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University of Detroit Mercy Athletics

shayok ball col of charleston 2013
Senior Yar Shayok totaled 23 points and 17 rebounds to help Detroit reach the WBI Final Four.

Women's Basketball

Detroit Cages Cougars To Move Into The WBI Semifinals

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DETROIT (3/24/2013) --
The Detroit women's basketball team used a 22-4 run midway through the game to race past the College of Charleston, 79-67, on Sunday afternoon as the top-seeded Titans advanced to the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) Semifinals. The win was the 14th of the season at home for UDM, setting a new school record.

Detroit (19-13) will now face second-seeded Penn (18-12) at Calihan Hall on Wednesday in the East Region Semifinals for the right to move into the championship game. On the other side of the bracket, No. 6 South Dakota will play No. 8 McNeese State and if the Titans defeat the Quakers, they will host the championship game on Saturday, Mar. 30, at 2:00 p.m.

Senior Yar Shayok had a monster game with a game-high 23 points and 17 rebounds, hitting 9-of-14 from the field, and tying her career high in boards. The 23 points were a season-high as she also tied her career-best for the third time with her work on the glass.

Sophomore Shareta Brown tallied 22 points on just 5-of-10 shooting, while connecting on 11-of-12 at the free throw line, and senior Demeisha Fambro added 10 points and a team-high six assists with six rebounds.

It was a high-scoring affair for the Titans right from the start as they totaled 41 points in the first half alone.

Brown did the damage early on with nine of UDM's first 11 points as Detroit took an 11-6 lead. The College of Charleston (16-16) cut that to three, 15-12, but back-to-back baskets by Shayok – who had 15 points and nine rebounds in the first half – put the Titans up by seven, 19-12.

Detroit would extend its lead to as many as 11, 34-23, with 4:07 left in the half as freshman Destiny Lavita-Stephens knocked down a three ball, but the Cougars fought back with an 11-2 run to trim the Titan lead to 36-34 at the 2:14 mark.

That is when Lavita-Stephens buried her third 3-pointer of the first half and Shayok ended the stanza on a layup to give UDM a seven-point lead at the intermission, 41-34.

Detroit shot 51.7% (15-of-29) in the first half and was a perfect 7-of-7 at the free throw line.

Detroit scored 11 of the first 13 points coming out of the locker room as Brown had the old fashioned three-point play and junior Senee Shearer sank a pair of 3-pointers as UDM was on a 16-2 run at that point to open a 52-36 lead.

UDM extended that spurt to 22-4 for a 58-38 advantage with 15:23 left and this time Fambro had a bucket and the free throw with freshman Rosanna Reynolds hitting from behind the arc.

The Titans kept their double-digit lead for the better part of the next 13 minutes of play, but the Cougars did have one final run left in them outscoring UDM 19-7 to get within seven, 72-65, with 1:51 remaining.

After a jumper from Brown, CofC added another basket to once again make it a seven-point game, 74-67, but Detroit hit five of its six free throws down the stretch to seal the win and put UDM into the WBI Final Four.

Reynolds finished with seven points, four assists, and three steals. Shearer added eight points and Lavita-Stephens had nine off the bench.

The Titans shot 46.4% with seven 3-pointers and ended the contest 20-of-23 from the charity stripe. UDM won the battle of the boards, 39-33, and came away with nine steals.

The Titans will host the Penn Quakers on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., on Dick Vitale Court, with the winner advancing to the WBI Championship on Saturday.

Game Notes:
This was the first career meeting between the two schools… Brown moved into 11th place in school history with 1,265 points and 10th in career rebounding with 591….The Titans scored 40 points in the first half for the eighth time this season… It was Shayok's 32nd career double-double… It was Shayok's fourth career 20-point game and the third this season and she moved into 13th place in school history with 1,211… UDM connected on at least 20 free throws for the second-straight game…The win was the 81st in head coach Autumn Rademacher's career… UDM's previous record for wins at home was 13 during the 1986-87 season.
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