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With just eight seconds left in the game, Detroit junior Heather Hatter (Howell, MI/Howell) faced a one-and-one situation and she sank both attempts to help secure UDM's 70-66 win over #23 Georgia Saturday afternoon in Autumn Rademacher's head coaching debut at Calihan Hall.
Since the conference changed its name to the Horizon League (2001-02), the Titans are 1-11 against ranked teams with March 7, 2007 the last time Detroit faced a team that was ranked (#22 Green Bay). The last time UDM hosted a ranked team was #17 DePaul on Dec. 15, 2006.
“I told the ladies that if they could pull this victory off, it would be something that they would remember for their lifetime," said Rademacher. "I also said to them that if we win this game today, we will be on the ticker tonight. So, apparently they wanted to be on national television.
"Going into the game I knew that Georgia was a good team and we were going to have an up-hill battle playing against them, but we were successful."
With 9:49 remaining in the game, Detroit (1-2) pushed its lead to 10 for the second time after freshman Lauren Allen (Rochester Hills, MI/Rochester) made one of her five field goals of the night to have the scoreboard read, 54-44.
"It was hard to contain Georgia's guards because they wanted to shoot a lot of three pointers, but we had to play smart and maintain our composure," added Allen. "This win was very exciting and it is a great way to get the home season started."
Georgia (2-1) was able to tie the score at 64 with a minute and a half left after junior Ashley Houts netted a 2-pointer, but the Titans regained their lead and never looked back. In the closing minute, UDM senior Zemora Davis (Detroit, MI/Community), who scored a game-high 20 points, hit a key jumper and the Titans were 4-of-4 from the line to help clinch the 4-point victory over nationally-ranked Georgia.
"Anytime I got the ball tonight, I felt like I had to be a senior leader on the floor," commented Davis. "We are supposed to protect our home court no matter what caliber of a team comes in here and plays, which is something we were able to accomplish against nationally-ranked Georgia."
In the first half, Detroit senior Sandi Brown (Toledo, OH/Start) netted a 2-pointer to give the Titans a four-point advantage (21-17) with just under 10 minutes left in the stanza. Brown added two more points about a minute later and junior Brigid Mulroy (Birmingham, MI/Marian) then collected a 2-point bucket to keep Detroit in the lead (25-21) over the Bulldogs. Georgia sophomore Angela Puleo hit one from long range to tie the game at 32 with 31 seconds left, but Mulroy responded as she nailed a trey with eight seconds on the clock to send the Titans into the break with a 3-point advantage (35-32).
“Getting this win is just awesome and words cannot really describe how I feel right now," said Davis. "This is something that we can always look back at and know that we were a part of history, which is something to be proud of.”
Allen collected her first career double-double with a team third-best 13 points and tied for a game-high 11 rebounds, all of which were on the defensive end. Mulroy set a new career-high with a team second-best 15 points after shooting 60 percent from the field and also added a personal-best six caroms for the Titans. UDM freshman Jalesa Jones (Detroit, MI/Detroit Pershing) tied for a game-high six assists, while Allen dished out a team second-best five helpers for the Titans.
Georgia sophomore Porsha Phillips also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Houts scored a team-high 17 points. Redshirt junior Angel Robinson came off the bench to tally a double-double with 14 points and tied Allen in rebounds with 11.
Detroit shot 48 percent on the night (29-of-61), while the Bulldogs had a 28-of-76 showing from the field (37 percent). Georgia had a 48-34 advantage on the boards, while the Titans had 14 turnovers to the Bulldogs' 17. Robinson was the only Bulldog to go to the line (4-of-4), while the Titans ended the night with an 8-of-12 showing at the charity stripe.
Heading into this match-up, the Titans' last win over a Southeastern Conference member school was on Nov. 23, 1979 when Detroit captured an 84-76 victory over Louisiana State in Detroit. Before today's win, UDM had lost 13-straight contests to SEC member schools.
The Titans will look to tack on another win when they host Indiana State on Nov. 25 at 7 p.m.
-Detroit Titans-
