Game notes vs Utah, UTSA

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SAN ANTONIO -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team will spend Thanksgiving in the Lone Star State as the Titans will play a pair of games this weekend in the UTSA Thanksgiving Classic.

UDM will face Utah on Friday and the University of Texas at San Antonio on Saturday at the UTSA Convocation Center. Both games are scheduled for a 6:00 p.m., tip-off.

Live stats for both games will be available through the UTSA athletic website, while a live webcast will be available for the game against the host Roadrunners. There will be a fee for the live video. All fans can also follow the Titans on twitter for updates throughout the game.

A decision for a live webcast of the Utah contest has not been decided yet, but if it is available, a link will appear on top of this page. 

Freshman Shareta Brown is coming off a great game where she had 18 rebounds and 16 points for her third double-double on the year. Junior Chanahl Putnam was in double figures for the fourth-straight game netting 10 points against Bowling Green, while junior Yar Shayok posted a season-high 13 rebounds and three blocks.

Brown leads the team in scoring (17.8), rebounding (12.5), field goal percentage (51%), free throw percentage (75%) and steals (2.0). Putnam is averaging 11.5 ppg., and tops the team with 10 3-pointers, while senior Jalesa Jones is tallying 4.0 assists per game.

DETROIT VS. UTAH/UTSA
This weekend marks the first-ever meeting between the Titans and Utah as well as Saturday's opponent UTSA.

ABOUT UTAH
In its first year in the Pac-12, Utah comes into the game on a two-game losing streak with road setbacks against Arkansas (57-56) and Michigan (55-50).  The Utes defeated Southern Utah, 74-60, in their season opener.

The Utes have a lot of experience coming back in 11 letterwinners, including four starters, from a team that went 18-17 last season winning the Mountain West Conference tournament and advancing to the NCAA Tournament. 
Utah was picked to finish sixth in its first season in the Pac-12.

Sophomore Taryn Wicijowski – the MWC Freshman of the Year and second-team All-MWC as a rookie in 2010 – leads the team in scoring at 17.0 points per game to go with 8.7 rebounds per game. She has returned to form following a knee injury last season. Sophomore Michelle Plouffe – who was the MWC Freshman of the Year as well as second-team All-MWC last year – is averaging 11.7 ppg., and a team-high 10.0 rpg., while senior Janita Badon is tallying 11.0 ppg.

ABOUT UTSA
The host of the Thanksgiving Classic, UTSA will face South Alabama in the other match-up on Friday before facing the Titans on Saturday.

The Roadrunners are 1-3 at the moment downing FIU at home, 61-54, while their three losses have been to quality opponents in Missouri (70-50), TCU (65-30) and UNLV (74-67).

UTSA was picked to win the Southland Conference's West Division in the league's preseason poll. The Roadrunners have two starters and eight letterwinners back from a team that went 16-15 last year, although the Roadrunners did lose their two leading scorers from last season.

Ashley Spaletta tops the team in scoring at 10.8 points per game. A lot of her work is done from the outside as 11 of her 14 field goals on the year are from three-point range. Mannasha Bell is second on the team in scoring at 10.5 ppg., while leading the Roadrunners in rebounding (8.3).

As a team UTSA is shooting just 18% from three connecting on 14-of-77 on the year.

EARLY SEASON TOURNAMENTS
Detroit is now 20-31 all-time in regular season tournaments after competing in the Preseason WNIT to start the year.

The last time the Titans won a regular season tournament was in 1999 when UDM downed South Alabama and host Florida A&M in the Rattler Classic.

BUSY SCHEDULE
The Titans have been as this week's two-game tournament will mark a span in which Detroit will play five games in nine days.

TITANS AGAINST THE PAC-12
Detroit has just two career meetings against schools from the current Pac-12 dropping an 84-64 decision at home to Washington on Dec. 12, 1984 and an 86-43 loss at Colorado on Nov. 24, 2002.

DETROIT VS. THE SOUTHLAND
Just like the Pac-12, the Titans have played current schools from the Southland Conference just twice, but have two victories to their credit. UDM defeated Texas State (then Southwest Texas), 56-53, on the road on Dec. 22, 1997, and crushed McNeese State, 96-54, at home on Dec. 14, 1995.

AGAINST THE STATES
Detroit is 2-8 all-time against teams from Texas, garnering wins over Texas State and West Texas State (77-72, Jan. 7, 1985). The last time UDM played a school from The Lone Star State was on Dec. 19, 2006, as the Titans fell to SMU, 73-50, in Cancun, Mexico.

The last time the red, white and blue visited the state of Texas was in 1997 when it downed Texas State.

In an interesting twist, despite the fact that they have played teams from Texas 10 times, only three meetings have occurred in the state (vs. Texas State in 1997, vs. Texas in 1997, vs. West Texas in 1985), with the other seven on neutral courts during regular season tournaments.

UDM has never played a school from Utah.

HOST INSTITUTIONS
While it will be the first career meeting between the Titans and Roadrunners, the two schools do share something in common.  Each have recently hosted a men's Final Four with UTSA in 2008 at the Alamodome and UDM in 2009 at Ford Field.

PUTNAM GETTING DOUBLE DIGITS
Junior Chanahl Putnam has been in double-digit scoring in all four games this season after scoring 10 points against Bowling Green.

She also had 13 against Howard and Drexel and 10 in the season opener at Indiana State.

The last Titan to start a season with four straight double-digit scoring efforts was Demeisha Fambro last season, while the last player to accomplish the feat in five straight was Brigid Mulroy in 2009.

UDM HOLDING OPPONENTS FROM THREE
Detroit is doing a good job getting out on defenders as the Titans are holding opponents to just 29% shooting from three-point range on the season.

UDM has seen its opponents connect on just 15-of-51 from long range.

OH SO CLOSE
The Titans might be 0-4, but with just a little luck, Detroit could easily be 4-0. UDM has dropped its first four games by a combined 17 points, including a pair of two-point setbacks at Indiana State and against Howard. UDM also had a 15-point lead in the first half against Bowling Green its last time out and led by two with 3:21 left until the Falcons ended the game on a 10-0 run.

Even more frustrating is that against the Sycamores and Bison, the Titans actually had a chance to win or tie in the final 30 seconds, but could not get a shot off at the buzzer at ISU, while freshman Shareta Brown's layup versus Howard just rimmed out.

JUST A MONSTER ON THE BOARDS
Freshman Shareta Brown pulled down a season-high 18 rebounds against Bowling Green her last time out. The 18 boards combined with 16 points was her third double-double in four games.

With the 18 rebounds, Brown became the eighth player in school history to post 18+ rebounds in a game and the first since India Bruster corralled 18 at No. 22 Green Bay on Mar. 7, 2007.

The other Titans who have recorded 18+ rebounds are Lisa Blackburn, Cheryl Day (school record holder at 27), Yvette Harris, Bridget Howard, Molly Peterman and Cheryl Williams.

Day, Harris and Williams are also the only players in school history with 20+ rebound-performances in a game.

JONES LOOKING AT FIFTH
Senior Jalesa Jones took another step towards her pursuit of a school record as her three assists her last time out gives her 371 career helpers. She is now just 11 away from Carrie Banks' fifth-place mark of 382 as well as 116 away from claiming the school record.

If she does break the Titan record of 486 - held by Mary Lillie - she will pass another familiar name in current head coach Autumn Rademacher (3rd-429)

As a freshman, Jones had 84 assists, while collecting 159 as a sophomore and 112 last year. For her career, she is tallying 3.8 apg.

TITANS DOMINATING THE BOARDS
Detroit is coming off just a devastating attack on the boards as UDM outrebounded Bowling Green, 56-31, including a 24-8 advantage on the offensive glass. Freshman Shareta Brown had 18 rebounds, while junior Yar Shayok compiled 13 and those two alone had the same amount of boards as the Falcons' squad.

It was also a team effort as all right UDM players who saw action came away with a rebound.

The +25 rebounding margin was the most by the Titans since posting a +24 mark (55-31) against Youngstown State last season.

The Titans have outrebounded teams in all four games, with one other double-digit margin on the season in a 40-24 effort in the season opener at Indiana State.

UDM has also owned the edge on the offensive caroms in three of its four games, including a 22-8 tally at ISU and 13-6 against Drexel.

REBOUNDS LEADING TO POINTS
The Titans' presence down low have led to some easy buckets in the paint as well as a plethora of second-chance points.

On the season, Detroit owns a 116-88 advantage in points in the paint and a 62-30 margin in second-chance points
.