Youngstown State begins its two-game Thanksgiving trip to the Puerto Rico Clasico by taking on Southern Indiana on Friday at the Coliseo Juan Aubin Cruz Abreu in Manatí, Puerto Rico. The game against the Screaming Eagles will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern (noon Atlantic Standard), and Drae Smith is traveling with the team to broadcast the game on 570 WKBN and iHeart. Video will also be streamed on the tournament's website, puertoricocollegesportstours.com. YSU will also play Towson on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at the same arena with the same live coverage.

A Glimpse at the Guins

• The Penguins went 4-0 in its season-opening homestand, and they'll have two opportunities in the Caribbean to collect their first victory away from Youngstown. After averaging 72 points in four home games, YSU has struggled to match its offensive success on the road by averaging 39.5 points at Xavier and Bucknell.
• YSU has five returners and 10 newcomers on this year's squad under first-year head coach Melissa Jackson. Jackson is in her 17th consecutive season coaching in Northeast Ohio, having spent 15 at Akron and one at Cleveland State.
• Guard Jewel Watkins is YSU's top scorer at 14.8 points per contest, and she has at least nine points in every game. A senior transfer from Charlotte, Watkins is among a large group of talented newcomers that includes four transfers and six freshmen. Sarah Baker was named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week in each of the first two weeks of the season, and she is averaging 5.2 points and 5.8 rebounds.
• Fifth-year senior guard Malia Magestro is one of those returners, and she ranks second on the team in scoring at 14.2 points per game. She went over 1,000 career points on Nov. 12, and she scored at least eight points in each of the first five games before sitting out the Xavier contest with a lower body injury. Fellow returner Abby Liber leads the Horizon League in rebounding at 9.5 caroms per contest.
• YSU's defense has limited its first five opponents to an average of 51.8 points per game, and Xavier was the first team to surpass 60. The Penguins are outscoring opponents by 9.3 points per game, and they are outrebounding teams by an average of 9.2 per contest.

Tournament Preview

A Win vs. USI Would...

• Give YSU a 5-2 overall record for the season and a 1-0 mark in neutral-site contests.
• Be YSU's first away from Zidian Family Arena this season.
• Be YSU's first against USI and its first against a team from the OVC since 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 nine points away from 250 in her career.
• Malia Magestro is 10 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 12 points away from 800 in her career.

YSU outside of the Continental US: Youngstown State is playing outside of the continental 48 states for just the second time in program history this week in Puerto Rico. The Penguins played two games at the Bank of Hawaii Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Nov. 18-20, 2016, and split two games. YSU lost 72-50 to the host Rainbow Wahine and beat Sacramento State 102-94.

Youngstown State vs. Southern Indiana

Scouting the Screaming Eagles

• Southern Indiana is 5-1 this season and has won four straight games heading into Friday's contest against the Penguins. The Screaming Eagles beat Horizon League member Northern Kentucky 75-73 in their last game on Nov. 23. USI is in the transition phase into Division I postseason eligibility, having jumped from Division II for the start of the 2022-23 season. The Screaming Eagles received 20 of the possible 22 first-place votes in the Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll.
• USI is averaging 77.8 points per game offensively, and the only game the Screaming Eagles didn't score over 70 was when they lost 75-51 at Louisville on Nov. 8. Southern Indiana is shooting 44.3% overall from the field and 36% from 3-point range. Defensively, the Screaming Eagles are forcing 23.2 turnovers per game and are plus-7.8 in turnover margin.
• Four USI players are averaging double figures this season, and graduate student Meredith Raley leads the way with 13.3 points and 5.5 rebounds. Senior Vanessa Shafford has been the top outside threat with 12 3-pointers, and Ali Saunders is averaging 13 points, 4.7 assists and 3.7 steals.

Series History and Matchup Notes

Overall: First meeting
Jackson: 0-0 // Home: 0-0 // Away: 0-0 // Neutral: 0-0
Current Win Streak: First meeting

• This is the first time Youngstown State is playing Southern Indiana in women's basketball. The Screaming Eagles made the jump to Division I prior to the 2022-23 season and are members of the Ohio Valley Conference.

YSU vs. OVC Teams: Youngstown State is 32-31 all-time against teams currently in the Ohio Valley Conference. YSU's most-recent game against a team from the conference resulted in a 69-58 win over Tennessee State on Dec. 30, 2015. The Penguins were members of the OVC during the 1983-84 through 1987-88 seasons, along with current members Morehead State, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech.

Youngstown State vs. Towson

Scouting the Tigers

• Towson is heading to the Caribbean looking for its first win this season, and the Tigers will play UTSA on Friday before taking on the Penguins on Saturday. Towson has two single-digit losses to Morgan State (64-63) and Liberty (64-57), and two of its losses came at top-25 schools West Virginia and Maryland.
• Towson returns eight players from last year's team that went 20-11 and won two games in the CAA Tournament. India Johnston is one of those returners, and she leads the Tigers in scoring at 13 points per game and with 12 3-pointers. Towson was picked to finish third in the preseason CAA poll.

Series History and Matchup Notes
Overall: First meeting
Jackson: 0-0 // Home: 0-0 // Away: 0-0 // Neutral: 0-0
Current Win Streak: First meeting

YSU vs. CAA Teams: Youngstown State is 3-5 all-time against teams currently in the Coastal Athletic Association. The most common and most recent opponent is Stony Brook, and YSU is 2-1 against the Seawolves with a 67-60 win in the WBI in the last meeting. YSU is also 1-1 against Delaware, 0-2 versus Elon and 0-1 against UNC-Wilmington. YSU's Melissa Jackson coached at Delaware from 2004-08.

Recapping Xavier

Game Summary

Youngstown State's women's basketball team dropped its second straight road game on Tuesday night, falling 61-43 to Xavier at the Cintas Center.

Jewel Watkins led Youngstown State with 14 points in 31 minutes, and Erica King scored eight points in her first career start. Bella Samz scored seven points off the bench, and Sarah Baker and Sophia Gregory both grabbed six rebounds. Baker added a game-high three blocks, and Gregory had two blocks, three steals and two assists.

Meri Kanerva led Xavier with 17 points, and she went 4-for-6 from 3-point range as the Musketeers were 7-for-18 from long distance collectively. Kanerva also had three steals to help a much-improved Xavier squad force 29 turnovers

Watkins and Samz hit 3-pointers within a two-minute stretch in the first period for the Penguins, and Samz's triple tied the score at 6-6 at the 5:45 mark. Samz then followed a Xavier trey with a layup a minute later to make the score 9-8, but Xavier outscored the Penguins 13-4 the rest of the quarter to take a 22-12 lead.

The Musketeers grew their lead to 13 at 27-14 early in the second quarter, but the Penguins weathered the storm and scored the next six points to get within 27-20 when Abby Liber scored on a steal and layup. Xavier's lead was 33-25 at halftime.

The teams traded baskets in the first 70 seconds of the third quarter, but Xavier forced nine turnovers in the period and held the Penguins to eight points as it extended the lead to 51-33. The largest margin was 61-38 with 6:24 left in the fourth, and Youngstown State held its Big East opponent scoreless the rest of the game.

Notes

• Xavier held 10-point edges in the first and third periods, and Youngstown State was plus-two in the second and even in the fourth.
• YSU was plus-six in rebounding margin against its larger Big East opponent. The Penguins have held a rebounding edge of at least six in five of their first six games this season.
• While YSU struggled to find the bottom of the net from long distance, it went 13-for-22 (59.1%) inside the 3-point arc.
• For the first time this season, YSU was outscored off turnovers. The Penguins had outscored their first five opponents 108-33, and Xavier held a 22-11 edge.
• Xavier was plus-12 in turnover margin, forcing the Penguins into 29 miscues. The Musketeers had 14 steals, which was just three more than YSU's total of 11. Three different Penguins had multiple steals.
• YSU did not hold a lead in a game for the first time this season.
• Sarah Baker set a new career high with three blocks, and she matched previous career highs with two free throws and a steal.
• Sophia Gregory played a career-high 16 minutes, and she has played at least 12 minutes in each of the past two games. The freshman set new career highs with two assists, two blocks and three steals.
• Erica King made her first career 3-pointer in her first career start
• Dacia Lewandowski played a career-high 19 minutes, and she tied previous career highs with three rebounds, one assist and one steal.
• Abby Liber set a new career high with three steals. She has nine steals through the first six games after recording 12 in 32 contests in 2023-24.
• Malia Magestro missed the game with a lower body injury. She had started the first five games, and she ranks second on the team with 14.2 points per game.
• Bella Samz scored seven points, which was the second-highest output of her career. She made one of YSU's three 3-pointers.
• Jewel Watkins scored a team-high 14 points, and she was 4-for-5 inside the arc and 3-for-4 on free-throw attempts.

Up Next

Upon returning stateside, three of Youngstown State's next four games will be against Horizon League opponents. The conference slate will begin at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center against Milwaukee on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 6:30 p.m.