The Youngstown State and Detroit women’s basketball teams begin postseason play on Thursday night with both teams playing on their home court.
Youngstown State is making the program’s first appearance in the WNIT and hosts Missouri Valley Conference foe Indiana State with tipoff scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET.
The Penguins are in the postseason for the first time since the 1999-2000 season after finishing the regular season with a 22-9 record. Youngstown State finished in second place in the Horizon League regular season race with an 11-5 conference mark. It is the program’s best League finish since joining the Horizon League for the 2001-02 season. The Penguins were knocked out of the conference tournament in the semifinals by third-seed Loyola.
Youngstown State is led by Player of the Year Brandi Brown. Brown leads the conference in rebounding (11.3 rpg) and ranks second in scoring (20.5 ppg). The senior forward has scored 30 or more points in three of her last four home games, including a 42-point, 21-rebound performance in YSU’s win over Wright State on March 2. Her performance was the first 40-point, 20-rebound effort by an NCAA DI player against DI competition since Feb. 27, 2007.
In addition to Brown’s Player of the Year award, Youngstown State’s Head Coach Bob Boldon was named the League’s Coach of the Year. Boldon is in his third season with the Penguins and has helped lead a remarkable turnaround. The Penguins were winless the season before Boldon joined the program. This season his team has already won 12 more games than they did last year, the third-biggest leap in wins for an NCAA DI team this season.
Youngstown State’s game against Indiana State will be streamed on the Horizon League Network. http://www.horizonleague.org/live/8635
The winner of the game will play the winner of the Butler vs. Toledo game in the second round.
Detroit is making its first appearance in the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI) and hosts Ohio Valley Conference member Belmont.
The Titans, after appearing in the WNIT last year, are in the postseason for back-to-back seasons for the first time since the program’s first four years of existence.
Detroit finished the regular season with a 17-13 mark – giving UDM back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 2001 and 2002 - and were fourth in the Horizon League regular season with a record of 9-7. The Titans were defeated by top-seed Green Bay in the semifinals of the HL tournament.
Shareta Brown, a first-time All-Horizon League selection, is the Titans leading scorer and spent most of the season hovering in the top-10 in the nation in scoring and field goal percentage. She enters postseason play averaging 20.1 points per game and connecting on 58.4 percent of her field goal attempts. She currently ranks third in the nation in field goal percentage.
The UDM-Belmont winner will meet the winner of the Northern Kentucky and College of Charleston game on Sunday, March 24 at 2 p.m.
