Youngstown State begins the bulk of its Horizon League schedule on Saturday as it travels to IU Indianapolis to face the Jaguars. Tipoff at The Jungle will be at 2 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on 1390 WNIO, iHeart and ESPN+.

Gameday Info

• When: Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024 | 2 p.m.
• Where: The Jungle | Indianapolis, Ind.
• Watch: ESPN+ | espn.com
• Listen: 570 WKBN | iHeart.com
• Stats: iuindyjags.com
• Social: X | Instagram | Facebook

A Glimpse at the Guins

• Youngstown State beat Division II Point Park 85-42 last Saturday in its final non-conference game and its last contest before the holiday break. The victory over the Pioneers improved the Penguins' record to 7-6 overall, and YSU went 2-1 against conference opponents in December. YSU beat Milwaukee at home and Northern Kentucky on the road to start the month, and it fell to Detroit Mercy in Youngstown on Dec. 18.
• YSU now has nothing but 17 Horizon League games on its schedule before the conference tournament on March 4. With the holiday break and eight days between Wednesday's game at Purdue Fort Wayne and the Jan. 9 contest against Green Bay, the Penguins are in a stretch of playing two games over 17 days.
• Freshman Sophia Gregory had one of the best weeks of any player in the conference heading into the break, averaging 21.5 points and 9.5 rebounds while shooting 69.2% from the field. She scored 28 points, the fourth-highest total by a YSU freshman in the program's Division I era, against Point Park.
• Gregory was one of four Penguins to score in double figures against Point Park as YSU set a season high with 25 assists and a .479 field-goal percentage. Jewel Watkins scored 18 points and made four 3s, while Erica King (13) and Malia Magestro (11) also reached double digits.
• Magestro, in her fifth season as a Penguin, is one of four returners from last year's team that won two of the three meetings against IU Indy (formerly IUPUI). Magestro is averaging a career-high 12.4 points per game, and she leads YSU with 2.3 assists per contest.
• Watkins leads the Penguins with 13.5 points and 26 3-pointers, and she is one of 14 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.
• Gregory, King and Sarah Baker have each scored at least 15 points in a game this season, giving YSU a league-high three freshmen with 15-plus in a contest. Baker is a three-time Horizon League Freshman of the Week who has missed four straight games with a lower-body injury.
• Youngstown State leads the Horizon League in scoring defense allowing 56.9 points per game. YSU also tops the circuit in 3-point field-goal percentage defense (.287), and it ranks among the top four in blocks (second), steals (fourth), rebounding margin (second), turnover margin (third) and turnovers forced per game (third).
• YSU is 42-23 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 vs. IU Indy

A Win Would...

• Give YSU a 8-6 overall record, a 2-3 record in road games and a 3-1 mark in Horizon League contests.
• Be YSU's first at The Jungle since 2018 and snap a seven-game skid in the gym.
• Be YSU's third in the last four meetings with the Jaguars.
• Give Head Coach Melissa Jackson her 80th career win and her eighth at Youngstown State.

Milestone Watch

• Faith Burch is closing in on 300 career points and 300 career rebounds. She is 10 points from the milestone, and she is 20 rebounds shy.
• Malia Magestro is eight points away from scoring 1,100 in her career. She is 16 points away from moving into 20th in school history in career points.
• Haley Thierry needs one assist to reach 100 for her career. She is 11 points from 250 in her career, and she needs 13 rebounds to grab 200.

Scouting the Jaguars

• IU Indy, formerly IUPUI, is 1-11 this season with its win being a 101-76 victory over Evansville in the season opener on Nov. 5. The Jaguars have played just two home games since then, and those contests resulted in an 85-80 loss to Southern Illinois and a 79-71 loss to Purdue Fort Wayne. The Jaguars are averaging 84 points per game  on their home floor, and their three league losses have been to the top three teams in the preseason coaches poll.
• Overall, IU Indy scores 60.3 points per game offensively while allowing 75.8 points on defense. Opponents are shooting 46.2% from the field this season against the Jaguars. IU Indy is shooting 75.3% from the free-throw line, which ranks third in the circuit, and the Jags are averaging 12.4 points per game from foul shots.
• Sophomore Shania Nichols-Vannett, a JUCO transfer, leads IU Indy in scoring at 12.2 points per game. Faith Stinson, who played for YSU head coach Melissa Jackson at Akron in 2022-23, is averaging 9.3 points and leads the Jaguars with 53 rebounds and 12 blocks. Senior Katie Davidson, a preseason all-league second-team pick, has been out with an injury since Nov. 8.
• Penguin ties: IUPUI head coach Kate Bruce was an assistant on Bob Boldon's staff at YSU from 2010-13. Jaguars freshman Alexa Hocevar is the younger sister of Athena Hocevar, who was a true freshman on YSU's Horizon League regular-season championship team in 2021-22.

Series History and Matchup Notes

Overall: IU Indy leads 14-11
Jackson: 0-0 // Home: 7-5 // Away: 4-8 // Neutral: 1-1
Current Win Streak: 1 by Youngstown State

• IU Indy holds a 14-11 lead in the all-time series between the programs in a series that dates back to the 1998-99 season when both schools were members of the Mid-Continent Conference. YSU left the Mid-Con for the Horizon League in 2001-02, and IU Indy joined the Penguins in the Horizon League in 2017-18.
• The teams split the season series in the first three years that IU Indy was in the Horizon League, and IU won seven straight games in the series before the Penguins won two of the three contests in 2023-24.
• Five of the last seven meetings have been decided by single digits, and each of the last three regular-season meetings in Youngstown have come down to the final possession in regulation. The Penguins had a convincing 73-50 victory over the Jaguars in the opening round of 2024 Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship.

Last Time at IU Indy

• Youngstown State couldn't overcome scoring struggles in the final 30 minutes and an overwhelming amount of foul trouble as it fell 69-63 on Jan. 31 in Indianapolis.
• The Penguins made seven of their first eight field goal attempts in the game as both teams had a high-scoring pace at the outset, but they shot 26.7% over the final three quarters. YSU held a 21-20 advantage with two minutes left in the opening quarter. The Jaguars scored the final five points of the quarter, and they held the upper hand the rest of the day.
• YSU was whistled for 30 fouls, and IU Indy went 32-for-39 at the free-throw line. IU Indy led by 11 twice in the third quarter, and YSU got within 58-55 with 5:37 left in the fourth, and it trailed just 64-63 in the final minute.

Recapping Point Park

Game Summary

Sophia Gregory had one of the best performances by a freshman in school history, and Youngstown State ended its non-conference schedule with an 85-42 victory over Point Park on Dec. 21.

Gregory scored 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while adding four blocks and three assists. The 28 points were the fourth-most by a freshman in YSU's Division I era, and the Alliance, Ohio, native was 12-for-16 from the field.

Gregory got plenty of help as three of her teammates joined her in double figures. Jewel Watkins scored 18 points and made four 3-pointers, while Erica King scored 13 points off the bench in 21 minutes and Malia Magestro added 11. Haley Thierry grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds while adding a game-best five assists.

Youngstown State had 25 assists, its most in a game in two years, while shooting 47.9% from the field. Defensively, the Penguins forced Point Park into 19 turnovers and held the Division II Pioneers to 28.3% shooting.

Gregory scored 18 seconds into the game, and YSU led the rest of the way. Youngstown State's margin hit double digits for the first time when Thierry's layup at the 2:36 mark made the score 15-5. YSU ended the second quarter on a 12-3 burst to take a 39-20 lead at halftime. Magestro had seven points during that stretch, and she drilled a long 3-pointer at the buzzer for YSU's third triple of the quarter.

The Penguins then scored the first 11 points of the third quarter to push their lead to 30 at 50-20, and the margin was at least 25 the rest of the afternoon. YSU held Point Park to one field goal from the 5:45 mark of the second quarter to the 4:16 mark of the third, and it outscored the Pioneers 28-6 over that span of 11:29.

Gregory had 10 points and seven rebounds in the third period, and YSU's lead was 63-30 after 30 minutes. The difference hit 40 when King made a 3-pointer with 7:07 on the fourth-quarter clock, and the final margin was the largest in the game.

Notes

• Youngstown State had its most assists in a game since having 31 vs. WVU Tech on Dec. 6, 2022. Its previous high this season with 19 against Lake Erie in the opener. The Penguins had 28 assists over their last three games combined.
• YSU shot a season-best 47.9% from the field, topping its previous best of 46.3% versus Lake Erie. The Penguins shot at least 40% in all four periods, and they shot 54.5% in the second half.
• YSU won its 31st consecutive game against a non-Division I opponent. The Penguins went 3-0 against Division II teams this season, one of which was an added game against Clarion to make up for the canceled contest against North Dakota.
• The Penguins had sizable scoring advantages of 46-16 in the paint and 25-5 off turnovers. The Penguins were plus-10 in turnover margin (19-9) and plus-17 in rebounding (48-31).
• Gregory's 12-for-16 effort from the field was a big part of the high team percentage. She scored 28 points while also having 13 rebounds, four blocks and three assists. She had the highest individual totals by a Penguin this season for points, field-goal percentage, field goals, rebounds and blocks.
• Gregory had the fourth-highest point total by a freshman since YSU moved to the Division I ranks in the 1981-82 season. Dianne Rappach scored 31 points against Malone on Jan. 4, 1989, for the highest-scoring performance by a YSU freshman since it joined the Division I level in 1981-82. Kristi Echelberry scored 30 against Lock Haven in 1992, and Nneka Obiazor had 29 versus Cleveland State in 2021.
• Erica King had 13 points in just under 21 minutes off the bench. It was her third game of the season scoring in double figures.
• Redshirt freshman Dacia Lewandowski scored two points and made her first career field goal.
• Malia Magestro scored 11 points for her sixth game in double figures this season. All six of those have come at Zidian Family Arena. Magestro missed four games earlier this season with a lower-body injury.
• Bella Samz made a 3-pointer, her first make from long distance since the game at Xavier on Nov. 26.
• Haley Thierry set a new career high with 13 rebounds to match Gregory. Thierry added team highs of five assists and three steals while playing a season-high 28 minutes. Her highest minute totals of the season have come in the last three games.
• Jewel Watkins scored 18 points behind four 3-pointers. She added four assists without committing a turnover. Watkins ranks eighth in the Horizon League in scoring and 3-pointers with 13.5 points and 2.0 3s per contest.

Up Next

• Youngstown State will make a quick trip back to Ohio before returning to the Hoosier State for a game at Purdue Fort Wayne on Wednesday. The New Year's Day game against the Mastodons will start at 7 p.m., and it will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN, iHeart and ESPN+.