The Basics
Final Score: Bowling Green 85, Detroit Mercy 81
Records: Detroit Mercy 0-2, Bowling Green 2-0
Location: Detroit, Mich. (Calihan Hall)
DETROIT (11/13/2017) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team fought back time and time again during Monday's Field Trip Day game from Calihan Hall behind some impressive performances, but the Titans fell in their home opener, 85-81, to Bowling Green.
The attendance for the third annual Field Trip Day game was 4,127, the third-highest attendance total for a Titan women's basketball game in school history. More than 35 local schools were in attendance for the contest. It was the largest crowd for the Titans since Feb. 10, 2001 against Green Bay.
Detroit Mercy (0-2) shot well from the floor during the contest, hitting 13 3-pointers and shooting 46.0 percent overall from the field. Senior forward
Brianne Cohen scored 20 points with 15 points coming after the halftime break. Sophomore Anja Marinkovic and freshman
Lexey Tobel combined for 10 triples with Marinkovic scoring 18 points and Tobel adding 16 points. Junior guard
Brittney Jackson had nine points and a career-high eight assists.
The Titans scored 47 points in the second half, erasing an eight-point halftime deficit to come back to take the lead, 59-58, with five seconds left in the third quarter. Detroit Mercy tied the contest, 61-61, and again, 63-63, at the beginning of the fourth quarter on buckets from Cohen and Jackson.
Bowling Green followed with two-straight 3-pointers to take a six-point lead, but Detroit Mercy would again chip away at the lead. The Titans cut the deficit to two points, 76-74, with 3:21 remaining on Tobel's fifth 3-pointer of the game. The Falcons again pushed their lead to six with 1:36 left, but the Titans used a 5-0 run to get to within one point.
Cohen started the 5-0 run by sinking 1-of-2 free throws with 1:14 remaining. Jackson then converted on a lay-up after a BGSU turnover with 55 seconds left. At the other end, Jackson forced another BGSU turnover and on the fast break, Cohen was fouled on a shot. She made both free throws to pull the Titans to within one, 82-81, with just 21 ticks left.
After Bowling Green sank both free throws to go up three, 84-81, the Titans had the ball with a chance to tie the game. Marinkovic had a good look at a contested 3-pointer from the wing in front of the Titan bench, but the shot fell away. BGSU added another free throw with three seconds left to finish off the scoring in the game.
Marinkovic opened the game strong for the Titans, sinking three 3-pointers in a span of just 58 seconds midway through the first quarter. Her last triple was a four-point play after she made the free throw after being fouled on the made triple. Her four-point play gave Detroit Mercy a 13-11 lead. BGSU went on an 8-3 run to end the first stanza to take a 19-16 lead after the first.
BGSU built a lead to 10 points early in the second, but the Titans used an 8-0 run to cut into the lead. Cohen scored the first five-points of the stretch with the last three coming on a 3-pointer from the wing. Tobel then followed with a 3-pointer of her own. After a BGSU triple pushed the lead to five again, Jackson scored on lay-ups on consecutive possessions. Freshman
Kayla Brown scored off a 3-pointer just before the break with Detroit Mercy down eight at halftime, 42-34.
Detroit Mercy shot 58.6 percent in the second half, including 50 percent (6-for-12) from behind the arc. The Titans finished the game with 19 assists, with Jackson leading the way with eight dimes. Jackson also had no turnovers. Senior
Nicole Urbanick and Cohen each led the team with six rebounds. Junior guard
Gracie Roberts added six assists.
Titan News & Notes
• It was the third game in school history with an attendance over 4,000.
• In the three years of the Field Trip Day, Detroit Mercy has had 8,867 fans (2,955 average).
• Tobel's 16 points were the most by a Titan freshman in their home opener since Shareta Brown's 24 in 2012.
• Jackson's eight assists were a career-best. She had an 8-to-0 assist to turnover ratio in the game.
• Tobel's five 3-pointers were the most for a Titan freshman since Marinkovic made seven at Minnesota last season.
• Tobel's 16 points was the first double-digit scoring effort of her career.
• It was the second-straight 20-point game from Cohen and
18th in her Titan career.
• The Titans surpassed 500 3-pointers during coach Scott's coaching tenure with the Titans.
• The Titans and BGSU were meeting for the 24th time.
Up Next
The Titans play their next game at home, hosting Michigan State on Tuesday, Nov. 21 for a 7 p.m. ET contest from Calihan Hall. The meeting is set to be seen live on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN Applications.
