The Basics
Final Score: Green Bay 60, Detroit Mercy 55
Records: Detroit Mercy 7-8 (3-1 HL), Green Bay 14-2 (5-0 HL)
Location: Green Bay, Wis.
GREEN BAY, Wis. (1/11/2017) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team gave host Green Bay everything they could handle in the second half of Wednesday's first-place showdown, but the Titans came up just short, 60-55.
Junior forward
Brianne Cohen was nearly perfect from the field during the game, sinking 9-of-10 shots and scoring a game-high 20 points for the Titans, 11 of them in the pivotal fourth quarter. Detroit Mercy out-scored Green Bay 21-14 in the final frame, but ran out of time in its first league loss of the season.
Detroit Mercy (7-8, 3-1 Horizon League) trailed by 12 points, 46-34, entering the final quarter but trimmed the score down to six points midway through the fourth quarter and continued to respond to Green Bay buckets with makes of their own.
The Titans opened the fourth quarter on a 6-2 run, with Cohen accounting for the first five of those points on a lay-up and 3-pointer from the corner. Cohen later added another lay-up and a jumper from the top of the key by sophomore guard
Gracie Roberts pulled the Titans to within six points, 50-44, with 6:03 remaining.
The two teams traded buckets with Cohen following a Green Bay make with one of her own off a feed from senior
Rosanna Reynolds. Minutes later, Cohen cut the Phoenix lead to five points, 53-48, on a strong move down low with just 2:56 left. After Green Bay got the lead back up to eight, Detroit Mercy would again bring it down to five, 57-52, after
Nicole Urbanick connected on her second 3-pointer of the game with 1:14 left on the clock.
Urbanick added another with 20 seconds left in the contest to again bring the Titans to within five, 60-55, and after Mehryn Kraker missed a pair of free throws, Reynolds had a good look from the wing, but her shot fell away with less than 10 seconds left and Green Bay ran out the clock in the final seconds.
Urbanick sank three of the five Titan triples and added 12 points for Detroit Mercy. Senior
Haleigh Ristovski tallied nine rebounds, four assists and three steals, while going over the 700-rebound mark in her Titan career. Reynolds had eight points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Titans.
After struggling from the field in the first half, Detroit Mercy shot 44.8 percent in the second half, with Cohen sinking all six of her shot attempts in the final 20 minutes. For the game, the Titans shot 39.6 percent. The rebound battle was close with Green Bay holding a 41-38 edge.
Neither team was particularly efficient from the free throw line with Green Bay connecting at a 42.9 percent clip (9-for-21) and Detroit Mercy making 8-of-16 (50 percent). The Titans had just five turnovers after halftime and finished the game with 13 assists.
Kraker led Green Bay (14-2, 5-0 HL) in scoring with 14 points, adding five assists.
Titan News & Notes
•
Haleigh Ristovski became the seventh player in Titan history with 700 career rebounds (708).
• Urbanick tied former Titan Brigid Mulroy for seventh place on the all-time 3-point field goals made list with 160.
• It was Cohen's third 20-point game of the season and 11th in her career.
• Reynolds moved into fifth place in the record books in free throws made (280).
• Cohen also went 7-for-8 on field goal attempts in a win over Kent State earlier this season.
• Her 90 percent field goal percentage is tied for the second-highest in the Horizon League this season.
• It was the fourth game this season that Detroit Mercy has lost by six points or less.
Up Next
Detroit Mercy returns to the court Friday for a 12 p.m. ET contest at Milwaukee against the Panthers. The game is set to be broadcast on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN Applications.
