DETROIT (11/8/2018) -- Following a win in its season opener Tuesday, the University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team heads out for the first road trip of the season, visiting Big Ten foe Ohio State for a 7 p.m. ET game Friday in Columbus, Ohio. The contest may be seen live via Big Ten Network Plus from Value City Arena.
The Titans (1-0) are coming off a 68-60 victory over University of Michigan-Dearborn in their season opener in which they got out to a big double-digit lead early, scoring 19 of the first 23 points of the game. Junior
Zoey Oatis notched her first career double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks), while sophomore forward
Lexey Tobel tied for the game-high with 23 points.
Ohio State (0-1) dropped its first game of 2018-19 at home, falling to No. 22-ranked USF, 71-47.
| Game 2 // Detroit Mercy (1-0) vs. Ohio State (0-1) |
| Dates / Time |
Friday, Nov. 9 // 7:00 PM ET |
| Location / Tickets |
Columbus, Ohio (Value City Arena) // Ticket Info |
| Live Stats |
StatBroadcast |
| Live Stream/Video |
Big Ten Network Plus |
| Social Media |
Twitter (In-game Tweets): @Detroit_WBB | Facebook | Instagram |
| All-Time Series |
Tied, 3-3 // Last Meeting: OSU 94, Titans 74 (Dec. 17, 1995) |
Oatis, Tobel Lead Titans in Season-Opening Win
Junior
Zoey Oatis notched her first career double-double and sophomore
Lexey Tobel scored a career-high 23 points as the Titans led wire-to-wire in a 68-60 victory over UM-Dearborn in the 2018-19 season opener. Oatis had 16 points, 11 rebounds (six offensive), five blocks and three steals in the victory. Tobel was 9-of-11 from the free throw line and also sank two 3-pointers for the Titans. She added a career-best five assists and five rebounds. Senior guard
Brittney Jackson added 13 points, making seven free throws.
Freshman forward
Paige Bellman, starting in her first collegiate game, totaled nine rebounds and six points for the Titans, while classmate
Alex Burr had five rebounds and two blocks in her Titan debut. As a team, Detroit Mercy was 23-of-35 from the free throw line and shot 40.4 percent from the floor. The Titans also had the rebounding edge, 41-38.
Titan Firsts
Oatis' stat line of five blocks with a double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds) was the first of its kind since Feb. 1, 2007, when former Titan India Bruster had 12 points, 15 boards and five blocks against Milwaukee.
Freshman forward
Paige Bellman -- with nine rebounds in the opener -- also had the most rebounds for a Titan freshman in a debut since Shareta Brown had 13 caroms against Canisius on Nov. 11, 2011.
Tobel's 23 points -- her first career 20-point game -- were the most in a season opener since Rosanna Reynolds had 29 points at Delaware State at the start of the 2016-17 season.
Scouting Ohio State
Ohio State fell in its season opener to No. 22-ranked USF by a 71-47 margin on Tuesday. Graduate transfer Carly Santoro, who played at Bowling Green last season, scored 14 points in her OSU debut, while freshman Dorka Juhasz notched a double-double (10 pts, 10 reb). The Buckeyes have eight new faces on their roster for 2018-19 and are in their sixth season under head coach Kevin McGuff. OSU went 28-7 last season en route to a NCAA Tournament appearance.
Former Titan four-year letterwinner and, later on, Titan assistant coach Carrie Banks is an assistant coach for the Buckeyes. She scored 893 points as a Titan and is the last player in team history with a triple-double, recording a line of 11 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists in 2000.
Series History
The Titans are Buckeyes have played six times previously, with the series tied 3-3. The teams haven't played each other since 1995, when OSU earned a 94-75 win in its home gym. Detroit Mercy won the first three games in the series, all in the first four seasons of Titan women's basketball and two of them coming on the road. Four of the six games in the series have been played in Columbus.
Titans Against Big Ten
Detroit Mercy is 36-54 against current members of the Big Ten all-time, which includes a 3-3 mark against Ohio State. The last win for the Titans over a Big Ten opponent was against Michigan in Ann Arbor on Dec. 18, 2010. Detroit Mercy meets two Big Ten foes (including OSU) in 2018-19, also facing Michigan on Nov. 19.
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 364 blocks total in coach Scott's tenure, including three-straight seasons of 100 or more. The Titans opened 2018-19 with eight blocks against UM-Dearborn, including five from
Zoey Oatis.
Up Next
Detroit Mercy returns to the road this weekend for a Monday night contest at Loyola (Ill.) with opening tip set for 8 p.m. ET in Chicago. The Titans' next home game is Friday, Nov. 16 from Calihan Hall as the red, white and blue host Mid-American Conference opponent Miami.
