The Basics
Final Score: Milwaukee 70, Detroit Mercy 61
Records: Detroit Mercy 1-18 (1-7 HL), Milwaukee 15-5 (6-2 HL)
Location: Detroit, Mich. (Calihan Hall)
DETROIT (1/20/2018) -- The Titans were nearly perfect from the free throw line Saturday afternoon, but the University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team dropped a 70-61 to visiting Milwaukee at Calihan Hall.
The Titans shot 21-of-22 from the free throw line (95.5 percent) to nearly set a single-game school record. Seniors
Brianne Cohen and
Nicole Urbanick led the way with 16 and 14 points, respectively. Junior guard
Brittney Jackson was the third Titan in double figures with 10 points.
With her 16 points, Cohen moved into a tie-for-11th place in school history with 1,320 career points. Urbanick also moved close to the all-time record for 3-pointers, sinking two in the game to move 11 away (220) from the all-time mark (231, held by Senee Shearer).
Jackson opened the game with a triple and scored five of the first seven Titan points as Detroit Mercy trailed after one quarter, 17-9. Jackson added a 3-pointer early in the second off a feed from Cohen and the Titans trimmed the Milwaukee lead to eight, 30-22, after Urbanick connected on a triple with 3:08 left in the second quarter.
Jackson had eight points in the first half as the Titans trailed 34-24 at the halftime break. The Titans shot 32 percent in the opening 20 minutes.
The Titans used an 11-2 midway through the third quarter to pull to within three points, 42-39, with 3:00 left in the frame. Urbanick began the run with a 3-pointer off an assist from freshman
Lexey Tobel and it was followed by three-straight lay-ups by Cohen.
Tobel then swished a pair of free throws from the line to pull the Titans to within three, 42-39. Sophomore
Anja Marinkovic knocked down two free throws at the end of the third quarter, but Milwaukee led 52-41.
Tobel swished a corner 3-pointer in the first minute of the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to eight, 52-44, but Milwaukee would then go on a run of its own to take a 16-point game with 5:44 left in the game. The Titans scored the next six points with Cohen and Urbanick each making a pair from the free throw line and Cohen then making a lay-up off a feed from Marinkovic.
The Titans continued to chip away in the closing minutes of the game, making their final 10 free throw attempts. Junior
Lola Ristovski sank a pair of free throws and Tobel knocked down two more with 39 seconds left to pull the Titans to within seven, 68-61, but Detroit Mercy ran out of time in the comeback attempt.
Tobel had seven points and two steals, while Marinkovic and Ristovski each added six points for the Titans.
Detroit Mercy shot 17-of-52 in the game (32.7 percent) and connected on 6-of-24 from beyond the arc. The Titans' 21-of-22 shooting performance from the free throw line was among the best in school history, just shy of the 22-of-23 school-record performance.
The Titans turned the ball over just 13 times in the game, which tied a season-low.
Titan News & Notes
• The Titans went 22-of-23 from the line vs. Evansville on Jan. 12, 1991.
• It was the best free-throw shooting performance under coach Scott since Detroit shot 90 percent (18-for-20) vs. Oakland last year.
• Cohen moved into a tie-for-11th place in career scoring with Daphne Smith (1,320 points).
• Cohen is five points shy of cracking the top 10 in career scoring.
• Urbanick is 11 triples shy of the all-time 3-pointers made mark with her two makes on the day.
• It was the fifth double-figure scoring effort of the year for Jackson.
• The Titans lead the all-time series with Milwaukee, 28-26.
Up Next
Detroit Mercy returns to the road next week, but doesn't travel far, visiting Metro Series rival Oakland on Saturday, Jan. 27 for a 3 p.m. ET game in Rochester. The game may be seen via ESPN3.com as well as locally on TV-20.
