Box Score
Box Score (PDF)
Box Score (HTML)
Postgame Press Conference
Updated WBI Bracket

DETROIT (3/21/2013) -- Sophomore Shareta Brown broke the school record with her seventh career 30-point game and Detroit was able to survive a ferocious second-half rally from Belmont as the top-seeded Titans downed the eighth-seeded Bruins, 71-68, on Thursday night in Calihan Hall in the first round of the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI).

With the win, Detroit will now face fifth-seeded College of Charleston on Sunday at 2:00 p.m., at Calihan Hall. The event also saw the top-seeded team in the West Region Mercer fall to No. 8 McNeese State, giving UDM a home court advantage for the rest of the tournament, including the championship game next Saturday.

Brown finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds, her 26th career double-double. The 30 points was the seventh of her career, breaking Titan Hall-of-Famer Cassandra Pack's school record of six. She wasn't the only one with a record on the night as Detroit won its 13th game in historic Calihan Hall (13-1), tying for the most victories at home with the perfect 13-0 mark of the 1986-87 Titan team.

Senior Demeisha Fambro had 14 points and senior Yar Shayok tallied 11 points, six rebounds and tied her season-high with three blocks, her last swat the biggest of her career. Her 11 points also moved her to 13th in school history with 1,188.

Detroit (18-13) had a 19-point lead in the first half, but the Titans saw Belmont (18-14) take that completely away with a 41-18 spurt as the Bruins took a six-point lead, 57-51, with 8:39 left in the game.

Brown then started a 6-0 run with two free throws and back-to-back baskets by Fambro knotted the contest at 57-all. The teams then traded leads over the next minute and the game was tied again at 60-60 with 5:13 left when UDM started to take control with a 7-0 charge to jump ahead, 67-60, but the pesky squad from the Music City refused to go away, getting within one at 67-66 and again at 69-68 with just 41 seconds remaining.

The Titans then took possession of the ball and Fambro drove to the rim, but her layup was long and the Bruins crashed the glass for the rebound and called a timeout with only 15 seconds on the clock. Belmont then set up its last play as Adrienne Tarrence attempted a jumper from about six-feet away, but Shayok was there for the rejection and Detroit got the ball with one second showing. Freshman Destiny Lavita-Stephens then cemented the triumph, hitting a pair at the line for the three-point victory.

Freshman Rosanna Reynolds ended the game with four points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals. Junior Megan Hatter collected seven boards and netted four points, while Lavita-Stephens finished with five markers.

Detroit shot 39.6% in the contest and went to the free-throw line a season-high 31 times, connecting on a season-best 26 for 83.9%. Brown was a big factor in that hitting 13-of-15 from the charity stripe.

The Titans came out firing scoring the game's first seven points and then led 17-4 just nine minutes in. The defense did its part holding Belmont to just two of its first 12 from the field with a couple of turnovers.

The Bruins did start to chip away getting within seven, 19-12, but the Titans responded with a 14-2 run to take its biggest lead at 19 points, 33-14. Everyone was scoring during that surge as Fambro and Lavita-Stephens each hit three's, while Brown and Shayok tallied three points apiece, with Hatter's layup making it 33-14 with 3:14 left in the half.

Detroit did see Belmont get within 12 at the break, 35-23, but it was a half that saw the Titans shoot 43.5% from the field, while holding the Bruins to 26.1% (6-of-23), including 0-of-7 from the outside.

The Titans still had a double-digit lead early in the second period, 41-31, but the Bruins kept fighting, eventually tying the score at 49-49 midway through the stanza before taking their first lead of the day, 50-49 on a free throw. The lead then exchanged hands twice before Belmont scored six straight for a 57-51 lead.

The No. 1 seeded Titans will face the fifth-seeded College of Charleston Cougars on Sunday at 2:00 p.m., and a win would match UDM up with the winner of the No. 2 Pennsylvania and No. 3 Fairfield match-up in the WBI semifinals next Wednesday, Mar. 27, at 7:00 p.m.

If the Titans reach the championship, that title game would be on Saturday, Mar. 30, at 2:00 p.m., right here on Dick Vitale Court in Calihan Hall.

Game Notes:
This was the first career meeting between the two schools...This was the first Titan postseason win since defeating Ohio State, 54-49, in the Region 5 Tournament in 1981… With the men making the NIT, it marked the second-straight year that both the men and women were in the postseason for UDM… The Titans had six blocks for the second time in three games after not having more than four in its first 28 contests of the season…The game was the 123rd for Fambro, tying her with former teammate Lauren Allen (2008-12) for the third most in school history, behind Jalesa Jones' (2008-12) 127 and current Shayok's school record 129… Shayok now has 114 career blocks, fourth in school history and just 11 away from Nina Rouser's (1993-97) third-place total of 126… Brown is just 12 points away (1,243) from tying Shari Hill (1997-01) for 11th in school history in total points… Brown is also just one rebound away from tying Mandy Chandler (1987-91) for 10th place in school history with 586 rebounds… The 26-of-31 effort at the line was the most makes and attempts for Detroit since going 29-of-35 in a 70-55 road victory at #9/9 Green Bay last season…