The Basics
Final Score: #3-Detroit Mercy 70, #6-Cleveland State 56
Records: Detroit Mercy 17-13, Cleveland State 14-16
Location: Detroit, Mich. (Joe Louis Arena)

DETROIT (3/5/2017) -- The third-seeded University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team recorded its first Horizon League Championship victory since the 2012-13 season on Sunday, earning a 70-56 victory over No. 6-seed Cleveland State at Joe Louis Arena.
 
The win sets up a Little Caesars Horizon League Championship semifinal game against second-seeded Wright State Monday, March 6, at 3:30 p.m. The two teams split the regular season with each winning on their own home court.

Detroit Mercy (17-13) led by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter in the victory. It was the Titans' fourth victory in the past two seasons over Cleveland State and avenged a loss in the final week of the regular season against the Vikings, where second-year head coach Bernard Scott previously coached.

Junior forward Brianne Cohen led four Titans in double digits with 22 points. Freshman Anja Marinkovic and junior Nicole Urbanick each tallied 11 points as both nailed three 3-pointers, while senior Rosanna Reynolds totaled 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Graduate forward Kelsey Mitchell was close to a double-double with eight points and 11 rebounds, while sophomore Brittney Jackson had a career-best seven assists to go along with eight points. Senior Haleigh Ristovski had nine rebounds and a season-best four blocks.
 
The Titans led for over 34 minutes of the contest taking the lead for good late in the first quarter. Detroit Mercy then upped its advantage to double digits at the half. Detroit Mercy finished the first half on an 8-0 run with freshman Anja Marinkovic drilling two 3-pointers in the final two minutes of the half. The Titans had a 32-22 halftime lead. Cohen had 10 points in the first half to lead the Titans.

Between the end of the second quarter and start of the third, Detroit Mercy went on a 17-3 run with the Titans opening up the second half on a 9-3 spurt. Reynolds scored the first six points of the second half, converting on a lay-up and then a rare four-point play. Reynolds shot a triple from the wing with one second on the shot clock, burying the shot and drawing a foul. She made the free throw as the Titans went up 37-22.

Later in the quarter, Jackson made back-to-back 3-pointers to give Detroit Mercy a 20-point advantage, 50-30, with 2:45 left in the third.

Detroit Mercy continued its great play in the fourth quarter as Urbanick drilled a 3-pointer to open the frame. Cohen followed with a lay-up off a great pass from Reynolds and after a pair of free throws by Cleveland State, Urbanick made another 3-pointer from the wing to put the Titans up 25, 61-36, with 7:58 left.

The Titans led by 26 points after a Mitchell lay-up off an assist from Reynolds with 5:53 remaining. The Vikings chipped away at the lead in the final seconds of the game, but Detroit Mercy led by double-digits the rest of the way with Cohen sinking two lay-ups in the final 1:39 of the game to seal the victory.

The defense was strong all game long and held Cleveland State (14-16) to 35.0 percent shooting overall and just 9.0 percent (2-of-22) from the outside. The Titans also dominated the glass to the tune of a 47-37 advantage and totaled seven blocks.

Detroit Mercy shot 42.6 percent in the game, its 19th game of the season shooting 40-percent or better. The Titans had 18 assists in the contest and made 10 3-pointers, the ninth time this season that Detroit Mercy has made 10 or more triples.

The Titans broke last year's single-season school record for 3-pointers and have established a new record with 241 triples.

The red, white and blue held Cleveland State's leading scorers, Ashanti Abshaw and Khayla Livingston to 1-of-14 from 3-point range.

Titan News & Notes
• Haleigh Ristovski moved into third place all-time in career rebounding (850), passing the late Titan Hall-Of-Famer Lisa Blackburn.
• Nicole Urbanick moved into fifth place in career 3-pointers with 190. She is two in back of fourth place.
• Reynolds became just the third player in school history with 1,700 career points.
• Jackson had her third, five-assist game of the season.
• Mitchell had her second double-double rebounding effort and the most since 16 at Bradley.
• Detroit Mercy is 4-1 against Cleveland State under head coach Bernard Scott and 40-16 all-time against the Vikings.
• The Titans improved to 25-24 all-time in the Horizon League Tournament.
• Reynolds, the all-time assists leader, went over 150 assists in a single season for the first time in her career.
• Haleigh Ristovski tallied a season-high with her four blocks in the game.
• Marinkovic had her 10th double-digit scoring game of her freshman season.
• Cohen had her 13th-straight double-digit scoring effort and 16th career 20-point game.
 

On to the next one! #TitansAllDay #MotorCityMadness pic.twitter.com/uF8PSf1NR5

— Detroit Mercy Titans (@detroittitans) March 5, 2017