YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The first domino in a two-game road swing through the Buckeye and Keystone States, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies will complete their regular season series with the Youngstown State Penguins on Thursday, February 9 at 7 p.m. at the Beeghly Center.

Entering play at 11-12 and 6-8 in the Horizon League, tying them with the Milwaukee Panthers for seventh in the standings, Thursday continues a difficult stretch for Oakland as the Golden Grizzlies are facing one of the conference's top-four teams for the third time in their last four games.

Having dropped consecutive contests for just the second time this season, Youngstown State is 16-7 and 10-4 in Horizon League action, giving the Penguins sole possession of third place at the moment.

In the first meeting between these two in the 2022-23 campaign, a Saturday, January 7 afternoon date at the O'rena, the Golden Grizzlies clawed their way back from a double-digit second-half deficit, but Youngstown State was able to hold on in overtime, 68-67.

OAKLAND RUNDOWN
Pacing all Horizon League freshmen and 11^th in the conference overall, point guard Brooke Quarles-Daniels is the Golden Grizzlies' leading scorer at an even 12 points-per-game and is tied for the team-high in rebounding at 5.3 per night.

Junior forward Alexis Johnson is also pulling down 5.3 boards and is scoring 11 points-per-contest, good for 17^th in the Horizon League.

Fan favorite senior Breanne Beatty is the third Oakland player averaging double figure points at 10.7 and has tallied at least 15 six times this season.

Off the bench, sophomores Aaliyah McQueen and Kennedie Montue and junior Linda van Schaik, who has hit a team-leading 33 3-pointers, are top options for 10^th-year head coach Jeff Tungate and his coaching staff.

SCOUTING THE PENGUINS
Piloted by their own 10-year veteran head coach in John Barnes, Youngstown State ranks in the top-five in the conference both offensively and defensively, and Thursday should present an intriguing battle on the glass for Golden Grizzly fan to monitor.

Holding the opposition to just 33 per game, the Penguins allow the fewest rebounds in the Horizon League, but the Golden Grizzlies are the conference's third-best rebounding team, totaling 38.3 per game, including 14.9 offensive boards.

The January 7 tilt was as even as could be with both teams recording 37 rebounds.

6-foot-1 fifth-year senior Lilly Ritz is a major part of Youngstown State's success, as the in-state product from Cambridge and Wheeling Cardinals transfer is averaging a double-double at 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds.

Megan Callahan, the rare sixth-year senior, and junior Malia Magestro are scoring in double figures, as well, contributing 10.3 and 10.7, respectively.

TELEVISION AND LIVE STATS LINKS
Thursday's action will air live on ESPN+ (subscription required) and can be accessed at this link.

Additionally, the Live Stats are available here.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Dating over 23 years to January 8, 2000, Oakland and the Penguins have squared off 25 times with Youngstown State holding the narrowest of possible edges in the series, 13-12.

Interestingly, the Beeghly Center has been kind to the Golden Grizzlies, with Oakland owning a 7-5 all-time record at the 51-year-old building, including four wins in their last five trips.

SEASON-LONG STORYLINES

NEW FACES FOR GOLDEN GRIZZLIES
Faced with the graduations of Kahlaijah Dean, Kayla Luchenbach and Brianna Breedy, who combined to average 28.7 points and 9.9 rebounds last season, the Golden Grizzlies brought in a trio of diversely talented transfers in Raquel Ferrer-Bernad, Alexis Johnson and Linda van Schaik.

A Southfield A&T Warriors graduate, Johnson is a junior forward who played three seasons in Conference USA (C-USA) for the Marshall Thundering Herd, while Ferrer-Bernad is a graduate student point guard who came from a different C-USA program, the Florida International Panthers.

van Schaik, another junior, joined Oakland by way of the Sun Belt Conference's Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks and projects to provide the team with another 3-point shooting threat.

On top of the program's work in the transfer portal, the Golden Grizzlies' 2022 recruiting class features a couple of high-upside players in guard Brooke Quarles-Daniels, a Miss Michigan Basketball candidate a year ago from L'Anse Creuse North, and Lianna Baxter, a 6-foot-1 forward who starred at Oconto and is one of the top-100 scorers in Wisconsin high school history.

BREANNE BEATTY HEADLINES GROUP OF RETURNING PLAYERS
Appearing in all 83 of the program's games over the last three seasons, and starting all but two of them, senior guard/forward Breanne Beatty was named to the Preseason All-Horizon League Second Team on October 18.

The pride of Worthington, Ohio, Beatty is Oakland's leading returning scorer at 9.7 points-per-game in 2021-22.

In addition to Beatty, guards Kennedie Montue and Aaliyah McQueen and forward Miriam Ibezim, all of whom of sophomores, are back with the program and are in line to contribute significantly right from the season's opening tip.

JEFF TUNGATE ENTERS 10^TH SEASON
Named the eighth head coach in program history on July 16, 2013, the 2022-23 campaign is the 10^th with Jeff Tungate at the helm.

Third on the school's all-time wins list with 126, Tungate and four-year veteran assistant Crystal Davis made some changes to the coaching staff ahead of this season, bringing in Golden Grizzly Hall of Famer and former Mercyhurst Lakers head coach Deanna Richard and Tim Webb, who has extensive coaching experience at both the high school and collegiate levels in Michigan, as assistant coaches.