Titans Shutdown Milwaukee, 71-48
DETROIT – Sophomore Senee Shearer (Detroit, MI/Pershing) poured in her fourth 20-point game of the season and the Titans never trailed in the game as UDM downed Milwaukee, 71-48, on Thursday night on Dick Vitale Court at Calihan Hall.
Shearer had 20 points to lead all scorers along with grabbing six rebounds and handing out three assists as Detroit moved to 8-9 on the year and 4-1 in the Horizon League. The 4-1 record sets up an early battle for first place with 4-0 and nationally-ranked Green Bay coming to town on Saturday.
Junior Yar Shayok (Ottawa, ON/Hillcrest) recorded her second-straight double-double with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, while freshman Shareta Brown (Grand Blanc, MI/Grand Blanc) had 12 points and three boards in a limited 18 minutes due to foul trouble.
The game was tied at two-apiece when the Titans went on a 9-1 run to give them their first big lead. Brown and Shearer did all of the damage as Brown had six and Shearer five at that point for an 11-3 lead.
Detroit never let its lead dip under six points and increased its advantage to as many as 18, 29-11, in the first half, thanks to a 14-4 run. Shayok had eight of her points during that stretch, while Shearer and freshman Audrey Matteson (Monticello, IN/Twin Lakes) connected from long range. The Titans would end the half up 30-17.
The defense stymied Milwaukee (4-10, 0-4 HL) for the most part holding the Panthers to just 8-of-26 (30.8%) shooting with seven turnovers.
UDM had a 15-point lead, 37-22, in the second half with 15 minutes left when the Panthers had one final charge in them cutting the Titan lead to eight, 38-30, with 14:10 left.
That was when the red, white and blue collected themselves and put the game away with an 18-1 run over the next five minutes to take their biggest lead of the game, 56-31. The defense swarmed the Panthers' offensive attack as UWM was just 1-of-8 from the field in that period, while the Titans hit five of their eight shots along with 5-of-7 from the free throw line.
From there, Detroit coasted the rest of the way to the 23-point victory and its sixth win in the last seven games and eighth in its last 11.
Detroit finished the game shooting 54.2% from the field and 65.2% in the second half. The Titans were also 7-of-14 from three-point range and owned the boards to the tune of a 42-30 advantage.
Senior Jalesa Jones (Detroit, MI/Pershing) ended the contest with a season-high nine assists, just one off her career high, while netting eight points. Senior Lauren Allen (Rochester Hills, MI/Rochester) tallied eight points and five rebounds, while sophomore Megan Hatter (Howell, MI/Howell) had four points and a career-best seven boards.
Detroit will now get ready for Green Bay, ranked No. 14 by the AP and 12 by the Coaches, on Saturday with tip-off slated for 2 p.m. Pistons voice George Blaha will be on hand to do introductions and sign autographs at the half, while the Titan team will sign autographs after the game.
Game Notes:
The Titans held Milwaukee to 17 first-half points, the lowest for the Panthers on the year and the lowest Detroit has allowed on the season since the 19 Bowling Green scored in the first half earlier in the year… The 48 points yielded by the Titans were the fewest by a Division I team since last season when the Titans won at Michigan, 67-48…It was also the lowest they have allowed to an HL school since an 80-44 win against Youngstown State in 2010…Detroit held NAIA Marygrove to 27 points last season…Shayok's double-double was the 22nd of her career…Jones' career high of 10 assists was in her freshman year at Eastern Michigan… Milwaukee still leads the overall series, 22-19.
