GAMEDAY CENTRAL       Game Notes

Coach Rademacher Preview on TitansTV

DETROIT (11/21/2012) -- For the second-straight year, the Titans will enjoy Thanksgiving on the road as they will board a plane for Northridge, Calif., to compete in the Radisson Hotel Chatsworth Thanksgiving Basketball Tournament.

The two-day, two-game tournament will see Detroit open with nationally-ranked Penn State on Friday at 5:30 p.m. (EST) and face either host Cal State Northridge or South Alabama in the championship or consolation game on Saturday. Both games will take place at the Matadome.

Each game will feature live stats and live tweets from the Titan twitter account, but there will be no live webstream for any game that does not include the host team from Cal State Northridge.

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.

Detroit has won two in a row and comes into the tournament at 2-1. UDM downed in-state rival Eastern Michigan its last time out, 61-54, the second-straight game it has held an opponent to just 54 points. Sophomore Shareta Brown was the main offensive catalyst netting a career-high 34 points en route to sharing the HL Player of the Week honors. UDM also did a great job on the boards as five Titans grabbed at least five boards with Brown and seniors Yar Shayok and Demeisha Fambro pulling down seven apiece.

Penn State is 3-0 on the year after cruising past Lafayette at home, 75-34, last Sunday. The Nittany Lions are ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press Poll and No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

The other match-up of the tournament will feature South Alabama at 4-0 against the 2-1 Matadors. The victors of both games will play for the championship on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. (EST), while the consolation game is slated for a 3:00 p.m. (EST) tip.

THE DETROIT-PENN STATE SERIES
Detroit and Penn State have met just once and that was more than 30 years ago when the Titans dropped a 72-61 affair on the road to the Nittany Lions on Jan. 11, 1981.

Cheryl Williams led Detroit with a game-high 22 points, while Davida Boozer grabbed 10 rebounds, but PSU pulled away with 21 from Carol Walderman.

ABOUT THE NITTANY LIONS
Penn State comes into the game at 3-0 and ranked No. 6/7 in the nation. The Nittany Lions have two of those three wins at home, including a 75-34 victory their last time out against Lafayette on Sunday.

PSU returns nine letterwinners and four starters – including two All-Americans to a squad that was 26-7 last year and won the Big Ten regular season title at 13-3 in conference play. The Nittany Lions also advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2004.

Maggie Lucas is one of those All-Americans (Associated Press Honorable Mention) that is back and she leads the team in scoring at 18.3 points per game. Alex Bentley was a WBCA Honorable Mention All-American last season and is tallying 14.3 points, while Mia Nickson is averaging 10.7 points and 9.0 rebounds.

WE'RE GOING GOING BACK BACK TO CALI CALI
Detroit has made three trips to California in its history with the last coming during the 2001-02 season as the Titans fell to UC Irvine, 69-59, on Dec. 28 and at San Diego State, 70-56, on Dec. 30.

UDM was also in California for the Beach Classic at Long Beach State from Dec. 20-21, 1998, dropping a 79-61 contest to Oklahoma State and an 88-83 overtime decision to East Tennessee State.

The first Titan trip to the West Coast was from Dec.20-21, 1993, as UDM dropped a 94-82 affair to Duke before upending Cal State Fullerton, 90-75, at the Tribune Oakland Classic at Cal Berkley.

EARLY SEASON TOURNAMENTS
Detroit is 20-33 all-time in regular season tournaments in its history, but it has dropped its last seven 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.

HI WE'RE DETROIT, AND YOU ARE?
The Titans will see a few unfamiliar teams out in California as they have met Penn State and South Alabama just once, while never playing Cal State Northridge.

UDM is 0-1 against Penn State with that game back in 1981, while Detroit is 1-0 versus South Alabama earning that victory in 1999.

AGAINST THE CONFERENCES
The Titans are 32-40 all-time against the Big Ten, with their last victory coming against Michigan on the road in 2010, 67-48.

In fact, Detroit has actually dropped 21 of its last 22 games against current members of the Big Ten dating back to the 1997-98 season.

UDM is 1-0 all-time against current members of the Sun Belt with that win over South Alabama, while possessing a 1-3 mark against the Big West.

BROWN GOES FOR 34
Sophomore Shareta Brown posted her third career game of 30 or more points with a career-high 34 at Eastern Michigan her last time out.

The 34 points by Brown were the most by a Titan since Molly Peterman had 35 against UIC on Jan. 24, 2002, an 83-65 UDM victory.

The 34 are also tied for the eighth most by a Titan with Jeanie Hill holding the record with 42 against Northern Illinois on Feb. 15, 1997.

Her two other 30-point games were 31 at Loyola and 30 in the Horizon League Semifinals victory over Wright State last season.

BACK TO HER GAME
After coming off the bench for most of last season - and making the most of it by earning the HL Sixth Player of the Year - senior Yar Shayok has transitioned back to the starting line-up in great form.

She is currently leading the team in rebounding (9.3), including a 14-rebound effort against Canisius last week. The 14 caroms marked the 38th time in her career that she has pulled down at least 10 boards in a game.

ALL-TIME AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
Detroit has played 11 ranked teams since Autumn Rademacher returned to her alma mater as head coach in 2008 and has recorded three wins.

During the 2008-09 season, Detroit took down No. 23 Georgia at home, 70-66, while during the 2009-10 season, UDM beat No. 22 Green Bay, 71-55, also in Calihan Hall. The Titans then downed No. 9/9 Green Bay 70-58 triumph on the road last year.

Titans Against Ranked Teams In Rademacher's Tenure
W - 70-66 over No. 23 Georgia, Nov. 22, 2008
L - 71-62 to No. 10 Michigan State, Nov. 15, 2009
L - 66-42 at No. 9 Georgia, Dec. 22, 2009
L - 71-46 at No. 18 Green Bay, Jan. 9, 2010
W - 71-55 over No. 22 Green Bay, Feb. 4, 2010
L - 82-42 to No. 25/22 Michigan St, Nov. 21, 2010
L - 69-62 at No. 21 Green Bay, Dec. 31, 2010
L - 68-48 vs. No. 15/12 Green Bay, Mar. 5, 2011
L - 68-59 vs. No. 14/12 Green Bay, Jan. 14, 2012
W - 70-58 at No. 9/9 Green Bay, Feb. 9, 2012
L - 66-53 at No.10/10 Green Bay, Mar. 11, 2012

UDM is 5-45 all-time against ranked teams in its history with four of the wins coming in the Motor City.

Besides the aforementioned victories over Green Bay and Georgia, the Titans defeated No. 3 Kansas on Feb. 14, 1981, and No. 9 North Carolina State, 60-59, on Dec. 5, 1981.

ALL-TIME VS. TOP 10
Three of the Titans' five career wins against ranked opponents have been against programs ranked in the top 10, and they are 3-13 all-time against top-10 squads.

Detroit last defeated a top-10 team last year when it went into the Kress Events Center and came away with a 70-58 victory over No. 9/9 Green Bay.

REYNOLDS ON THE MARK
Freshman Rosanna Reynolds has taken over the point guard duties for Detroit and leads the team with 10 assists through the first three games.

She has a pair of four-assist efforts already and had four helpers with no turnovers at Eastern Michigan.

In terms of scoring, Reynolds netted a season-high 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting against Canisius.

YAR ETCHES HER NAME IN SCHOOL RECORD BOOK
Senior Yar Shayok is currently second in school history with 880 rebounds, and unless she has one of the greatest rebounding years in NCAA history, she will leave UDM in second place as she trails Cheryl Williams (1,368) for the top spot.

Shayok is also seventh in Titan history with 88 blocks and is just one away from Lydia Johnson (1978-80) for sixth and three in back of Nicole Anaejionu's (2001-04) 91 for fifth.

If she gets by those two, she will then aim for fourth place, currently at 126 by Nina Rouser (1993-97).

In her career, she is averaging 8.7 rebounds and has 38 games with double-digit rebounds, including 17 as a redshirt freshman and 16 as a sophomore. She pulled down 10.2 rpg., as a sophomore, a number that ranks fourth among the single-season records at UDM.

Shayok has earned a number of awards in her career, including the Horizon League Sixth Player of the Year in 2012, the HL Newcomer of the Year and All-League Second Team in 2010 and All-Defensive Team in 2011.