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CHICAGO (2/23/13) -- The Detroit women's basketball team had a double-digit lead early, but the UIC Flames were able to overcome that as UDM dropped a 76-74 decision at the UIC Pavilion on Saturday.

Detroit (14-10, 7-5 HL) had a chance to take the lead late, but sophomore Shareta Brown's bid for the potential game winner with four seconds left was long.

Junior Senee Shearer had a team and season-high 21 points. Brown finished with 18 points and four rebounds, while senior Demeisha Fambro tallied 18 in the setback.

The Titans led by 11, 52-41, with 14:14 left in the game when UIC (9-16, 5-7 HL) went on a 13-2 run over the next five minutes to knot the score at 54-all. The teams then traded the lead over the next two minutes, but the Flames would jump out in front, 63-59, with 6:11 remaining.

UDM fought back to take the lead, 66-65, thanks to a three-point play from Brown, but UIC then had a three-point play of its own to go up by one at the 2:24 mark. The Titans kept pushing taking a lead with two Fambro free throws, but a UIC three once again had the red, white, and blue behind, 71-70, with 1:39 left.

Brown would then hit two from the charity stripe for another Titan lead and later off a timeout, a beautiful play drawn up by the coaching staff saw Brown fake a handoff to Shearer and give it to Fambro for a layup and a 74-73 advantage with 42 seconds to go. Detroit just could not get a stop on defense as UIC came up with a basket that proved to be the game winner with 20 seconds on the clock.

Freshman Rosanna Reynolds ended the game with 11 points and a team-high six assists. Sophomore Audrey Matteson had four points and five rebounds, while senior Yar Shayok recorded two points, three rebounds, and three helpers.

After turning it over 22 times at Loyola on Thursday, the Titans had just nine on this evening and shot 41.4% from the field and 83.3% (20-of-24) from the free-throw line.

Detroit scored the first five points of the game and led by nine, 13-4, just six minutes into the contest as Shearer was hot from the start with three triples en route to 17 first-half points. UDM fought for all the loose balls early and with Matteson coming off the bench for four points and three rebounds, the Titans led 19-8 at the 9:27 mark.

The Detroit defense was doing its part holding UIC to 4-of-20 from the field in the first 11 minutes of action, but the Flames would heat up with a couple of treys to close within three, 19-16. UDM shook off that charge and took a 28-21 lead with 4:43 left in the half, but UIC stormed back with nine-straight points to surge ahead, 30-28.

The red, white, and blue didn't take to giving up the lead very well and it was Shearer leading the way hitting two more from long range and another inside the arc. Reynolds was then able to move inside for a basket as the Titans ended the stanza with a 10-0 spurt to take a 38-30 lead at the break.

The loss leaves Detroit in a third-place tie with Loyola (12-13, 7-5HL) and a game behind Youngstown State (18-7, 8-4 HL) for second place with four games left. The top four teams in the Horizon League will play a home quarterfinals game in the Horizon League Championship.

The Titans will return to action on Thursday, Feb. 28, with a special "Red Out" game against the nationally-ranked Green Bay Phoenix. The tussle with Green Bay begins at 7:00 p.m., on Dick Vitale Court in Calihan Hall, where Detroit has won 15 in a row, tied for the eighth longest in the nation.

Game Notes:
Detroit leads the all-time series, 24-19… The Titans will now play three of their last four at home… UDM has won just once at the UIC Pavilion since 2004… Shearer had five treys for the second-straight game and the fourth time this season… Shearer also moved to eighth place in school history with 113 career triples, passing Catie Goodard (2002-06)… Fambro was a career-best 9-of-10 at the free throw line… It was the 15th time this season that Detroit has been to the line at least 20 times and the sixth time the Titans have made at least 20 of them… It was the eighth time in Shearer's career that she has reached the 20-point plateau.