YSU basketball Women open at WVU

Staff report

Youngstown

The Youngstown State women’s basketball team will play 13 games against opponents that won at least 20 games last season and participate in a Thanksgiving tournament in Los Angeles during the 2011-12 season.

Five of the Penguins’ first eight games will be against teams that won at least 20 games. They’ll also play five of their first six games on the road, starting Nov. 11 at West Virginia.

Youngstown State will also visit IPFW on Nov. 13 and Bucknell on Nov. 16 before the home opener against American University on Nov. 21.

Only 12 of the Penguins’ 29 games are at Beeghly Center.

“This is a very exciting and challenging schedule for us as we continue to build our program,” said second-year Youngstown State coach Bob Boldon.

“We have a very demanding non-conference slate that will definitely prepare us for the Horizon League, and we’re adding New York City and Los Angeles to our list of attractive travel destinations.”

The Thanksgiving tournament will be hosted by Loyola Marymount on Nov. 25-26. The Penguins will open against Marymount, then play either Wyoming or Northern Iowa the following day.

YSU senior Macey Nortey (Long Beach) and junior Brandi Brown (Pomona) are both from the Los Angeles area.

The Penguins will play host to Western Michigan and Bowling Green of the Mid-American Conference on Nov. 30 and Dec. 6, respectively, and they’ll close out their non-conference schedule slate with road contests at Ohio, Akron and Stony Brook.

YSU will open Horizon League play against Cleveland State on Dec. 31 at Beeghly Center.