The Basics
Final Score: Detroit 95, Wright State 93 (OT)
Records: Detroit 13-13 (9-6 HL), Wright State (20-7, 10-4 HL)
Location: Dayton, Ohio (Nutter Center)
DAYTON, Ohio (2/20/2016) -- Five players left. Foul trouble. Overtime on the road.
The University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team faced multiple odds in Saturday's game against Wright State, but just like all season, the Titans continued to show their fight, earning a 95-93 victory over the Raiders at the Nutter Center.
Detroit improved to 13-13 overall and 9-6 in the Horizon League. The Titans also improved to 6-2 in league road games under first-year head coach
Bernard Scott.
"That was a big win for us, the player's really grinded it out," Scott said after the game. "To finish the game with five players, three of them freshmen, against the second-best team in the league was huge for us. I am very happy with how hard we played, the energy we played with, and the way we just executed the game plan which helped us big time."
Rosanna Reynolds set a single-game Detroit record with 15 assists, while turning the ball over just once. Detroit had a season-low five turnovers, despite playing in its first overtime game of the year. It's the lowest turnover total in the Horizon League this season.
Reynolds blew past her career-best in helpers, notching her second 10-assist game of the season.
Nicole Urbanick led the Titans in scoring with 27 points, while
Brianne Cohen added a career-high 26 points off the bench for Detroit.
Haleigh Ristovski posted a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
The Titans played with five players for all of the overtime period after three Detroit players fouled out in the fourth quarter. The game was back-and-forth throughout, but Wright State led 66-62 entering the final quarter.
Detroit took over early in the fourth quarter, scoring seven straight points to take the lead, 69-66. Cohen scored consecutive buckets on assists from Reynolds and
Nicole Urbanick gave the Titans their first lead since the first quarter with a 3-pointer from the wing.
UDM increased its lead to six points after a
Lola Ristovski corner 3-pointer made it 74-68 with 6:38 left. Just half-a-minute later, Detroit was called for a questionable call on the defensive end, which resulted in
Haleigh Ristovski's fouling out of the game.
Undeterred, Detroit continued to fight against the Raiders. Urbanick and Reynolds hit back-to-back on jumpers to push the Detroit lead to five points, 78-73, with 5:16 left in the contest. WSU cut the Titans' lead to one, 81-80, with 2:35 remaining, but Reynolds' lay-up off the glass with 1:12 left gave UDM a three-point advantage, 83-80.
Neither team would score for nearly the next minute, until
Brianne Cohen was called for her fifth foul of the contest. WSU made good on 1-of-2 free throws to make the score 83-81 with 14 seconds left. Reynolds split a pair at the free throw line after the Raiders immediately fouled to give Detroit an 84-81 edge with 13 ticks left.
Wright State sank two free throws with six seconds left after
Chea Taylor was called for her fifth foul. WSU again fouled, putting
Lola Ristovski on the line and the freshman made 1-of-2 to give the Titans a two-point lead, 85-83, with five seconds left on the clock. Detroit was called for a foul with 1.4 seconds remaining on a Kim Demmings shot. Demmings sank both free throws to send the game to overtime, tied 85-85.
With three foul-outs, Detroit had just five players entering overtime. WSU took an 89-87 lead after Emily Vogelpohl hit a triple, but once again undeterred; Detroit tied the game as Reynolds sank a pair at the charity stripe. WSU's Antania Hayes gave the Raiders the lead again, but Urbanick nailed her fifth 3-pointer of the contest to put Detroit back on top, 92-91, with 2:12 left. Urbanick's triple came off Reynolds' 15th assist of the game, setting a new Detroit women's basketball record.
Hayes gave WSU a lead again, 93-92, with 50 seconds left, and Urbanick came up with two offensive rebounds on the other end and was fouled on the second, putting her at the free throw line. She made both to give Detroit a 94-93 lead with 18 seconds remaining.
Demmings missed on the other end and
Lola Ristovski went to the free throw line with 2.8 seconds left. She made one as Detroit went up 95-93 and Wright State called timeout to set up a final shot. The play went to Demmings, and she put up a deep 3-pointer that went off the backboard, hit the rim and bounced away.
The win was the first road victory at Wright State since the 2012-13 season. Detroit handed Wright State just its fourth loss of the season at home and ended the Raiders' five-game win streak.
The Titans shot 43.4 percent for the game and made 9-of-21 shots from beyond the arc. Detroit had a season-high 24 assists. UDM also had season-highs with 36 field goals and 83 field goal attempts.
Reynolds finished just three rebounds shy of a triple-double, totaling 10 points, 15 assists and seven rebounds.
Antania Hayes had 24 points and 12 points for Wright State (20-7, 10-4 HL).
Quote of the Game"It's unbelievable. It's hard to get road wins in any conference and we continue to do it. I tell our players all of the time, that we can play with anyone in this league as long as we come out with the energy and the togetherness that we need and that's what we did today." --
Head coach Bernard Scott on winning on the road.Titan News & Notes• Detroit set a season-high for points with 95. It was the most since the Titans scored 96 against Eastern Michigan on Dec. 15, 2013.
• Reynolds' 15 assists broke a 20-year record set by Jocelyn Boyd in 1996. Boyd had 14 helpers against Dayton on Nov. 26, 1996.
• Detroit moved to 13-2 when shooting 40 percent or better from the floor.
• The Titans also improved to 7-0 when scoring 80 or more points.
• The assist total for Reynolds is tied for the highest in the Horizon League this year with YSU's Indiya Benjamin.
• Reynolds and
Haleigh Ristovski each notched their fifth double-doubles of the season.
• Cohen has scored 20 or more points in four out of the past six games.
• Cohen had Detroit season-highs in field goal makes (11) and attempts (20).
• Urbanick reached five 3-pointers for the fifth time this season.
•
Haleigh Ristovski reached the 13-rebound plateau for the fifth time in 2015-16.
• It was the first overtime game of the year for the Titans.
• Detroit improved to 26-23 all-time against Wright State. It was the first win in the past five tries against WSU.
Up NextThe Titans return to the hardcourt on Saturday, Feb. 27, playing their final regular-season road game of the year against Metro Series rival Oakland. Opening tip for the contest in Rochester is set for 3 p.m.
