Game Notes vs. Ball State

Horizon League Network                    Gametracker

The Autumn Rademacher ShootAround Show On The Titan YouTube Channel

DETROIT -- The Detroit s women's basketball team will look to end its season-opening three game homestand the same way it has ended the first two games – with a win - as UDM tangles with Western Michigan on Friday.

Game time is set for 5:00 p.m., and it is part of a doubleheader with the men's season opener against Indiana Tech at 7:30 p.m.

The Horizon League Network will carry all of the action live with Dan York handling the play-by-play. A live stats feed through gametracker will also be available. Both links are located on top of the page.

The Titans are 2-0 for the first time since the 1999-2000 season thanks to Tuesday's 78-60 win over Ball State, a game that the Titans led by as many as 30 at one point in the second half. Sophomore Demeisha Fambro was the game's top scorer with a career-high 25, while sophomore Cherridy Thornton netted a career-best 20 points.

Western Michigan is 1-1 on the young season with a home win over Eastern Illinois, but the Broncos are coming off a tough 67-62 loss in overtime to fellow Horizon League school Loyola.

THE DETROIT-WMU SERIES
The Titans trail the overall series with Western Michigan, 13-11, with the Broncos winning the last four meetings. The last time these programs squared off was on Nov. 17, 2006, when WMU took an 85-72 decision.

UDM is also 6-5 against Western Michigan in the Motor City.

ABOUT WESTERN MICHIGAN
The Broncos are off to a 1-1 start after edging Eastern Illinois in their season opener at home, 57-55, before falling in overtime at Loyola, 67-62, on Tuesday.

WMU has eight upperclassmen on its roster and four starters back from last year's team that went 9-21 and 4-12 in MAC play. So far through the first two games, the Broncos have relied on the play of three seniors in Brenna Banktson (9.0 ppg., 8.5 rpg.) Ebony Cleary (18.0 ppg., 11.6 rpg.) and Taylor Manley (5.0 ppg.). They also have a preseason All-MAC West Division player in junior Miame Giden, who has led the team in scoring the last two seasons, but she has yet to play this year.

WMU was tabbed to finish sixth in the Mid-American Conference West Division preseason poll.

The Broncos are coached by Tasha McDowell who is in her third year with the program with an overall record of 16-45.

LOOKING TO GO 3-0
Detroit accomplished something that it had not done in 10 years when it defeated Ball State for a 2-0 start and now it will look to go 3-0 for the first time since the 1991-92 season. That year, the Titans opened the campaign with wins over Rider Buffalo and Chicago State en route to a 17-12 record.

THE LAST TIME UDM HAD A PAIR OF 20-POINT SCORERS
Sophomores Demeisha Fambro (25) and Cherridy Thornton (20) had 20-point performances in the Titans 78-60, victory over Ball State on Nov. 16.

The contest marked the first time since Nov. 17, 2006 at Western Michigan that Detroit had a pair of 20-point scorers in the same game. In that contest, Joyce Massey led the way with 25 and Kandace Evans added 20.

A DEFENSIVE EFFORT
Detroit forced Ball State into 22 turnovers on Nov. 16, turning those opportunities into 30 points.

It was the most turnovers the Titans have caused since Colgate had 24 against the red, white and blue last year.

RADEMACHER WELL ACQUAINTED WITH WMU PROGRAM
Titan head coach Autumn Rademacher knows Western Michigan pretty well as her first coaching job was as an assistant with the Broncos. She spent seven seasons (1997-04) at the Kalamazoo school helping WMU to a 108-100 mark, which included a 2003 NCAA Tournament bid following its Mid-American Conference tournament title.

TITANS APPEAR IN WOMEN'S MID-MAJOR POLL
Off the strength of its season-opening victory over Oakland last Friday, the Detroit women's basketball team was recognized with two votes in the latest Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Poll, released on Tuesday, Nov. 16.

The poll was released prior to the Titans 78-60 triumph over Ball State for the program's first 2-0 start since the 1999-2000 season.

Detroit is one of three teams from the Horizon League to find its name in the weekly poll with Green Bay ranked first, while Butler is received 40 votes.

More than a decade after creating the Division I men's basketball Mid-Major Top 25, CollegeInsider.com joined forces with the Atlantic Sun Conference to establish the women's Mid-Major Top 25.