Youngstown State's women's basketball team will wear pink jerseys to raise awareness and support for breast cancer as it hosts IU Indy on Saturday. Tipoff against the Jaguars at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center is set for 2 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN+, 570 WKBN and iHeart. Additionally, six new inductees to YSU's Athletics Hall of Fame will be celebrated at halftime.

Gameday Info

• When: Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025 | 2 p.m.
• Where: Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center | Youngstown, Ohio
• Watch: ESPN+ | espn.com | International Stream
• Listen: 570 WKBN | iHeart.com
• Stats: SIDEARM Stats
• Social: Instagram | X | Facebook

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 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 1 p.m. on Saturday.
• Promotions
  • YSU Hall-of-Fame Celebration at halftime
  • Pink Game - YSU's jerseys will be auctioned off to benefit the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center. More information here.
  • Pink T-Shirt Giveaway to the first 200 fans courtesy of Mercy Health
  • Key Chain Giveaway, courtesy of Key Kutterz. Key Kutterz will cut one house key for free (limit one per family) to the first 50 fans at the game.

A Glimpse at the Guins

• Youngstown State played its first overtime game of the season on Thursday in a 78-76 loss to Wright State. The Penguins trailed by 11 at halftime, and Jewel Watkins tied the game with less than a minute left in regulation. YSU led 69-67 early in the extra session before a five-point burst tilted the decision in Wright State's favor.
• The Penguins are now 9-16 overall and 4-11 in conference play. With five games left in the regular season, YSU remains just three games out of fourth place in the standings. IU Indy, Saturday's opponent, is a half game ahead of the Penguins with a 5-11 record against league opponents.
• Watkins scored 22 points on Thursday for her sixth 20-point game of the season. She has scored at least 13 points in nine straight contests, and she ranks sixth in the Horizon in scoring at 14.8 points per game. Watkins, a transfer from Charlotte, is one of 10 newcomers on this year's team under first-year head coach Melissa Jackson.
• Fifth-year senior Malia Magestro, one of four returning Penguins from 2023-24, scored 16 points against Wright State as she continued the best offensive season of her career. She is averaging career highs of 12.1 points and 2.4 assists, and she ranks fifth in the league with 2.1 3-pointers per game.
• Magestro has made 25 3-pointers in her last nine games to surge up the league rankings. With Watkins joining in her in the top five in the league with 2.2 3s per game, YSU is the only team to have two shooters ranking in the top five.
• Sophia Gregory should be among the favorites to be voted the Horizon League Freshman of the Year. She leads all conference freshmen in points, rebounds, blocks, and steals per game as well as field-goal percentage.
• Jackson, the ninth coach in program history, has spent the last 16 years in Northeast Ohio. The first-year Penguin has the highest winning percentage of any head coach in Akron history from her five seasons leading the Zips.
• 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.
• YSU is 44-33 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 75-32 on Rosselli Court since the start of the 2018-19 campaign. YSU is 8-5 on its home floor in 2024-25, and one more win will secure a winning record for the season.

Youngstown State vs. IU Indy

A Win Would...

• Give YSU a 10-16 overall record, a 5-11 mark in Horizon League contests and a 9-5 record on Rosselli Court this season.
• Allow the Penguins to split two regular-season meetings with IU Indianapolis.
• Be YSU's third straight over the Jaguars on Rosselli Court.
• Lock up a winning record for the season at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
• Give Head Coach Melissa Jackson her 82nd career win, her 10th at Youngstown State and her first over IU Indy.

Milestone Watch

• Sophia Gregory is six blocks away from breaking YSU's freshman record for blocks in a season. She is currently second with 25. Jen Perugini holds the record with 30 in 2001-02.
• Malia Magestro is seven assists shy of 250 for her career, and she needs 10 steals to reach 100. Magestro needs two 3s to move into a tie for second place on YSU's all-time list (209).
• Haley Thierry is three rebounds away from bringing her career total to 250.
• Jewel Watkins needs six more assists to reach 100 in her career, and she is 13 steals shy of 100. She's also approaching 500 career rebounds, needing 26 to reach the milestone.

Scouting the Jaguars

• IU Indy is 6-19 overall and 5-11 in Horizon League play following a 61-58 loss at Robert Morris on Thursday. The Jaguars beat YSU 65-50 for their first conference victory on Dec. 28, and that started a stretch where IU Indy won four out of six games. The Jags have dropped six of their last seven decisions since, and three of those losses have been by four points or fewer.
• IU Indy averages 61.9 points per game offensively, which ranks seventh in the conference, while allowing 71.4 points, the ninth-most in the league. The Jaguars rank fifth in field-goal percentage, 3-point field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage. IU Indy averages 8.0 steals per game, which is the fourth-most in the conference.
• Individually, Katie Davidson leads IU Indy with 17.6 points per game. She missed 12 games earlier this season, including the game against YSU at the end of December, and she would rank second in the conference in scoring if she met the minimum number of games played. Nevaeh Foster has made a team-high 44 3-pointers while shooting 36.7% from beyond the arc, and Faith Stinson is the team's top rebounder and blocker with 5.4 and 1.3 per game, respectively.
• Penguin ties: IU Indy head coach Kate Bruce was an assistant on Bob Boldon's staff at YSU from 2010-13. Jaguars sophomore 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. Stinson played her freshman season at Akron with YSU's Melissa Jackson as her head coach.

Series History and Matchup Notes

Overall: IU Indy leads 15-11
Jackson: 0-1 // Home: 6-5 // Away: 4-9 // Neutral: 1-1
Current Win Streak: 1 by IU Indy

• IU Indy holds a 15-11 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 Indy won seven straight games in the series before the Penguins won two of the three contests in 2023-24. The Jaguars beat the Penguins 65-50 in December.
• Five of the last eight 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 vs. IU Indy

• Youngstown State got off to a tough start offensively and was unable to catch IU Indy in a 65-50 loss to the Jaguars at The Jungle on Dec. 28, 2024. It was both teams' first game after the holiday break.
• The Penguins shot 22.2% from the field and had 14 turnovers in the first half as IU Indy built a 28-19 lead. YSU increased its point total in each quarter, but the Jaguars scored 22 points in the third period to protect their lead.
• Erica King scored 13 points in the second half, and Malia Magestro scored nine of her 13 in the first half. Magestro made two of just seven 3-pointers in the game.
• Faith Stinson scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds for IU Indy, which held a 42-14 advantage in paint scoring.

Recapping Wright State

Game Summary

Youngstown State overcame an 11-point deficit in the second half to force overtime, but Wright State held on to win 78-76 on Thursday at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.

The Penguins were down 43-32 at halftime, but they caught the Raiders in the fourth quarter thanks to a freshly-installed 2-3 zone. YSU led by three with five minutes left in regulation, and Jewel Watkins scored two of her 22 points with 53 seconds left to tie the score at 66. Both teams missed 3-pointers on their final possessions of regulation, and the Penguins led twice in the first two minutes of overtime before a five-point burst allowed Wright State to seize the lead.

Malia Magestro buried a 3-pointer with 10.9 seconds remaining to shave a 77-73 deficit down to one, and YSU had a chance in the final moments to tie the game again or win. With 9.6 seconds remaining, Wright State's Makiya Miller made her first free-throw attempt but missed her second, and Watkins' left-handed floater in the lane with two seconds left went off the rim.

Watkins finished with a team-high 22 points to lead three Penguins in double figures, and she added three assists. Faith Burch scored a career-best 17 points to go along with eight rebounds, and Magestro scored 16 points with four assists.

Amaya Staton led Wright State with game highs of 23 points and 16 rebounds. She grabbed nine of Wright State's 17 offensive rebounds, though those caroms only led to 11 second-chance points.

Notes

• Wright State made its first five field-goal attempts of the game, and it was 5-for-10 from 3-point range in the first half. The Raiders were 2-for-19 from beyond the arc in the final 25 minutes, and they missed 12 straight attempts at one point.
• YSU played primarily 2-3 zone in the game, and it affected Wright State in the second half. Wright State shot 55.2% in the first half and 24.3% in the second half and overtime. It was the first time this season the Penguins employed the zone defense over an extended period.
• The Penguins have had their two closest final margins in their last two games. YSU lost by five at Milwaukee last Saturday, and Thursday's game against Wright State was decided by two points.
• YSU had its most points, highest field-goal percentage and assists against a Division I opponent this season.
• Wright State's 29 attempts from beyond the arc were the most by an opponent this season.
• The Raiders had 30 free-throw attempts, which was the most by an opponent. Wright State had 27 attempts in the first meeting in Dayton. Over the two games, Wright State was 43-for-57 from the line while YSU was 26-for-34.
• YSU attempted 12 3s, which tied for its fewest in a game this season (Green Bay on Feb. 6).
• The Penguins held a 42-34 edge in paint scoring, and they outshot the Raiders 47.6% to 37.9%.
• The Penguins lost for the first time this season when scoring at least 70 points. YSU was 7-1 coming into the game when outscoring its opponent in the paint, and it was 8-1 when having a better field-goal percentage than its opponent.
• Faith Burch scored a career-high 17 points while going 8-for-11 from the field. She added eight rebounds, including the 350th of her career.
• Sophia Gregory had her fifth game this season grabbing at least 10 rebounds. She finished with 11 to go along with eight points, three assists and a steal.
• Malia Magestro scored in double figures for the 60th time in her career. She finished with 16 points, going 6-for-11 from the field, 2-for-4 on 3-point attempts and 2-for-3 from the free-throw line.
• Bella Samz played a career-high 29 minutes, and she was on the floor for all but 1:22 of the final 25 minutes. She finished with four points, three assists and a steal.
• Haley Thierry went over 300 career points while scoring five points. She added four assists without committing a turnover.
• Jewel Watkins scored 22 points for her sixth game over 20 this season. She scored at least 13 points for the ninth straight game, and she made her 200th career free throw. Watkins had 21 field-goal attempts, which tied her season high against Purdue Fort Wayne on Jan. 29.

Up Next

• Youngstown State will play its final three games of February on the road, starting with two games in Michigan next week. The trip will begin with a contest at Detroit Mercy on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m.