Box Score (in pdf)

Detroit's women's basketball team, a third seed, dropped a 69-55 decision to #2 Butler in a Speedway Horizon League Championship Semi-Final match-up Friday evening at the Kress Center in Green Bay, WI.

Sophomore Yar Shayok (Ottawa, ON/Hillcrest) led the Titans in both rebounding and scoring as she collected her 10th double-double of the season with 11 rebounds, along with a game second-best 19 points after shooting 8-of-12 from the field. Sophomore Jalesa Jones (Detroit, MI/Pershing) also scored in double figures with 11 points and dished out a team-high six assists, while freshman Demeisha Fambro (Detroit, MI/Crockett Tech) came off the bench to add nine points.

Detroit had its largest lead of five in the opening minutes of the game after sophomore Lauren Allen (Rochester, MI/Rochester) hit a midrange jumper with help from Jones to put the score at 7-2. Butler tied it at 15 at the 11-minute mark after senior Susan Lester hit one of Butler's 10 3-pointers of the game and, after two made free throws from junior Tayler Langham (Plymouth, MI/Salem), the Bulldogs (23-8) took the lead and maintained it the rest of the contest. After a 1-of-2 showing at the line for Lester, BU had a 38-25 advantage at the break.

Down 14 with just under 12 minutes remaining in the second stanza, Detroit (17-14) scored seven unanswered points, which included five from Fambro to put the score at 52-45. The Titans then went on another scoring spurt and pulled within six at the 3:52 mark after senior Brigid Mulroy (West Bloomfield, MI/Marian) nailed one from long range to put the score at 57-51, but that was the closest UDM would get the remainder of the contest.

Lester came off the bench to end with a game-high 20 points, while BU senior Melanie Thornton, the 2009-10 Horizon League Player of the Year, was held to just nine points, but pulled down a game-best 13 rebounds.

The Titans now own a 7-8 overall record as the #3 seed and are now 2-3 against Butler in the conference championship.