Youngstown State will try to remain unbeaten on its home floor and in Horizon League play on Wednesday night as it hosts Detroit Mercy. The game against the Titans at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center will begin at 6:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on 1390 WNIO, iHeart and ESPN+.
Gameday Info
Tickets, Promotions & Fan Information
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- Advance tickets for Wednesday's game are available online through YSUsports.com or by calling (330) 941-1978. The ticket office and gates at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center will open at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
- Promotions
- $5 Dunkin' gift card giveaway
- Akron Children's Hospital of Mahoning Valley Teddy Bear Toss at Halftime - Bring a teddy bear and receive a voucher for a free ticket for any future home game. Teddy Bears will be delivered to Akron Children's Hospital
- Veterans Appreciation Game presented by NECA-IBEW
A Glimpse at the Guins
- The Penguins are 6-5 overall, 5-0 on Rosselli Court and 2-0 in conference play heading into Wednesday evening's affair with the Titans, who are 6-2 overall and 1-0 against league opponents. YSU beat Milwaukee and Northern Kentucky to open its conference slate earlier this month, then played at No. 11/8 Ohio State on Saturday during the 11-day gap in the league schedule.
- YSU fell 87-39 to the Buckeyes in its first trip to Columbus in 17 years and its first bout with a top-10 opponent since 2000. It was a homecoming for senior Jewel Watkins, who scored seven points in her hometown, and the matchup between fraternal twins Haley Thierry and Taylor Thierry was a major storyline.
- Watkins is the Penguins' leading scorer at 13.5 points per game, and she is one of 10 newcomers on first-year head coach Melissa Jackson's 14-player roster. Jackson has spent the last 16 years in Northeast Ohio, and she has the highest winning percentage of any head coach in Akron history from her five seasons leading the Zips.
- Watkins and fellow transfer Faith Burch are the only two Penguins who have started every game this season. Nine different players have started, and three true freshmen have cracked the starting lineup.
- Malia Magestro, a fifth-year senior for the Penguins, could be making her first appearance at home since the Mercyhurst game on Nov. 19 when she scored a career-high 25 points. She missed four games with a lower-body injury, and she returned to the starting lineup against the Buckeyes on Saturday. Magestro is averaging a career-high 12.1 points per game this season.
- Even after surrendering 87 points to the Buckeyes, Youngstown State continues to lead the Horizon League in scoring defense allowing just 57.5 points per game. YSU also tops the circuit in 3-point field-goal percentage defense (.293), and it ranks among the top four in blocks per game, steals per game, rebounding margin, turnover margin and turnovers forced per game.
- YSU is 42-22 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 seven campaigns.
- Youngstown State has enjoyed tremendous success at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center. The Penguins have had a winning record at home in 11 of the last 12 seasons, and they are 72-27 on Rosselli Court since the start of the 2018-19 campaign.
- This is YSU's 50th season of NCAA basketball. The Penguins made their NCAA debut in the 1975-76 season, and 2024-25 presents plenty of newness in the program's storied history. Along with Jackson, four new assistant coaches on the bench and 10 newcomers, there are plenty of changes inside Beeghly Center. The arena is now named Zidian Family Arena, and new chairback seats and upgrades to the sound system and videoboard present an improved gameday experience for student-athletes and fans.
Youngstown State vs. Detroit Mercy
A Win Would...
- Give YSU a 7-5 overall record and a 6-0 mark in home games.
- Allow YSU to start Horizon League play with three straight wins for the fifth time in the last 12 years and the fifth time ever.
- Be YSU's second straight over Detroit Mercy and its 12th in the last 13 meetings against the Titans.
- Give Head Coach Melissa Jackson her 79th career win and her seventh at Youngstown State.
Milestone Watch
- Faith Burch is closing in on 300 career rebounds, needing 31 to reach the milestone.
- Malia Magestro is five points away from moving ahead of Vicki Lawrence's total of 1,069 points for 21st on YSU's all-time list.
- Haley Thierry needs nine assists to reach 100 for her career. She is 17 points from 250 in her career.
- Jewel Watkins is three points shy of 850 in her career.
Scouting the Titans
- Detroit Mercy is 6-2 overall and 1-0 in Horizon League play, and the Titans will play their first game of the season outside of Michigan on Wednesday night. Detroit Mercy is 6-0 at home, and its two losses have come at Michigan State and Michigan.
- Removing the games against Big Ten opponents, the Titans are outscoring opponents by 11 points per game. Detroit Mercy ranks third in the conference in scoring offense at 67 points per game, and it sits third in field-goal percentage. The Titans score 14.6 of those points on average at the free-throw line as they rank second in the league in free throw attempts and makes per contest. Defensively, Detroit Mercy leads the league with 10.8 steals per game and ranks second with 19.1 turnovers forced per contest.
- Graduate transfers Aaliyah McQueen (Madonna) and Emaia O'Brien (LIU) are both averaging more than 13 points per game. McQueen played at Illinois and Oakland previously in her career, and she ranks sixth in the conference averaging 14.5 points per contest. O'Brien averages 13.4 points, and she leads the Titans with 17 3-pointers and 18 steals.
Series History and Matchup Notes
Overall: Youngstown State leads 29-24
Jackson: 2-0 // Home: 18-9 // Away: 11-15 // Neutral: 0-0
Current Win Streak: 1 by Youngstown State
- Youngstown State holds a 29-24 lead in the all-time series with Detroit Mercy, and the Penguins had won 10 straight meetings before the Titans won 59-50 at Zidian Family Arena last November. Overall, YSU has won 11 of the last 12 encounters dating back to the 2017-18 season. The all-time series dates back to the 1982-83 campaign.
- YSU has won six straight encounters and eight of the last eight contests at Caliahan Hall, including a 54-49 win on Feb. 10, 2024, in the last meeting between the teams. YSU had a five-game winning streak on Rosselli Court against the Titans snapped in 2023-24.
- There was a stretch where the Penguins' and Titans' benches had close ties. Former Detroit Mercy head coach Bernard Scott was YSU's recruiting coordinator from 2008- 10, and former Titans assistant Tara Fleming played for the Penguins from 2001-05 Former Titan player and head coach Autumn Rademacher was an assistant coach at YSU during the 2019-20 campaign.
Last Season vs. Detroit Mercy in Youngstown
Youngstown State went 6-for-34 from 3-point range and shot just 32.8% overall in a 59-50 loss to Detroit Mercy at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center on Nov. 30, 2023. Emily Saunders led the Penguins with 12 points, and she had 10 of those in the second half when she was 5-for-7 from the floor.
The Penguins were 5-for-22 from beyond the arc in the first half as the Titans built a 32-25 lead, and they missed their first 11 attempts from long distance in the second half. Detroit Mercy ended the first half on an 11-3 run, and they outscored the Penguins 11-4 over the first seven minutes of the second half to take a 43-29 lead with 3:05 left in the third quarter.
Detroit Mercy shot 39.6% from the field for the game, and it held a big advantage at the free-throw line. The Titans were 15-for-23 on free-throw attempts, while the Penguins were just 4-for-5.
Up Next
- Youngstown State will host Point Park on Saturday at noon in its final non-conference game of the season. Following that contest against the Pioneers, YSU will have a small break for the holidays before returning to conference ply at IU Indianapolis on Dec. 28.
