Late Oakland Run Upsets Titans
DETROIT – Senior Senee Shearer poured in a game and tied her career-high with 29 points and freshman Reyna Montgomery had 11 points and a season-high eight rebounds as the University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team fell to Oakland, 78-63, on Saturday on Dick Vitale Court in historic Calihan Hall.
The game was the first career meeting between the two schools as Horizon League rivals. Prior to the game, the Titans raised their 2013 Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) championship banner.
Shearer also added six rebounds and she is now just four points shy of becoming the 19th player in school history to record 1,000 career points. Sophomore Tayelor McCalister had nine points, three rebounds and two assists and sophomore DaVonna Bradford pulled down seven boards.
The Titans (3-13, 0-3 HL) trimmed a 13-point first-half deficit down to just one on two occasions in the second half, but just could not get over the final hump to take the lead.
Oakland (6-9, 1-1 HL) led by seven, 41-34, with 15:15 left in the game when UDM made its first run at a comeback scoring six-straight points. Shearer started it with a basket and then freshman Megan Galloway had four of her six points in that span, with her final basket getting the red, white and blue within one, 41-40, at the 13:32 mark.
A minute later, a couple of free throws by Shearer made it 43-42, but the Golden Grizzlies were able to hold off two Titan attempts at the lead. OU then took a six-point advantage, 51-45, midway through the second period, but the Titans fought back to make it a two point game. First Shearer had the old fashioned three-point play to put it at 53-51 and then McCalister had a layup to make it a 66-53 contest with 8:38 remaining.
From there, the Golden Grizzlies went on a 15-4 run in the next 7:44 to take control as the shorthanded Titans were just not able to muster one last charge.
Galloway finished with six points and two rebounds and freshman Haleigh Ristovski had a bucket with six boards. Detroit tied a season-high 20 free throws and held Oakland to just 7-of-29 (24.1%) from behind the arc.
Oakland came out early with the offense as the Golden Grizzlies hit their first four shots from the field to take a 10-4 lead. The Titans cut that to 10-7, but OU then went on a 10-0 run to open a 20-7 advantage at the 11:09 mark in the first.
The defense then kept UDM in it, but Detroit continued to trail by double digits, 24-14, with 6:55 remaining in the first stanza, but the red, white and blue made a late run outscoring its counterpart, 13-6, down the stretch to make it just a three-point deficit, 30-27, at the break.
UDM's defense held Oakland to 3-of-10 in that span with three turnovers, while the Titans did most of their damage at the free throw line nailing 6-of-8. Shearer ended the first half with a trey and then McCalister hit a basket to make it a one-possession game.
