Coach Rademacher 2011-12 Season In Review Video Recap

Titans Among Nation, Conference Leaders

DETROIT -- Most people might look at this past season and see a number of accolades, a bevy of accomplishments and reasons to have your head high. While that is all true, one thing is certain from head coach Autumn Rademacher that while it was a great season, there is a lot more that the Titans want to achieve.

“We all know what we did this year, but we also know that we did not reach our goal of winning the Horizon League,” said Rademacher. “I know that all the players feel as though it is right there for them and while we had a great year, we all know that a championship is still our No. 1 goal.”

What the Titans did achieve was their first 20-win season (20-14) since 1997. Detroit was 14-4 in the Horizon League, the second time in the last three years it has reached 14 conference wins and a number that ties a school record for the third time. The red, white and blue also earned a bid to the WNIT, its first postseason appearance since reaching the NCAA Tournament in 1997.

Detroit also made its sixth trip to the Horizon League title game and the first under Coach Rademacher. UDM had three separate five-game winning streaks, was 11-3 at home and posted a win over a ranked team for the third time in four years.

The Titans received a number of accolades starting with freshman Shareta Brown earning Co-Horizon League Newcomer of the Year and First Team All-League. She was a four-time HL Player of the Week and was almost a weekly honoree on College SportsMadness.com and by the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight, which included a spot on the All-Jesuit Team.

She was awarded all of those by recording one of the best season, not only by a Titan freshman, but any player in school history. Brown posted a Titan record 611 points on the year, including a freshman record 31 at Loyola. She also became the first freshman to lead the team in scoring (18.0 ppg.) since Coach Rademacher did it with 15.2 ppg., in 1994. Her selection to the Horizon League First Team was also the first for a freshman in school history.

“We all knew that she would make an impact, but to just come in and play that well as a freshman really speaks to what kind of player she is and what we have to look forward too for the next three years,” added Rademacher.

Brown wasn't the only Titan to break some records as senior Jalesa Jones ended her career as the Titans all-time leader in assists (515), games played (127) and starts (122). Her 515 assists rank 11th all-time in the Horizon League and she also ended her career with 102-consecutive starts.

Right with her was senior guard Lauren Allen who finished second in school history in games played (123) and eighth with 349 career assists, while junior Yar Shayok is now second in school history with 852 rebounds and seventh with 85 blocks.

“Jalesa was our motor and when she decided that her senior year wasn't going to end like this, we turned it around and a lot was due to her leadership and play,” said Rademacher. “Lauren was right there from the start and she worked as hard as anyone in her four years and was a big reason why we accomplished what we did during her time.”

Sophomore Senee Shearer had 75 3-pointers on the season, a number that ranks second all-time on the Titan single-season list. Even more impressive is that she accomplished that after missing her first 16 three-point attempts on the season and did not have a triple through the first eight games, but would end up second on the squad in scoring at 11.1 ppg.

The season was remarkable considering that the start of the season was not what was drawn up in the locker room. UDM started the year at 0-6 and then 1-8 heading into a three-game, five-day span right before Christmas. It would have been easy to lose focus with the Holiday break coming up, but this Titan team did just the opposite by jump starting their season with three-straight wins.

“We just needed to turn that corner and make a few plays,” said Rademacher. “One thing about our slow start was that we were right there in most of the games and just a play here or a stop there and we would have won a few of those, but everything happens for a reason.”

Detroit started its winning streak with a 90-60 home victory over IPFW.  It was a season high for points as UDM shot a school record 65.5%, hitting 38-of-58 from the field. The red, white and blue then took care of two in-state rivals beating Eastern Michigan in overtime, 70-69, and racing past Western Michigan, 73-64.

After the break, Detroit extended its winning streak to five by winning a pair of conference games by double digits defeating Butler (72-60) and Valparaiso (68-52).  The Titans split their next six games before running off five-straight wins for the second time on the year.

The five-game hot streak featured a number of different kinds of victories from UDM downing Cleveland State on the road in a defensive game (50-43), while lighting it up on offensively in a win over Loyola (83-59). The Titans won another overtime game, this time against UIC (62-57) and overcame a slow start and a 12-point first half deficit to cruise past Milwaukee on the road, 62-48. Before that comeback, there was the historic game at Green Bay on Feb. 9 as Detroit accomplished something that will remain in Titan history forever. 

Detroit went into the Kress Events Center and ended Green Bay's perfect season (20-0) with a 70-58 victory. The win ended #9/9 Green Bay's school record 40-game regular season winning streak and its 36-game regular season winning streak over Horizon League teams. It was the fifth victory in Titan history against a ranked opponent – with the last three coming in the last four years under head coach Autumn Rademacher. It was also the first-ever win on the road against a ranked opponent in Titan history and the first win over a top-10 team since Dec. 5, 1981, when Detroit edged North Carolina State, 60-59.

“I can't say enough about what the team did that day,” said Rademacher. “Everyone will look and see the numbers Shareta and Senee put up, but to win that game is a team effort all around.”

Detroit would end the year with five wins in its last six games to take second in the Horizon League regular season. Riding a four-game winning streak into the conference championships, the Titans had a bye in round one and quickly dispatched Cleveland State in the quarterfinals, 79-43.

It was then off to the semifinals where UDM met up with a mirror image of itself in Wright State. The Titans were the No. 2 seed and the Raiders No. 3 with each team winning on its home court in the regular season. With both teams possessing a strong inside game and guards that can shoot, everyone was expecting the contest to come down to the wire.

Brown led the way with a game-high 30 points – including 19 in the second half – as the Titans ousted WSU, 78-70, to reach the title game. Jones tallied 13 points, a team-high five assists and three rebounds, while Shearer and junior Chanahl Putnam added 10 points apiece. It was a total team effort as UDM shot 49.1% from the field, including 53.6% in the second half, where they hit 15-of-28.

Detroit brought a six-game winning streak against nationally-ranked Green Bay and was out in front by as many as nine late in the first half and took a 30-27 advantage over the 10th-ranked Phoenix at the half. Unfortunately, Shearer suffered a knee injury early in the second stanza and the Titans could just not hold off the home team as they fell, 66-53, despite 22 points and nine rebounds from Brown.

Playing shorthanded, UDM made the short trek to Toledo for the WNIT, its first-ever WNIT appearance and the first postseason appearance since 1997. Once again, Detroit got up early, but just ran out of gas playing without its second leading scorer Shearer and the fantastic season came to an end, 59-49.

“It didn't end the way we wanted to, but all these players really played their heart out,” said Rademacher. “Shareta, Senee and Jalesa got a lot of the attention, but I can't speak about the importance of the play from Megan (Hatter), Yar, Demeisha, just everyone on our team. You can't have a year like this and not get everyone to play hard and practice hard and everyone is ready to work even harder to accomplish our goals next season.”