During the 2012-13 season, DetroitTitans.com will give readers an inside look into the Titan women's basketball team, its players and its history. Up first is senior guard Demeisha Fambro.

Fambro Photo Gallery

Senior Demeisha Fambro worked hard all summer long and has just one goal in mind this year – to win a championship. Fambro has seen the Titans make two runs in the Horizon League Tournament, including last year's runner-up effort and a semifinals appearance in 2010, but after coming to Detroit with great expectations as an individual, the fourth-year guard just wants one thing now.

“The main focus is just to try and help us win more games this year than we did last year and win a championship,” said Fambro. “This year, we have a real good chance to win. We made it that far last year and we are a great and talented team, but that is a big motivation for us. I think it is our time and we need to work harder than we did to get back there.”

Fambro is off to one of her best starts in her career, scoring in double figures in four of the last five games, with some impressive performances tallying 17 against #6/7 Penn State, a season-high 18 versus Western Michigan and 17 in a road victory at Ohio. In that win over the Bobcats, she was the catalyst in the come-from-behind triumph going on a 9-0 run to help UDM end the first half on an 18-3 spurt and turn a seven-point deficit into an eight-point lead at the break.

She is currently third on the team in scoring with a career-high 11.3 ppg., and is also crashing the boards with 4.9 a night. Her 72 career 3-pointers is the second most among active players on the squad.

“I think that all parts of my game have improved. My speed, strength and overall perception of the game have improved and I feel that I am making good decisions on the court,” said Fambro. “In high school, I was the big scorer and I was always capable of scoring, but I needed to change the way I was doing things here in college. Things that I was doing in high school were fine then, but I needed to change for college and that was a bit of an adjustment.”

“She came in as a talented scorer,” said head coach Autumn Rademacher. “She has had her ups and downs and was behind a few kids that were getting a lot of playing time, but she has been able to come in this season and fill that spot and it's finally her turn.”

When Fambro committed to Detroit as a high school senior, the only thing Coach Rademacher could promise her was a chance to be part of a revival at UDM. After all, Fambro was being recruited at a time when the Titans were coming off two seasons in which they had combined to win just 11 games.

“Detroit wasn't at its best, but I remember that I came here to try and help put Detroit on the map. I just remember thinking that I could come here and help us beat Big Ten teams and win a lot of championships. I wanted to make us big and go to NCAA Tournaments, but once I got here, I realized all the work that needed to be put in to achieve that. I was looking at the big picture and not the process that you need to get there.”

And that process has taken UDM from last place in the Horizon League in 2007 to second place last year. The Titans won 20 games last season and made the WNIT, the first time since 1997 that UDM has reached the 20-win plateau and played in the postseason. Along the way, Fambro stood out with games of 21 at Ball State, 18 against #14/12 Green Bay and 13 versus Wright State and IPFW.

“She has such an athletic body and she is a big guard who is very fast,” said Coach Rademacher. “When recruiting her at first, I thought she was right handed for as much as she drives to the right and finishes with the right, but then she shot her free throw left handed. It was a unique situation and I saw that she can handle the ball with both hands and be a dominant scorer.”

In her career, Fambro has seen action in 101 career games with 17 starts, and is averaging 6.8 points per game. She has been in double figures in scoring 27 times and has three 20-point games, with her career-high of 25 against Ball State as a sophomore. While she is happy about her role on the team, it is the winning and complete turnaround of the program that has her most excited.

“It feels real good to be part of teams that have turned things around. I am just glad that I can produce the way I have been. It is all about my focus and preparation, something that I have really improved on in my time here. I knew that if I wanted to start, I had to produce and I feel that I just see the game a lot better now and I know that I have to get it going right from the start,” added Fambro.

The season is still young and Detroit is as talented as any team in the Horizon League, and it is recruits like Fambro who were brought in to help change the culture and restore the glory that has been one of the main reasons why UDM is seen as a championship contender this year.