Gameday Central
Game Notes vs. Rhode Island

DETROIT (11/27/2013) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team will celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday in some warmer weather as the Titans travel down South to Florida for Florida Atlantic's Thanksgiving Classic from Nov. 29-30. UDM will open the event with a game against Rhode Island at FAU Arena on Friday at 2:30 p.m.

Depending on the result of the game, the Titans will either face host Florida Atlantic or Georgia Southern on Saturday.

Titan fans can follow every UDM game this season through the women's basketball GAMEDAY CENTRAL page located on the Titans Athletic Website that will keep fans one click away from all the action. This page will feature links for live stats (audio and video when applicable) as well as links for all the latest info while also making it easy to find the Titans on social media and to purchase photos and game tickets. The Game Day Central page also carries all the information on each opponent from who is leading the all-time series to who won the last game.

Live stats will be provided for every game, but live video will only be available for the contests involving FAU, and that will be with a paid subscription.

Detroit is looking to end a four-game slide as it heads to Florida with a 1-5 record. UDM nearly came back to beat Ball State its last time out as senior Senee Shearer had 28 and both senior Megan Hatter and junior Ellisha Crosby posted double-doubles, but the Titan comeback fell short, 80-74.

Shearer leads the team in scoring and is fourth in the Horizon League at 18.5 points per game, while ranking first with 19 three-point field goals - also 30th in the nation. Crosby has three double-doubles on the year and ranks second on the team and eighth in the HL in scoring (15.0), while leading the team and in rebounding (7.8).

After the tournament, the Titans will come back to the Midwest to play in another event, the Toledo Classic, as UDM meets the Rockets on Friday, Dec. 6, and Chicago State on Dec. 7.

DETROIT VS. RHODE ISLAND,
This will be the first career meeting between Detroit and the University of Rhode Island.

ABOUT THE RAMS
Rhode Island will be looking for its first win of the season after dropping five straight to begin the year, although the last four have been by eight points or less.

Tayra Melendez leads the team in scoring at 15.0 points per game to go with 3.6 rebounds per contest. She has taken 64 shots – nearly double the amount of the next player - while her 25 made field goals, six 3-pointers and 19 free throws all lead the team.

Kerry Wallack tops the team with 6.2 rebounds, while Sydney Lewis is pulling down 6.0 rpg.

The Rams are averaging 53.2 points and allowing 62.0 through the first five games.

URI was picked last in the Atlantic 10 preseason coaches' poll, but did come into the season returning 87% of its offense from a year ago, including four of its top five scorers.

EARLY SEASON TOURNAMENTS
Detroit is 20-36 all-time in regular season tournaments, but it has dropped its last 10 games in tournament action.

The last win by Detroit in a regular season tournament was against New Hampshire, 54-50, at the Lady Luck Classic in Blacksburg, Va., in 2006.

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.

DO I KNOW YOU?
The Titans will see a few unfamiliar teams in Florida over Thanksgiving Break as they have never played Rhode Island, Georgia Southern or host Florida Atlantic.

FUN IN THE SUN
UDM is making a trip to Florida for the second-straight year after dropping a game at South Florida last season, 74-60, on New Year's Eve.

Prior to that, Detroit had not been in the Sunshine State since 2002.

AGAINST THE ATLANTIC 10
Detroit is 26-30 all-time against current members of the Atlantic 10 conference, which includes four former Horizon League/MCC members in Dayton, Duquesne, La Salle and Saint Louis.

The last time UDM took on an A-10 team was in another in-season tournament as the Titans dropped a 77-70 overtime decision to Saint Joseph's in New Orleans in 2010.

AGAINST THE C-USA, SOCON
If Detroit faces Georgia Southern on Saturday, it will be just the second current member of the Southern Conference that the Titans will ever face. UDM is 1-1 all-time against Western Carolina with a home win in 2005 and a road loss in 2007.

If the Titans face Florida Atlantic, it will be the seventh career meeting between the red, white and blue and Conference USA. Detroit is 3-3 against current members of the league going 1-1 against East Carolina and Tulane, 1-0 over Marshall and 0-1 against Texas-San Antonio.

VERSUS THE OCEAN STATE
The Titans have actually squared off against two schools from the state of Rhode Island in Brown (1-0) and Providence (1-2), but have never traveled to the state.

UDM hooked up with Brown in 1994 in a tournament in East Lansing, Mich., while the Titans hosted the Friars in 1980 and then faced them in Houston in 1985 and in Puerto Rico in 1997.

VERSUS THE PEACH & SUNSHINE STATE
UDM is 1-3 all-time against schools from Georgia with all four games against the Bulldogs, while the Titans are 9-4 all-time against teams from Florida.

ID PLEASE
The Titans will be extremely young this season with six freshmen and nine underclassmen in uniform and even younger with sophomore Rosanna Reynolds sidelines.

UDM also has two other players who have played just one collegiate season as they begin their junior year academically, and just two seniors dot the roster in Senee Shearer (86 games, 52 starts) and Megan Hatter (93 games, 53 starts).

In fact, if you look at the entire roster, Shearer and Hatter's 179 combined career games played are 28 more than the total of everyone else who has played in college at any level: Rosanna Reynolds (37), Ellisha Crosby (36), Tayelor McCalister (23), Brie Wilcox (15), DaVonna Bradford (12), Lindsey Connors (6), Reyna Montgomery (6), Haleigh Ristovski (6), Minisha Frederick-Childress (5), and Megan Galloway (5).

YOUNG'INS
Just to follow up on the young Titans, Detroit started two freshmen at Michigan State in Lizzy Connors and Megan Galloway and once again against Ball State with Reyna Montgomery and Haleigh Ristovski getting the assignment.

In fact at a few times this year, UDM has had four freshmen and a first-year transfer on the court during certain stretches of games.

SHE'S A SHOOTER
Senior Senee Shearer tallied a game-high 28 points against Ball State, tying her career high with six 3-pointers. The 28 points marked her second 20-point game of the season and the 10th of her career.

Earlier in the year, she poured in a game and career-high 29 points against Western Michigan on Nov. 14, going 9-of-17 from the field, 4-of-9 from three and 7-of-12 from the charity stripe.

The 29 points eclipsed the 24 she had at WMU as a sophomore.

Shearer currently leads the team and is fourth in the Horizon League in scoring at 18.5 points per game, while ranking first with 19 three-point field goals - also 30th in the nation.

ELLISHALICIOUS
Mark it down as another double-double for junior Ellisha Crosby as she recorded her third of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds against Ball State her last time out.

She also tallied 24 points (10-23 FG) and a career-best 12 rebounds at Western Michigan on Nov. 14 and started the season with 15 points and 11 boards at Canisius.

Her collegiate high is 25 as a freshman when she was at Cornerstone University in a game against Northwestern Ohio in 2011.

Crosby's three double-double is tied for second in the Horizon League and 17h in the nation.

She also ranks second on the team and eighth in the HL in scoring (15.0), while leading the team and ninth in the conference in rebounding (7.8).

SHEARER MOVING UP
After tying her career high with six 3-pointers, senior Senee Shearer now has 153 career 3-pointers, seventh in Titan history.

Shearer is just seven away from sixth place and Brigid Mulroy's ('10) 160.

She will have a chance at the top spot trailing Titan head coach Autumn Rademacher '97 by 54 (201) for second and school record-holder Michelle James '02 by 70 (217).

Shearer also has 773 career points and if she keeps up her scoring pace, Shearer will most likely become the 19th player in school history to top 1,000 career points.

ANOTHER CAREER MARK
Senior Senee Shearer might have started the season a bit slow hitting just 12-of-21 at the free throw line (57.1%), but she is now 12 for her last 14 (85.7%) moving her career free throw percentage to 75.8%, seventh in school history.

HAT'S OFF TO YOU
Senior Megan Hatter is coming off her best game of the season as she recorded her first career double-double with a season-high 14 points and career-best 11 rebounds against Ball State. She was actually scoreless with just two caroms in the first half of that game.

Hatter has four games this season - and 25 in her career - with five or more rebounds and is currently second on the squad in rebounding at 5.5 per night.

MY BALL
Detroit has forced 105 turnovers through the first six games, with 26 against Lawrence Tech and 21 in the season opener at Canisius.

The 26 turnovers were the most by an opponent since Jan. 31, 2009 when Wright State committed 32.

UDM also has 52 steals in that span with 14 against Lawrence Tech.

The 14 thefts were the most since taking 14 against Cleveland State in the quarterfinals of the HL Championship in 2012, a 79-43 win.

HOISTING UP A RECORD
Detroit tied a school record earlier in the year with 31 three-point attempts in the season opener at Canisius, but the Titans took that to a new level with a new standard of 33 against Ball State on Nov. 23, 2013. UDM finished with a season-high 10 three-pointers in the contest.

Last season, UDM attempted a school record 661 three-pointers, breaking the record of 593 thrown up during the 2005-06 season.

UDM was also close to setting a record for makes with 210, three away from the 213 it hit during the 2005-06 campaign.

A BOUNCE IN HER STEP
Sophomore DaVonna Bradford is coming off the best game of her career with four points and a career-high eight rebounds in just 15 minutes of action against Ball State.

Bradford had just 11 career boards coming into the game.

OK GALLOWAY
Titan freshman Megan Galloway did not play in the season opener at Canisius and saw limited minutes against Lawrence Tech, but the rookie has done the job in her last four games.

She had a great game against Ball State with four points, a season-high seven rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes of action.

At Western Michigan, Galloway had six points and six rebounds in just 13 minutes - all in the second half - and also had the first and block of the year for the Titans.

She earned her first career start against Michigan the following game and posted a four-point, five-rebound effort at nationally-ranked Michigan State.

RISTOVSKI PROTECTING THE BALL
A lot of freshmen have trouble with turnovers, but Titan rookie Haleigh Ristovski is doing a good job of protecting the ball in limited minutes.

She is currently tied for second on the team with 13 assists and tops the squad with a 13-2 assist-to-turnover ratio. She handed out a season-best four assists in the close setback against Ball State.

Ristovski has also done a good job on the glass averaging 3.8 rebounds per game, with a season-high eight caroms against Michigan.

The rookie is now third on the team with 4.2 rebounds per game and has nine assists on the season against just one turnover.

HOLDING THEIR OWN
While the Titans feature a guard-oriented roster and offense, they have held their own in the paint being edged by just two, 176-174, so far on the season.