The Basics
Final Score: Detroit Mercy 80, Oakland 71
Records: Detroit Mercy 7-7 (3-0 HL), Oakland 8-6 (2-1 HL)
Location: Rochester, Mich. (O'Rena)
ROCHESTER, Mich. (1/7/2017) -- The Titans are 3-0 in the Horizon League for the first time since 2004-05 and they beat their rivals on the road to get there.
Using an overwhelming fourth quarter and getting clutch stops and baskets when it mattered, the University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team improved to 3-0 in the Horizon League with an 80-71 road victory at rival Oakland on Saturday.
The Titans out-scored their #MetroSeries rivals by a 27-12 margin in the final quarter. The win was the second in as many years at the O'Rena under second-year head coach
Bernard Scott.
Detroit Mercy (7-7 overall) became just the fourth Titan women's basketball team to start the conference season 3-0 and first since the 2004-05 campaign.
Senior guard
Rosanna Reynolds scored a game-high 32 points, just one off her career-high and added a season-high 10 rebounds for her second-straight double-double and 14th career. She was 10-of-14 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line, adding three assists. She moved into fifth place on the all-time scoring list (1,466 points) early in the contest, passing Titan Hall of Famer Lisa Blackburn. It was Reynolds' third career 30-point game and second this season.
Forward
Kelsey Mitchell added a career-best 16 points and five blocks off the bench, while junior guard
Nicole Urbanick had 11 points, sinking three triples. Senior forward
Haleigh Ristovski added five points, nine rebounds, four steals and four assists, while junior forward
Brianne Cohen had eight points and two blocks for the Titans.
After earning a 39-33 halftime advantage, behind a 21-15 edge in the second quarter, Detroit Mercy found themselves down six, 59-53, entering the final quarter.
Undeterred, Detroit Mercy opened the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run to quickly re-gain the lead. Cohen opened the quarter with two-straight buckets and Reynolds sank a jumper in the paint to tie the game, 59-59, with 7:56 left.
Haleigh Ristovski then gave the Titans to lead, 61-59, with a lay-up and Reynolds followed with a lay-up of her own to put Detroit Mercy up 63-59.
After a lay-up by Oakland's Taylor Jones, the Titans came right back with Urbanick hitting a 3-pointer from the corner on an assist from
Gracie Roberts. Cohen then would sink two free throws as Detroit Mercy went up seven points, 68-61, with 5:14 remaining.
The Golden Grizzlies would cut the Titan lead to four points with 3:05 left, but Urbanick immediately hit another trey from Roberts, giving the Titans a 73-66 advantage with 2:56 on the clock. Urbanick added two free throws just over a minute later with Detroit Mercy taking a 75-68 lead.
Jones, who led Oakland with 20 points, converted on a 3-point play with 1:06 left to pull OU to within four, 75-71, but it would be the last bucket the Golden Grizzlies would convert on. Detroit Mercy's stout defense forced Oakland into tough shots in the final minute and OU missed their final four shot attempts.
The Titans sank 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute -- with Reynolds sinking all four of her attempts -- and the game was never in question the rest of the way.
The beginning of the game was back-and-forth with each team scoring 18 points in the first quarter. Reynolds scored the first five points of the second quarter -- on a 3-pointer and lay-up -- and Detroit Mercy held the advantage throughout the entire second stanza.
Haleigh Ristovski converted on a triple with 1:38 left before halftime to help stake the Titans to a six-point halftime lead.
Mitchell and Reynolds combined for 24 points in the first half and freshman guard
Anja Marinkovic tallied all seven of her points during the second quarter for the red, white and blue.
Reynolds barely missed in the second half, going 5-for-5 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free throw line, totaling 20 points after halftime. The Titans shot 44.0 percent in the second half, including 61.5 percent (8-of-13) in the final stanza. Detroit Mercy also held Oakland to just 2-of-16 shooting (12.5 percent) in the last quarter.
Detroit Mercy was sharp from the free throw line, sinking 22-of-27 (81.5 percent). It was the fifth-straight contest in which the Titans have shot 40 percent or better from the floor and third-straight that Detroit Mercy has scored more than 80 points.
The Titans recorded eight blocks in the contest, including a career-high five by Mitchell. She had four blocks earlier in the year against Western Michigan.
With the victory, the Titans also evened up the #MetroSeries standings, earning two points to pull to 5-5 with Oakland.
Titan News & Notes
• The Titans also started 3-0 during the 1996-97 and 1986-87 seasons.
• Detroit Mercy improved to 2-1 against Oakland under coach Scott.
• The Titans are 14-10 all-time against the Golden Grizzlies.
• Reynolds also scored 30 points against Eastern Michigan this season, while her career-high of 33 points came at Fort Wayne in 2014-15.
• The season-high 10 boards was Reynolds' 11th career game of 10 or more rebounds.
•
Kelsey Mitchell has scored in double figures in all three HL games this season.
• Mitchell's career best was 15, done twice, including against UIC on Dec. 31.
• Urbanick has connected on three or more 3-pointers in her past four games.
•
Haleigh Ristovski's four steals was a season-high.
• It was the third game this season of eight or more blocks as a team.
• Coach Scott is 14-7 all-time in Horizon League contests.
• Detroit Mercy is averaging 87.6 points per contest in Horizon League play.
Up Next
Detroit Mercy prepares for a trip to Wisconsin next week, visiting Green Bay on Wednesday, Jan. 11 for an 8 p.m. ET game. The Titans then play Milwaukee at 12 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 13.
