Youngstown State will try to extend its winning streak and earn a victory on Senior Day as the Penguins host Green Bay on Saturday at Beeghly Center. Tipoff against the Phoenix is set for 1:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on 1390 WNIO, iHeart, ESPN+ and the ESPN app.

Gameday Info

YSU vs. Green Bay

Tickets, Promotions & Fan Information

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

• Advance tickets for Saturday'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 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
• Promotions
  • YSU Senior Day
  • Cooling Towel Giveaway courtesy of Premier Bank, Complete Pest Solutions, Medical Mutual and WFMJ

A Glimpse at the Guins

• After beginning the month fighting to avoid a first-round road game in the upcoming Barbasol Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship, the Penguins are now just a half-game out of a first-round bye. The Penguins are 4-0 in February, and their current four-game winning streak is tied for the longest in the conference. YSU has won six of its last eight contests dating back to Jan. 18.
• The Penguins are coming off an impressive 72-52 win at Wright State on Wednesday in which they led by double digits for the final 31 minutes. Six different Penguins scored between nine and 14 points in the contest.
• The Penguins are averaging 67.5 points over their last eight games as they've gone 5-2. That's 10.6 points higher than they averaged in their first 18 games.
• Emily Saunders leads the league while ranking among the top 25 players nationally with a .619 field-goal percentage and 2.1 blocks per game.
• Malia Magestro has been the Penguins' top scorer in Horizon League play with 12.8 points per game, which is the 10th-best mark in the conference. She's also averaging career highs with 2.2 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game over the entire season. 
• The Penguins rank seventh in the country in assist percentage as 68.3% of their field goals come from an assist.
• YSU ranks 21st nationally in free-throw percentage at 77.59%, and the Penguins are shooting a league-best 80.7% from the line in Horizon League play.
• John Nicolais, who is in his 11th season at YSU, is serving as interim head coach. John Barnes had been on leave to focus on family since Oct. 2 before announcing his resignation as head coach on Jan. 19. 
• YSU ranks second in the Horizon League in scoring defense at 61.4 points per game. Eight of the Penguins' 14 losses have come when they've allowed 66 points or fewer, and they have dropped five games by six points or less.
• 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.
• YSU is 39-19 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 66-25 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. Green Bay

A Win Would

• Improve YSU's overall record to 13-14 this season and its Horizon League record to 9-8.
• Be YSU's fifth straight victory and its seventh win in the last nine contests.
• Allow YSU to split the regular-season series with Green Bay.
• Be YSU's third in the last six meetings with the Phoenix.
• Be YSU's fifth in February, which would be two more victories than it had in the month in 2022-23.

Milestone Watch

• Mady Aulbach needs five assists to reach 250 in her career. She needs to play in one more game to tie for second in program history with 135 in her career.
• Dena Jarrells is six 3-pointers away from 200 in her career, and she needs two steals for 100 in her career. She is 12 points from 500 as a Penguin.
• Shay-Lee Kirby is three points away from reaching 300 as a Penguin. She needs 18 3s for 200 in her career.
• Lindsey Linard needs two rebounds for 100 as a Penguin.
• Emily Saunders needs one block to reach 100 in her career.
• Paige Shy needs one steal to reach 100 in her career. She is also five field goals away from 250 in her career.

Scouting the Phoenix

• Green Bay is 20-5 overall and 13-2 in Horizon League play following a 60-50 victory at Robert Morris on Thursday night. Green Bay has won three straight games since its 86-63 loss at Cleveland State on Feb. 3 that created a tie at the top of the conference standings with the Phoenix and the Vikings. Green Bay had two premier non-conference victories, beating No. 22 Creighton 65-53 and No. 23 Washington State 59-48. The Phoenix have the highest NET ranking in the conference at 46.
• The Phoenix allow a league-low 58.4 points per game, and they rank second in the conference offensively with 74.6 points per game. Green Bay ranks among the top 10 teams in the country in fewest turnovers per game, field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage.
• Natalie McNeal ranks eighth in the conference in scoring at 13.6 points per game, and she's fifth in rebounding with 6.9 per game and third in field-goal percentage at .504. Five other Phoenix average at least seven points. Cassie Schiltz has made a team-high 41 3-pointers, and Bailey Butler is averaging 4.8 assists per game.

Series History and Matchup Notes

Overall: Green Bay leads 46-6
Barnes/Nicolais Era: 5-17 • Home: 3-20 • Away: 3-24 • Neutral: 0-2
Current Win Streak: 2 by Green Bay

• Green Bay has won 46 of the 52 all-time meetings with Youngstown State in a series dating back to Jan. 21, 1993, when both teams were members of the Mid-Continent Conference. All 52 contests have been in league play or a conference tournament.
• Of YSU's six wins, five of them have come in the 10-plus seasons in the John Barnes and John Nicolais era. The Penguins are 5-17 against the Phoenix since Nicolais joined the program in 2013-14.
• Barnes coached alongside Kevin Borseth in 2012-13 immediately before becoming YSU's head coach. The pair also coached together at Michigan in 2011-12, and both are former head coaches at Michigan Tech.
• While Green Bay has a sizable hold on the all-time series, YSU has closed the gap recently, particularly in the last nine meetings. The Penguins are 3-6 in the last nine encounters, and the losses include a two-point margin in the semifinals of the 2019 Horizon League Championship and two double-overtime setbacks. The teams have split the regular-season series in each of the past two seasons.

Last Meeting

Jan. 11, 2024 – at Green Bay

Recap | Box Score

Youngstown State was outscored 31-9 over the final 12 minutes of the first half and fell 85-47 at Green Bay when the teams played on Jan. 11 at the Kress Center. Paige Shy made her 150th career 3 in the opening minute, and YSU trailed just 17-12 with less than two minutes left in the first quarter. However, the Penguins didn't make a field goal for nearly five minutes as Green Bay went on a 15-2 burst to go up 34-18. That margin grew to 48-21 at halftime as YSU did not make a 3-pointer from the 4:29 mark of the first period until there was 1:40 left in the fourth. YSU's Emily Saunders and Malia Magestro were both whistled for two fouls in the first two minutes of the game, and Mady Aulbach had three first-half fouls.

Recapping Wright State

Game Summary

Youngstown State scored the first eight points of the game and never looked back in a 72-52 victory at Wright State on Wednesday night.

Malia Magestro led a balanced YSU scoring effort with 14 points, and five of her teammates scored at least nine points. Dena Jarrells and Emily Saunders both scored 13, Haley Thierry had 10, and Mady Aulbach and Lindsey Linard both had nine.

Kacee Baumhower scored a game-high 15 points to lead Wright State. Alexis Hutchison, the league's leading scorer at 19.2 points per game, had a tough night with six points on 1-for-12 shooting.

Youngstown State had another strong offensive effort shooting 50% from the field, and the Penguins were 19-for-30 in the first half to build a 45-23 halftime advantage. YSU fought through a cold spurt in the third quarter, but it had a big enough cushion to withstand a Raiders run and closed out the game making seven of its last 15 attempts.

Jarrells scored 10 points in the opening quarter, and her jumper at the 7:43 mark gave YSU an 8-0 advantage and forced a Wright State timeout. A 3 by Jarrells put the Penguins up by double digits for the first time at 14-4 with 5:47 remaining, and her second 3 of the quarter four minutes later put YSU up 24-13. It did not lead by fewer than 11 points the rest of the night.

YSU closed out the second quarter on a 10-1 run to take a 45-23 halftime lead, and the margin grew to 52-27 following a three-point play by Saunders with 7:37 remaining in the third quarter. Wright State went on an 11-1 run during which Hutchison scored her first points of the night to bring Wright State to within 53-38, but Linard gave the Penguins two big buckets on assists from Thierry in the final three minutes of the quarter to help them stem the tide.

Early in the fourth, Aulbach hit a 3 to start a nine-point burst that gave YSU a 68-45 advantage. Wright State got no closer than 18 the rest of the way, and it hit one field goal over the final seven-and-a-half minutes.

Notes

• Youngstown State won its third straight Horizon League game with the 20-point victory at the Nutter Center. Before going 3-0 in three consecutive games at Oakland, Detroit Mercy and Wright State, YSU was 1-9 overall away from Beeghly Center and 0-5 in conference contests.
• YSU scored 26 points in the first quarter, which was its highest output in a quarter this season.
• YSU's top four scoring outputs against Division I opponents have come in the last six games. The Penguins have scored at least 71 points four times in the last six contests after having a high score of 70 against Division I teams in their first 20 games.
• The Penguins' point guards, Mady Aulbach and Dena Jarrells, eight had eight rebounds apiece to lead the team. Neither had been YSU's top rebounder in a game this season previously. Youngstown State grabbed a season-high 45 rebounds and outrebounded the Raiders 45-30. That was the best rebounding margin for the Penguins in Horiozn League play and their best since being plus-16 at Saint Francis (Pa.) on Dec. 9.
• The Penguins' 30 field goals were their second-most in a game this season behind only the 32 they made at Oakland on Feb. 8.
• They shot 44.4% from 3-point range, which was their second-best effort from long distance in 2023-24.
• Wright State attempted 32 3-pointers, which was the most by an opponent this season, and it made just four of them. The Raiders came into to the game averaging 8.2 3-pointers per game while shooting 33.9% from beyond the arc.
• Aulbach collected her 100th career steal and scored her 350th career point.
• Aulbach set new season highs with nine points, eight rebounds and three 3-pointers, and she tied her season high with four assists.
• Malia Magestro scored in double figures for the sixth consecutive game, which is the longest stretch of her career. She reached double figures in five straight contests as a sophomore.
• Jarrells grabbed a career-high eight rebounds, and she made three 3-pointers for the third straight game.
• Shay-Lee Kirby recorded her 100th career assist and her 100th career steal. She had a season-high three steals, and her five assists were her most in a game since she had a career-high six in the season-opening victory against Xavier.
• Emily Saunders went over 500 career points with her 13-point effort. She has scored 309 of her 507 career points, or 60.9% of her career total, this season.
• Saunders tied her career high with four assists. She has 10 assists in four games this month after having 15 assists in her first 22 games of the campaign.

Up Next

Youngstown State won't be back in action until next Saturday, Feb. 24, when it travels to Northern Kentucky. Tipoff at Truist Arena is set for 2 p.m., and the contest will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN and ESPN+.