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VALPARAISO, Ind. (2/28/2015) -- A balanced scoring attack and some great defense added up to a road victory as the University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team led from start to finish in a 78-57 victory at Valparaiso on Saturday afternoon.
 
The win improved Detroit to 11-16 overall and 6-8 in the Horizon League, while the loss dropped Valparaiso to 6-21, 2-12 in league play. The win also assured the Titans that they would not finish ninth like the Horizon League Preseason Poll had them picked.
 
Sophomore Haleigh Ristovski and freshman Nicole Urbanick tied for the team lead with 17 points, a season high for Urbanick. Freshman Darianne Seward tallied 12 points, tied her season high with eight rebounds and handed out a season-best six assists.
 
Freshman Brianne Cohen posted season highs with 15 points, four steals and three assists and redshirt sophomore Rosanna Reynolds netted 11 points with five helpers.
 
The Titans came out on fire to start the game scoring six-straight points and forcing Valparaiso to call a timeout. Valparaiso cut it to one, 8-7, but the Titans then went on an 8-0 run fueled by 3-pointers from Urbanick and Ristovski.
 
Detroit extended its advantage to 12 points, 22-12, with 11:02 left in the half as Seward and Ristovski had back-to-back baskets. Valpo trimmed the lead down to just four, 26-22, at the 6:43 mark, but the red, white and blue ended the half on an 18-6 spurt.
 
Urbanick started the charge with a trey. After a Crusdares' basket, Cohen had a layup and the next time down the floor off a block from Cohen, Reynolds found Urbanick who buried a three. The Titans then went up 37-24 as Seward stole the ball and found Urbanick running the court and she laid it in and was fouled, converting three free throw for the old fashioned three-point play.
 
Detroit regained a 14-point lead, 40-26, as Reynolds hit a three-pointer at the 2:45 mark and went into the half up 16, 44-28, with Reynolds adding a jumper with less than 20 seconds left.
 
UDM shot 54.3 percent (19-of-35) in the first half and was 5-of-12 from behind the arc, while holding the Crusaders to just 36.4 percent and 1-of-10 from three. The defense also forced eight turnovers and had six steals and three blocks.
 
Valparaiso tried to get back in it in the second half scoring five quick points to cut the Titan lead to 44-33, but Cohen stopped that with a layup.  It was an 11-point game at 46-35, but Ristovski and Urbanick hit back-to-back triples to put UDM ahead, 52-35, at the 16:48 mark.
 
A three by Ristovski pushed the lead to 20, 59-39, with 13:06 left and the Titans kept the foot on the gas, opening as high as a 25-point lead down the stretch.
 
Ristovski, Reynolds and Urbanick all had four boards apiece, while freshman Chea Taylor totaled four points, four caroms and a steal.
 
Detroit ended up shooting 50 percent for the game (33-of-66) and 9-of-19 (47.4%) from three-point range, with 17 assists on its 33 baskets. The Titans also saw Valparaiso commit 16 turnovers turning those into 18 points. UDM recorded a season-best 13 steals and held Valpo to 32.8 percent from the field (21-of-64) and 17.6 percent (3-of-17) from three.
 
The Titans will now travel to Wisconsin for the final two games of the regular season as they still have their sights set on a home playoff game. UDM will meet Milwaukee in a key game on Wednesday, March 4, and end the regular season at Green Bay next Saturday, March 7.
 
Game Notes:
Detroit now leads the overall series, 13-9… UDM stopped a two-game road slide at the ARC and also scored more points early in the second half (56) then it had in its previous four games at the ARC (44, 53, 48, 46)… The Titans shot 50.0 percent for the third time this season, all in the last six games… The win was No. 100 for head coach Autumn Rademacher '97, who is already Detroit's career leader in that category… The Titans had five players in double figures for the third time this year and the first since defeating Madonna, 76-47, in early December… Cohen's previous career high was seven against Wright State and Madonna… Urbanick's previous career high was 12 done three times… Detroit's 13 steals was the most since tallying 14 against Lawrence Tech on Nov. 11, 2013… UDM came into the game second in the Horizon League with just 13.1 turnovers per game and had a season-best six today…