DETROIT (11/5/2018) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball opens its 42nd as a program and fourth under head coach Bernard Scott on Tuesday, hosting University of Michigan-Dearborn for a 7 p.m. contest from Calihan Hall. The game is set to be streamed live via ESPN-Plus for a small subscription fee.

Admission for the contest is $6 for adults and $4 for seniors and children under the age of 12. Students get into the contest for free with a University ID. It's the third meeting all-time between the two programs and the first since the 1987-88 season.
 

Game 1  //  Detroit Mercy (0-0) vs. UM-Dearborn (3-0)
Dates / Time	Tuesday, Nov. 6 // 7:00 PM ET
Location / Tickets	Detroit, Mich. (Calihan Hall) // Admission: $6 / $4
Live Stats	Sidearm Live Stats
Live Stream/Video	ESPN-Plus
Social Media	Twitter (In-game Tweets): @Detroit_WBB | Facebook | Instagram
All-Time Series	Titans lead, 2-0 // Last Meeting: Titans 72, UM-Dearborn 69 (2/6/1988)
Promo	Multi-Cultural Night (Free pom poms to first 500 fans)

City College Series Win
Sophomore forward Lexey Tobel converted on a lay-up with 1.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter to lift the Titans past Wayne State, 58-56, on Saturday in the opener of the third annual City College Series. Tobel finished with a game-high 21 points and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Senior guard Brittney Jackson added 13 points, while juniors Ashley Miller and Zoey Oatis had eight and seven points, respectively.

Detroit Mercy led by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter, but Wayne State chipped away and tied the game on a 3-pointer with 6.6 seconds left. After a timeout, Jackson in-bounded to Tobel, who drove down the left side of the lane and converted on a tough lay-up. WSU's last-second shot was after the final buzzer sounded. Tobel was 7-for-7 from the free throw line and sank two of the three Titan triples in the contest. Detroit Mercy as a team was 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) from the charity stripe against Wayne State.

The Titans had 10 steals in the contest, two by Jackson and two from freshman Alex Burr. Detroit Mercy also pulled down 36 rebounds, nine from Tobel, seven from Miller and six more from freshman Paige Bellman.

Scouting UM-Dearborn
UM-Dearborn is 3-0 on the season with victories over Point Park, Ohio Christian and Wright State-Lake Campus. The Wolverines have averaged 84.7 points per game and are shooting 40.3 percent from the floor in the three wins. UM-Dearborn is also averaging 47.7 rebounds per contest.

The Wolverines have five players averaging 7.0 points per game or better after the first three games. Sophomore Ro'Zhane Wells leads the squad in scoring at 10.7 points per game, while sophomore forward Cydney Williams is also averaging in double figures at 10.3 ppg. Williams also leads the squad in rebounding at 8.3 caroms per game. Junior Laekyn Jaciuk leads the Wolverines with nine assists.

Series History
The Titans haven't met with UM-Dearborn since the 1988 season, winning on Feb. 6 in Calihan Hall by a 72-69 margin. Both of Detroit Mercy's victories over UM-Dearborn have come at home. The Titans also hosted the Wolverines 10 years earlier, winning by 30 points, 77-47, during the first season of women's basketball at the University.

Senior Returners
Senior guards Brittney Jackson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Lola Ristovski (Sterling Heights, Mich.) have played all three previous seasons under coach Scott as they enter their fourth seasons in 2018-19. The duo have combined for 143 3-pointers and played at least 87 games played in their Titan careers.

Jackson has 87 triples in 87 career games, while Ristovski enters her senior season with 56 career treys. Ristovski has played in 30 games in each of her three seasons, starting 37 career contests for the Titans. Jackson started 12 games a year ago and tied her career-high with 50 assists.

Junior Duo Take Next Step
Juniors Ashley Miller (Toledo, Ohio) and Zoey Oatis (Detroit, Mich.) both earned increased playing time in 2017-18 and will look to another step this season.

Miller played in all 30 games and led the Titans in blocks (25), ranking third on the squad in rebounding (3.8 per game). She grabbed 40 offensive boards and started 16 of the final 17 contests at forward. Miller had at least four boards in 16 games a season ago.

Oatis played in 29 games and led Detroit Mercy in steals with 30. She averaged 5.1 points and 2.2 rebounds per game and added 26 assists and 13 blocks from her wing position. She scored in double figures three times, totaling a career-best 22 on 8-of-8 shooting at Youngstown State in the league opener a year ago. Oatis had three or more steals in five contests in 2017-18.

Tobel Among HL Freshmen Leaders
Sophomore forward Lexey Tobel (Hartland, Mich.) earned HL All-Freshman Team laurels in 2017-18, ranking second on the squad in rebounding (4.1 rpg), fourth in scoring (8.0 ppg) and third in 3-pointers made (45).

Tobel led all league freshmen and ranked 17th in the Horizon League at 1.5 treys made per game. Tobel also ranked fourth among HL rookies in scoring and was named the Titans' Sixth Player of the Year. Her 239 points ranked 15th all-time in Titan freshmen history and her 45 triples was fifth among Detroit Mercy rookies all-time.

Freshmen Five
The Titans feature five new freshmen from four different states for the 2018-19 season. The five hail from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and North Carolina and all are set to see their first playing action in this upcoming season.

Forwards Paige Bellman (Columbus Grove, Ohio) and Alex Burr (Topeka, Ind.) and guards Jess Bicknell (Saginaw, Mich.), Sophia DiMilia (New Boston, Mich.) and Jiera Shears (Charlotte, N.C.) are all set to make impacts for Detroit Mercy in 2018-19.

Sister, Sister
Second-year assistant coach Madison Ristovski, a former University of Michigan standout, is the eldest sister of Titan senior guard Lola Ristovski. Their family ties are strong at Detroit Mercy with Haleigh Ristovski a four-year letter winner (2013-17) for the Titans. The Ristovski trios' uncle Dean was a past assistant coach with the Titan women's basketball program. Haleigh ranks third all-time in total rebounds (869) in Titan history, while Madison was a four-year letter-winner as a Wolverine and was Michigan's Miss Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year in 2012.

Three's Company
Detroit Mercy broke the school record for 3-pointers in a season in the first two years of head coach Bernard Scott's tenure, sinking 234 treys during the 2015-16 season and 259 triples in 2016-17.

The Titans once again went past the 200 3-pointers made mark a season ago and have 702 tri-fectas made in three seasons under coach Scott. The Titans have averaged 7.6 triples made per game in coach Scott's tenure with 25 contests of 10 or more treys. The Titans' 209 3-pointers ranked third in the Horizon League in 2017-18 and the Titans' 702 in the three seasons under coach Scott ranks second in the HL.

    3-Point FGM in HL -- Past Three Seasons
    1. Youngstown State -- 299, 254, 276 -- 829
    2. Detroit Mercy -- 234, 259, 209 -- 702
    3. Oakland -- 226, 238, 237 -- 701
    4. Green Bay -- 253, 256, 181 -- 690
    5. Milwaukee -- 206, 247, 204 -- 657

Block Party
The Titans led the Horizon League in blocks in 2017-18, swatting away 4.0 shots per game and totaling 120 blocks in 30 contests. Titan junior forward Ashley Miller ranked 10th in the Horizon League last season with 0.8 blocks per game and tied-for-ninth in total blocks with 25.

During coach Scott's second season at the helm of the Titans in 2016-17, Detroit Mercy recorded 130 blocks, which was the most since the 1996-97 campaign and the sixth most in team history. Detroit Mercy has 356 blocks total in the past three seasons, totaling 100 or more in each season.

Sinking the Freebies
Detroit Mercy broke the school record for free-throw percentage (73.8) in a season during the 2015-16 season and had the seventh-best free-throw rate last season in 2017-18 at 69.3 percent.

Detroit Mercy has had some efficient free-throw shooters in its history and last season had two of the top in single-season history. Titan sophomore Lexey Tobel went 56-of-65 from the free throw line last season for a 86.2 percentage, which was fourth all-time in school history. Tobel sank 22 consecutive free throws and also went 11-for-11 from the line in a game during the season in 2017-18.

Freshmen Treys
Detroit Mercy has had a great recent history of freshman sinking 3-pointers with current Titans Brittney Jackson (41), Lola Ristovski (32) and Lexey Tobel (45) all sinking 30 or more in their first seasons with the Titans. Tobel led all HL freshmen last season. A look at the top Titan freshmen in 3-pointers made:

    56 -- Autumn Rademacher (1993-94)
    55 -- Michelle James (1998-99)
    48 -- Anja  Marinkovic (2016-17)
    46 -- Patrice Martin (1989-90)
    45 -- Lexey Tobel (2017-18)
    41 -- Brittney Jackson (2015-16)
    40 -- Nicole  Urbanick (2014-15)

Tough Non-Conference
Detroit Mercy has another strong non-conference schedule in 2018-19 with the Titans playing three tournament squads, two NCAA tournament teams and five programs that had 18 or more victories last season. Overall, the record of the Division I programs the Titans are facing during the non-conference slate is 162-154 for a .512 winning percentage. Five opponents in 2017-18 had winning records last season:

    Opponent -- 2017-18 Record
    Ohio State (B10 - Away) -- 28-7 (NCAA)
    Michigan (B10 - Away) -- 23-10 (NCAA)
    Miami (MAC - Home) -- 21-11 (WNIT)
    Western Michigan (MAC - Home) -- 18-15
    Toledo (MAC - Away) -- 18-15

New Addition to Coach Scott's Staff
A familiar face and Detroit native joined the Titan coaching staff this summer in former Cleveland State associate head coach Oties Epps. Epps, a native of Highland Park, Mich., was a head coach at Evansville for five years from 2011-16. He has 17 years of coaching experience and had two separate stints as an assistant coach at Cleveland State. He also coached at Wisconsin.

Assistant coach Molly Bateman is in her fourth season on the Titan coaching staff and was promoted to recruiting coordinator this summer. Assistant coach Madison Ristovski enters her second season.

Preseason Poll
The Titans were picked to finish ninth in the 2018-19 #HLWBB Preseason Poll, which is voted on by head coaches, members of the media and Sports Information Directors. Detroit Mercy earned 65 votes. Reigning league champion Green Bay earned 28 of 29 first-place votes and were selected to finish first with 286 total votes. Rounding out the top five in the preseason poll were IUPUI (245 votes), Wright State (226), Youngstown State and Milwaukee.

IUPUI's Macee Williams was named the Preseason Player of the Year. Along with Williams, Green Bay's Jen Wellnitz, Northern Kentucky's Molly Glick, Wright State's Emily Vogelpohl and YSU's Sarah Cash were voted Preseason All-Horizon League.

Field Trip Day
The Titans are set to host their fourth annual Field Trip Day from Calihan Hall on Thursday, Nov. 29. Detroit Mercy has seen an increase in attendance in each season since the first game against UIC on Feb. 11, 2015. The Titans had the third-largest crowd for a women's basketball game in school history with last season's attendance of 4,127.

    4,127 -- Nov. 13, 2017 vs. Bowling Green
    3,117 -- Nov. 30, 2016 vs. George Mason
    1,623 -- Feb. 11, 2015 vs. UIC

Motor City Madness
For the third-straight season, the semifinals and championship of the Horizon League Championship will be held in the city of Detroit. The semifinals and title game are slated for March 11-12, 2019 from brand-new Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit.

New to Motor City Madness this year, the top eight teams qualify for the tournament with the quarterfinal matchups played at the higher seeds' campus. The Titans went to the title game in 2016-17, which was the last college women's basketball game played at Joe Louis Arena.