CLEVELAND (12/29/2017) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team prepares for its second Horizon League game of the season, visiting Cleveland State for a Saturday contest at 1 p.m. ET. Admission for the game is free inside the Wolstein Center in downtown Cleveland.
The game may be seen live via ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN Applications.
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Quick Hits
Detroit Mercy and Cleveland State are meeting for the 57th time in women's basketball with the Titans holding a 40-16 series advantage. The Titans are 4-1 against the Vikings in head coach
Bernard Scott's tenure. Scott was a longtime assistant for CSU before being hired as the head coach at Detroit Mercy in May of 2015.
Senior guard
Nicole Urbanick is nearing the 1,000-point milestone for the Titans and is just 11 points off the mark (989 career points) entering Saturday's game against Cleveland State. Urbanick would become the 22nd player in school history to score 1,000 career points. She ranks third all-time in career 3-pointers made (206).
The Titans went 2-1 last season against Cleveland State, including earning a quarterfinal victory in the Horizon League Championship, 70-56, in Detroit on March 5. Detroit Mercy's lone loss to CSU was on the road in Cleveland during the final week of the regular season. The Vikings opened their HL season with a 70-62 win over Oakland.
Last Time Out
Sophomore
Zoey Oatis had the biggest night of her young Titan career, scoring 22 points in Detroit Mercy's Horizon League opener Thursday night, but the Titans fell at Youngstown State, 76-59.
Oatis scored 18 of her career-high 22 points in the second half, going 8-for-8 from the floor overall and adding five free throws in the game. She grabbed seven rebounds, six of them on the offensive end and added two steals. Senior forward
Brianne Cohen tallied 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
Detroit Mercy shot 37 percent in the game, including 3-of-24 from beyond the arc. Youngstown State was hot from the field from the opening tip, shooting 25-of-51 from the floor (49 percent), including sinking 12-of-22 shots from deep.
The Titans had 12 offensive boards in the game -- six from Oatis. Detroit Mercy added six blocks, with Cohen swatting a season-high three rejections.
Scouting Cleveland State
The Vikings have won seven of their past eight games, including earning a 70-62 win over Oakland at home in their Horizon League opener. Cleveland State has won three straight and hold a 5-1 record at home.
Junior Ashanti Abshaw ranks second in the Horizon League in scoring at 20.3 points per game. The Vikings have three of the top 11 scorers in the conference with seniors Khayla Livingston (13.8 ppg, 9th) and Olivia Voskuhl (13.0 ppg, 11th) also averaging better than 13 points per game. Voskuhl ranks third in the league in rebounding at 7.9 boards per contest, while Livingston is third in assists per game (4.7).
Abshaw and Livingston have filled it up from outside this season and are tied for first in the Horizon League in 3-pointers made per game (2.3). Senior Shadae Bosley leads the league in blocks (30) and blocks per game (2.5).
All-Time Series
The Titans hold a 40-16 series advantage over Cleveland State all-time, including winning four of five under head coach
Bernard Scott in his three-year tenure at Detroit Mercy. The Titans went 2-1 last year vs. the Vikings.
Detroit Mercy is 14-13 in road games against the Vikings and 1-1 in road games under coach Scott. The Titans fell at Cleveland State, 75-50, in the final week of the regular season last year.
Senior forward
Brianne Cohen averaged 21.7 points per game in three games, shooting 80 percent, against Cleveland State last season, scoring 24, 19 and 22 points. She has scored in double figures in five-straight against the Vikings.
Oatis' Perfect Shooting Night
Sophomore
Zoey Oatis had the best offensive night of her young Titan career, going 8-for-8 from the floor and scoring a career-high 22 points in the Horizon League opener at YSU on Dec. 28.
Oatis scored 18 of her 22 points in the second half. She had seven rebounds, six of them on the offensive end. Oatis blew past her previous career-high of seven points, which came against Clemson at the San Juan Shootout on Nov. 23.
Her 22 points tied a Titan season-best with
Brianne Cohen scoring 22 points in the season opener at Miami (Ohio). Her perfect 8-for-8 shooting night was the best for a Detroit Mercy player since Cohen went 8-for-8 against Wright State on Feb. 20, 2017.
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Up Next
Detroit Mercy returns home for its next two Horizon League contests, hosting Northern Kentucky on Thursday, Jan. 4 before entertaining Wright State for a Saturday, Jan. 6 contest at Calihan Hall. All games may be seen on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN Applications.
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