YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – IUPUI women's basketball will kick off Horizon League play on the road at Youngstown State on Saturday (Dec. 28). The game against the Penguins will tip off at 1 p.m. ET and will be streamed on ESPN+.
IUPUI (6-5) is coming off of a 30 point win over Eastern Kentucky that closed out conference play for the Jags.
Macee Williams finished the game with a season-high 22 points and pulled down 15 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season. For her performance, Williams was named Horizon League Player of the Week for the first time this season.
Holly Hoopingarner and
Rachel McLimore each scored 13 points for IUPUI in the win.
The Jaguars start their third season in the Horizon League taking on a Youngstown State team that comes in to the game with a 7-4 record, the second best mark in the Horizon League after non-conference play. The Jags and the Penguins have played four times in the first two years and split the four meetings. Three of those four meetings have not been close with the games decided by at least 18 points.
After non-conference play IUPUI is led by Williams who is averaging 14.6 points per game and pulling down 9.5 rebounds per game, which is first in the Horizon League. Hoopingarner is the only other Jaguar to average double-figures through the first 11 games of the year, scoring 10.7 per game. The senior guard also leads the Jags with 2.7 assists per game.
The first part of the season has been a game of halves for IUPUI with the Jags 6-0 when leading at half time and 0-5 on the season when trailing after the first 20 minutes. The Jags will be looking for their first true road win of the season when taking on the Penguins, after dropping their first five road contests.
Another trend in the success of the Jags has been the free throw line. IUPUI is 6-1 on the year when they hit more free throws than their opponents and sit at 0-4 when hitting fewer free throws.
Youngstown State has won two-straight games and holds a 5-1 record on their home court. The only loss at the Beeghly Center for the Penguins was an overtime loss in the second game of the season to Kent State.
Chelsea Olson leads the team with 11 points per game and 7.9 rebounds per game. McKenah Peters is second on the team at 10.6 points per game and is also second with 5.6 rebounds. Mary Dunn has scored 17 points per game but has only played in four games this season.
The Penguins offense is hitting almost 43 percent of their shots from the field and 36 percent from three. The offense has exploded the last two games, scoring over 80 points in each game after scoring just 56 in each of the two previous games.
