The Basics
Final Score: #1-Green Bay 64, #3-Detroit Mercy 52
Records: Detroit Mercy 18-14, Green Bay 27-5
Location: Detroit, Mich. (Joe Louis Arena)
DETROIT (3/7/2017) -- It was a great journey in the final women's basketball game to ever be played at Joe Louis Arena as the University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team fell to Green Bay, 64-52, on Tuesday afternoon in the Little Caesars Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship.
Top-seeded Green Bay (27-5) ended third-seeded Detroit Mercy's (18-14) run for a championship as the Phoenix received the Horizon League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It was the Titans seventh trip to the Horizon League title game and the seventh time Detroit Mercy has met Green Bay in the finals.
The Titans were seeking their second Horizon League conference tournament championship and the first since 1997. That was also the only year the Titans have made the NCAA Tournament.
Senior Rosanna Reynolds, who was named to the HL All-Tournament Team, led all scorers with a game-high 25 points, while fellow senior Haleigh Ristovski added 11 points for the Titans in the defeat. Juniors
Nicole Urbanick and
Brianne Cohen tallied eight and six points, respectively.
Detroit Mercy found itself down by 13 points, 53-40, with 5:45 left in the fourth quarter when the Titans went on one more spurt in its comeback attempt. Reynolds was the catalyst hitting two free throws and then draining a 3-pointer to pull the squad within eight, 53-45, with a little over four minutes left. The next time down the court, senior Haleigh Ristovski drove to the rim and was fouled and her three-point play made it 53-48, with 3:18 left.
That was as close as the red, white and blue would get with Green Bay extending its lead after that.
The Titans ended the game shooting 35.4 percent – 43.5 percent in the second half - but were 7-of-14 from three-point range in the contest. Detroit Mercy also forced 12 turnovers and nearly matched Green Bay in rebounds with the Phoenix holding a 31-30 edge.
The Titans were 11-of-19 from the free throw line.
Urbanick hit both 3-point attempts in the contest, while Reynolds was 3-of-4 from beyond the arc in the game. Detroit Mercy shot 50 percent from behind the arc in the contest and tallied nine assists in the game.
Graduate forward Kelsey Mitchell tallied six rebounds while sophomore guard
Gracie Roberts had a team-best three assists in the contest.
Green Bay opened scoring the first six points of the game, but the Titans would come right back with Reynolds converting on back-to-back shots and Haleigh Ristovski sinking a jumper from the top of the key as Detroit Mercy trailed 9-6. Haleigh Ristovski later added a 3-pointer with 2:31 left in the frame and Detroit Mercy trailed after one frame, 15-12.
The Phoenix would take a 27-14 lead midway through the second quarter, but Detroit Mercy would proceed to score five-straight points after a timeout. Urbanick sank a triple and Reynolds converted on a lay-up to pull the Titans to within eight, 27-19. Green Bay would score five of the final seven points of the quarter, however to lead 32-21 at the break.
Haleigh Ristovski sank her second 3-pointer of the game to pull the Titans to within seven, 36-29, with 7:39 left in the third. Green Bay used a run to go up 17 points, 46-29, with 3:58 left in the third. Detroit Mercy ended the quarter on a 5-1 run, however, with Reynolds scoring four points and
Gracie Roberts sinking 1-of-2 free throws. After three, the Titans trailed 46-34.
Detroit Mercy made its run in the fourth quarter, getting as close as five points, but couldn't complete the comeback attempt in front of a great Titan crowd.
The Titans will now wait and see if they will receive a postseason bid.
Titan News & Notes
• Reynolds notched the 10th 20-point game of the season and 23rd of her career.
• Reynolds tallied three triples in the game, the seventh time this season that she has sank three or more 3-pointers.
• Haleigh Ristovski had the fifth double-digit scoring effort of the 2016-17 campaign and third in the last six contests.
• Urbanick inched closer to 200 career 3-pointers, sinking two in the game for 195 in her Titan career.
• Urbanick also surpassed 900 points in her Detroit Mercy career.
•
Gracie Roberts notched the 16th game of the season with three or more assists.
• Reynolds is in second place all-time in total games played (129). She already is the career leader in starts (129).
• It was the seventh meeting with Green Bay in the Horizon League Championship game.
• The Titans are 26-25 all-time in the Horizon League Championship. Detroit Mercy went 3-1 all-time at Joe Louis Arena.
