Youngstown State begins a key stretch near the midpoint of the Horizon League schedule by hosting Northern Kentucky on Wednesday. Tipoff against the Norse at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center is set for 6:30 p.m., and the contest will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN, iHeart and ESPN+.

Gameday Info

• When: Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025 | 6:30 p.m.
• Where: Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center | Youngstown, Ohio
• Watch: ESPN+ | espn.com
• Listen: 570 WKBN | iHeart.com
• Stats: SIDEARM Stats
• Social: X | Instagram | Facebook

Tickets, Promotions & Fan Information

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

• 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
  • Autism Awareness Game, presented by The Rich Center. YSU will wear special jerseys that will be auctioned off here
  • YSU Student T-Shirt Giveaway and the first 100 YSU Students will receive a free Jimmy John's sub
  • Pete Air Freshener giveaway, courtesy of Jimmy John's, ASECU and 21 WFMJ

A Glimpse at the Guins

• The Penguins will wear special jersey tops featuring puzzle pieces in the numbers and Y logo for the game against NKU in a partnership with the Rich Center for Autism on campus to raise awareness for autism spectrum disorder. Those jerseys will be auctioned off through ysusports.com/penguinauction, and proceeds will go to the Rich Center.
• The Penguins will play four of their next five games on their home floor over the next three weeks. The conference slate will reach its halfway point during the stretch, and YSU is playing NKU for the second time before it plays Robert Morris, Cleveland State and Oakland for the first time.
• YSU is looking for its first Horizon League win since it beat the Norse 56-47 in Kentucky on Dec. 7. The Penguins were 2-0 in conference play after that come-from-behind victory, but they've dropped their last five league decisions and four straight games overall.
• In its last game at Wright State, the Penguins scored their most points against a Division I opponent since Dec. 4 in a 77-62 loss. YSU held a 20-12 advantage at the end of the first quarter, but Wright State tied the score at halftime and shot 69.2% in the third quarter to take control.
• Malia Magestro scored a team-high 16 points, her most in a road game this season, on Sunday. She leads YSU in assists and minutes and is averaging a career-best 11.0 points per game in her fifth season as a Penguin. Magestro is one of four returners back from last year's squad and one of three seniors on the team. The other two seniors, Jewel Watkins and Haley Thierry, also scored in double figures at the Nutter Center on Sunday.
• With three season-ending injuries and other players dealing with bumps and bruises, YSU has used seven different starting lineup combinations this season. Ten of the 14 players on the roster have started at least once this season.
• Youngstown State leads the Horizon League in 3-point field-goal percentage defense (.289) and blocks per game (3.8), and it ranks second in scoring defense (59.6 ppg) and rebounding margin (2.5). YSU is also among the top five in steals, turnover margin and turnovers forced.
• Melissa Jackson is in her first season as YSU's head coach. The ninth coach in program history, she 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.
• YSU is 42-27 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. Northern Kentucky

A Win Would…

• Give YSU an 8-10 overall record, a 3-5 mark in Horizon League contests and a 7-2 record at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
• Improve YSU's record against Northern Kentucky to 11-9.
• Give the Penguins a regular-season sweep of the Norse.
• Give Head Coach Melissa Jackson her 80th career win, her eighth at Youngstown State and her fifth over NKU.

Milestone Watch

• Faith Burch needs five rebounds to reach 300 in her career.
• Malia Magestro needs 15 3-pointers to become the fifth Penguin to reach 200. She is 25 points away from moving into 19th place on YSU's career scoring list.
• Haley Thierry has 97 career field goals, three away from 100.
• Jewel Watkins is closing in on her 150th career 3-pointer, needing nine to reach the milestone. She is also approaching 1,000 career points with 924 to her credit entering Wednesday's game.

Scouting the Norse

• Northern Kentucky is on a stretch of improved play over its last seven games, and it enters Wednesday's contest with a 6-12 overall record and a 3-4 mark in Horizon League play. The Norse have won four of their past seven decisions, and two of the losses were decided by one possession. Their last two wins last week were by 14 and 17 over Robert Morris and IU Indy, respectively. NKU is led by first-year head coach Jeff Hans
• NKU makes 6.9 3-pointers per game, which is the third-highest average in the conference. It ranks fifth in the league in scoring offense at 65.5 points per contest, and the Norse are eighth in scoring defense allowing 70.1 points on average.
• Macey Blevins leads NKU with 12.8 points per game and 24 steals, while graduate transfer Halle Idowu averages 13.5 points and 5.2 rebounds. Jaci Jones leads the league and ranks 20th in the country with a 2.58 assist-to-turnover ratio, and she has made a team-best 24 3-pointers.

Series History and Matchup Notes

Overall: Youngstown State leads 10-9 Jackson: 4-0 // Home: 6-4 // Away: 4-5 // Neutral: 0-0 Current Win Streak: 2 by Youngstown State

• Youngstown State holds a slim 10-9 advantage in the all-time series with Northern Kentucky, and recent games have been extremely tight between the programs. All three games in 2022-23 were decided in the final 12 seconds, and 11 of the last 15 meetings have either been decided by six points or gone to overtime.
• Both teams have been slightly better on their home floors as YSU is 6-4 at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center and 4-5 on the road. Three of YSU's five losses all time at NKU have come at the buzzer or in overtime.
• NKU has won the last two meetings on Rosselli Court, including when the Norse won 59-58 in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Horizon League Championship. The Norse won 62-56 last January in Youngstown.

This Season vs. NKU

• Youngstown State outscored Northern Kentucky 21-5 in the fourth quarter to beat the Norse 56-47 on Dec. 7 at Trust Arena.
• The Penguins trailed 42-35 heading into the fourth before Faith Burch scored eight points during a 13-0 run to start the period. Burch finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds, while Sophia Gregory had 11 points and 12 rebounds.
• YSU led 12-9 after the first quarter and held a pair of five-point leads in the first four minutes of the second period. NKU went on a 10-0 run to take a 21-16 lead as the Penguins went on a nine-minute field-goal drought in the second quarter, and the Norse's advantage reached 28-19 in the first two minutes of the third.
• The Penguins tied the score at 34 with 2:19 left in the third before NKU scored the final seven points to go up 42-35 heading into the fourth. Burch and Xoe Rosalez accounted for the first 13 points of the fourth as YSU went up 48-42, and the Penguins closed the game on an 8-1 run.

Recapping Wright State

Game Summary

Wright State got hot offensively in the middle two quarters to beat Youngstown State 77-62 on Sunday afternoon at the Nutter Center.

The Penguins led 20-12 at the end of the first period after Malia Magestro made two free throws in the final seconds, but Wright State scored 46 points over the next two quarters to come away with the Horizon League victory.

Magestro finished with a team-high 16 points to lead three Penguins in double figures. Jewel Watkins scored 13 while Haley Thierry scored a season-high 12.

Youngstown State went 14-for-15 from the free-throw line for 93.3%, and Wright State's aggressiveness on the offensive end over the final three periods allowed the Raiders to go 22-for-27 at the charity stripe.

The teams traded 7-0 runs in the first quarter, and the Penguins scored nine straight to claim a 16-10 advantage at the 2:49 mark. Including Magestro's throws with two seconds left, the Penguins scored 13 of the final 15 points of the quarter.

YSU, though, missed its first 12 field-goal attempts of the second quarter as Wright State tied the score at 22 with 4:05 remaining. The score was tied at 34 at halftime, and Wright State shot 69.2% in the third quarter as it outscored the Penguins 24-15. The Raiders added six more points to their lead in the fourth.

Thierry's three-point play on the opening possession of the final quarter cut the deficit to 58-52, but the Penguins didn't make another field goal for three minutes as Wright State went on an 8-0 run to take a 14-point advantage. YSU got no closer than eight, and the final score was the largest margin of the game.

Notes

• YSU made its first 14 free-throw attempts and finished 14-for-15. The .933 free-throw percentage was YSU's best effort of the season. Since the calendar flipped to December, YSU is shooting 75.4% from the free-throw line.
• YSU was whistled for a season-high 24 fouls, and the Raiders made 22 free throws on 27 attempts. The 22 makes from the charity stripe were the most by an opponent this season.
• The Penguins had 12 turnovers, which tied for its lowest against in a Horizon League game this season.
• YSU has been outrebounded in consecutive games for the first time this season
• Wright State's seven 3-pointers tied for the most by an opponent this season
• Amaya Staton finished with 14 points, 16 rebounds and seven blocks to lead Wright State, which had seven players score between seven and 14 points.
• The Raiders shot 44.4% from the field, including 51.3% over the final 30 minutes. That helped the home team in their 77 points, which was the second-most scored by an opponent this season.
• Faith Burch scored six points on 3-for-5 shooting from the field. It was the fourth straight game that she shot at least 50% from the field.
• Malia Magestro scored 16 points and made three 3-pointers. It was her highest scoring game since she had 16 against Detroit Mercy, and it was the eighth time in her 13 games that she reached double figures.
• In addition to scoring a season-best 12 points, Haley Thierry grabbed her 200th career rebound. She made three field goals and went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, and she added six rebounds. The six made free throws tied her previous career high. Thierry has played at least 12 minutes in seven straight games, and she is averaging 9.3 points over her last three contests.
• Jewel Watkins scored 13 points and made two 3-pointers. It was the eighth time in the last 10 games that the senior guard made multiple 3s. Watkins ranks sixth in the Horizon League with 2.1 3-pointers per contest, and she's averaging 2.9 3s against conference opponents.

Up Next

• Youngstown State will host Robert Morris on Saturday at 2 p.m. on Rosselli Court. It will be Alumni Day for the program as well as Kids Day, presented by Raising Cane's and Austintown Bounce.