minutes after that initial burst. Sarah Cash scored 18 points, and Chelsea Olson finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for YSU.
Recapping Mercyhurst
Game Summary
Malia Magestro scored 18 of her career-high 25 points in the second half, and Youngstown State completed a 4-0 homestand by beating Mercyhurst 64-56 on Tuesday morning. The contest against the Lakers was the Annual School Kids Day game presented by Chick-fil-A on Tiffany Square Plaza in Boardman.
Magestro went 10-for-19 from the field overall and 5-for-11 from 3-point range to surpass her previous career high of 24 set in 2022. She was joined in double figures by Faith Burch, who tied her career high with 12 points, and Abby Liber, who had 10 points and nine rebounds.
Magestro scored five points during a 9-0 run to open the game for the Penguins in front of more than 3,500 fans on Kids Day. That early burst allowed YSU to hold the lead for more than 38 minutes, and Magestro hit big buckets in the second half once Mercyhurst rallied to take the lead.
Bailey Kuhns led Mercyhurst with 22 points in 29 minutes before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. She had 16 of those points in the second half.
The Penguins scored on four of their first five possessions, and a Jewel Watkins layup at the 7:55 mark put the team up 9-0. YSU had led 15-8 at the end of the first period, and the lead reached double digits at 26-16 on a Burch basket with four minutes remaining in the second.
YSU led 30-24 at halftime, and Kuhns scored eight points in the first two minutes of the third period to give Mercyhurst its only lead of the day at 32-31. Magestro made her first of four second-half 3-pointers just over a minute later to give YSU a 34-32 lead, and the Penguins held the advantage the rest of the way.
YSU led 47-40 heading into the fourth, and the advantage grew to 51-40 after three possessions of the final quarter. Magestro later hit two 3-pointers in a three-possession span to help the Penguins pull away.
Notes
- The Penguins had their best assist-to-turnover ratio in a game this season with 16 assists and just nine turnovers. Â YSU also had its highest assist percentage of the season by having an assist on 16 of its 25 baskets (64%).
- Youngstown State made 11 steals while forcing 18 turnovers in the game. YSU was plus-nine in turnover margin, which helped lead to a 17-6 edge in points off turnovers.
- The Penguins had their best shooting period in the fourth by making seven of their 14 attempts. Malia Magestro was 3-for-3 overall and 2-for-2 from beyond the arc in the final stanza.
- YSU improved to 10-1 all-time in its annual Kids Day game, which began in 2013-14.
- Sarah Baker registered a career-best three assists while also recording the first steal of her career.
- Faith Burch scored in double figures for the first time as a Penguin and for the fifth time in her career. She finished with 12 points by going 5-for-10 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line. She tied her previous career high in the scoring column, matching the dozen points she had against Chicago State on Nov. 24, 2023.
- Abby Liber scored a season-high 10 points, and she was one rebound shy of her first career double-double. She was 4-for-9 from the field overall and made her third 3-pointer of the season, which is one shy of her total from 2023-24.
- In her 110th game, Malia Magestro scored a career-high 25 points while reaching double figures for the 50th time in her career. It was her seventh career game scoring at least 20 points. Magestro scored 18 points in the second half against the Lakers, going 7-for-9 overall and 4-for-6 from 3-point range in the final 20 minutes. Her previous career high was 24 points against St. Francis Brooklyn in 2022.
- Magestro also grabbed her 300th career rebound and tied her career high with four steals.
- Jewel Watkins made her 250th career field goal in a nine-point performance.
Up Next
Youngstown State will play at Xavier on Tuesday at 7 p.m. as it continues a four-game road stretch.
