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NORTHRIDGE, Calif. (11/23/12) -- Playing some tough, hardnosed, blue-collar basketball, the Detroit Titans battled No. 6/7 Penn State all game before falling, 80-72, to the Lady Lions on Friday afternoon in the first game of the Radisson Hotel Chatsworth Thanksgiving Basketball Tournament.

The event is taking place at Cal State Northridge at the Matadome.

Sophomore Audrey Matteson led the Titans (2-2) with 20 points – her first career 20-point game. Sophomore Shareta Brown posted her 13th career double-double with 16 points and a game and season-high 15 rebounds, while senior Demeisha Fambro added a season-high 17 points.

Penn State (4-0) – the highest ranked opponent the Titans have faced since No. 1/1 Duke on Dec. 27, 2002 - looked like it had solved Detroit opening a double-digit lead at 58-45 with 12:43 left, but the Titans would trim that down to seven, 60-53. Matteson had back-to-back 3-pointers during that spurt, while junior Megan Hatter connected on a jumper to get the red, white and blue within seven with 9:53 remaining.

The nationally-ranked Lady Lions were then able to stave off that Titan charge and run their lead back to a game-high 14 points, 71-57, with 3:39 left, but Detroit would not go away easy cutting that deficit down to just six. Brown started the run with two free throws and then off a steal by Matteson, Fambro nailed one from behind the arc to get UDM within nine, 71-62. After Penn State came up scoreless on its next possession, freshman Rosanna Reynolds found Matteson for one of her team-high six assists and the second-year guard drained a trey to pull the Titans to 71-65 at the 3:01 mark.

Detroit would get within six on two more occasions, but a turnover with 2:05 left led to a PSU 3-pointer and then the Lady Lions would hit four free throws down the stretch to earn the victory.

Reynolds ended the game with 10 points and a season-high six assists, while senior Yar Shayok pulled down 10 rebounds and had seven points. Matteson – who tied her career-best with four 3-pointers in the contest - added five rebounds and four assists and Fambro also corralled six caroms.

Detroit outrebounded top-10 Penn State, 46-31, while shooting 42.6% from the field with eight treys. UDM was also 18-of-22 (81.8%) from the free throw line.

It started out all Penn State at first as PSU had an 11-4 lead not even three minutes into the contest.

The Titans responded though and would come back to take a 21-19 lead with 10:18 left in the period. That lead came off the hands of Matteson and Reynolds, who both nailed 3-pointers to put UDM in front. The Titans would go on to take two more leads in the next few minutes – with PSU tying the score each time but never jumping ahead - as layups by Matteson and Fambro kept the Titans in front.

Penn State would eventually get the advantage back at 27-25, but that is when the red, white and blue scored seven-straight to take its largest lead of the contest, 32-27, with 5:13 remaining in the period. The Titan defense was keeping the Lady Lions off the glass and they were winning every loose ball as a trey by Shayok made it 28-27, and that was followed by a Fambro layup and two free throws from Shayok.

Penn State would end the half on a 15-6 run to regain the lead going into the break, 42-38. In that first half, Detroit won the rebounding battle, 24-15.

All-American candidate Maggie Lucas led PSU with 28 points, while Ariel Edwards had 24.

UDM will now face South Alabama (4-1) in the consolation game tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. (EST).

Notes:
This was the second career meeting between the two schools with Penn State winning the first match-up, 72-61, back in 1981… UDM is now 5-46 all-time against ranked teams – and 3-14 against the top 10 - but three of those wins have come in the last five years under Coach Rademacher…With her seven points, Shayok now has 933 in her career, passing Titan great Cheryl Day (928) for 19th in school history… Matteson also had four 3-pointers at Michigan… Fambro's 17 points were the most since she had 18 against #14/12 Green Bay last season…Brown's double-double and her 15 rebounds were the most since she tallied 20 points and 15 boards at Valparaiso in last year's regular-season finale…It is the sixth time in Brown's career that she has made at least 10 free throws in a game… Reynolds has played at least 39 minutes in all four games this season... The 3-pointer by Shayok in the first half was the sixth of her career and her first since last year against Howard on Nov. 19, 2011, a span of 34 games…The 80 points were the most allowed by Detroit since Wright State had 91 last season on Feb. 16.