The Basics
Final Score: Bowling Green 79, Detroit Mercy 73
Records: Detroit Mercy 2-8, Bowling Green 5-4
Location: Bowling Green, Ohio (Stroh Center)

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (12/17/2018) -- Like all season, the University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball squad showed the never-quit attitude and on Monday night, rallied from 18 points down in the second half to within two with under a minute to go as the Titans came up just short in a 79-73 road setback at Bowling Green.

Detroit Mercy shot 51 percent from the floor in the second half, scoring 49 total points after halftime in the furious comeback. The Titans drilled five 3-pointers in the third quarter alone and scored 24 third-quarter points before tallying 25 in the final stanza. Sophomore Lexey Tobel scored all of her team-best 19 points in the second half.

Junior Zoey Oatis had a strong game on both ends, totaling 17 points and a career-high-tying five steals. Freshman Jiera Shears had the best game of her young career, hitting four 3-pointers, all four free throw attempts and finishing with a career-high 16 points. Freshman Jess Bicknell added nine points, while senior guard Brittney Jackson had seven points and a team-high five assists and junior Ashley Miller had a career-best 10 rebounds.

The Titans, once down 18 points, 50-32, midway through the third quarter, pulled to within two points after a 10-0 run late in the fourth quarter. Detroit Mercy matched Bowling Green shot for shot in the second half and then took over midway through the fourth. Trailing by 13 with 5:09 left, Detroit Mercy scored 10-straight points to pull within three, 71-68, with 1:58 remaining.

Junior Ashley Miller opened the run with a putback lay-up after an offensive board. Jackson then poked the ball out of a Bowling Green player's arms and sank two free throws after she was fouled on the fast break to extend the run. Tobel scored the fifth and sixth points on a lay-up. Miller then added two more free throws and Tobel added another tough lay-up to cap off the 10-0 run. Detroit Mercy, with plenty of momentum on its side, pulled to within two, 72-70, with 1:10 left after another Tobel lay-up.

Bowling Green regained a five-point advantage, 75-70, after three free throws, but then Tobel came down again, hesitated, and then drilled a 3-pointer from the wing. Her triple trimmed the BGSU lead to two, 75-73, with 26 seconds left. The Titans, forced to foul, did so and Bowling Green sank all four free throw attempts in the final seconds to fend off the visiting Titans.

Shears was big in the first half, hitting three triples and totaling 11 points in the opening 20 minutes. Oatis had four steals in the first half, taking the fourth coast-to-coast for a lay-up as Detroit Mercy trailed 37-24 at the halftime break. Oatis added seven points at the break.

Detroit Mercy was down 18 points, 50-32, midway through the third quarter at the 6:38 mark. The Titans then started to chip away, pulling to within 12, 56-44, after Tobel drilled back-to-back 3-pointers from the wing. Jackson made it an 8-2 run for the Titans with 1:02 left in the third frame as Detroit Mercy was down just 10, 56-46. After three, BGSU led by 12, 61-49.

The Titans again were opportunistic on the defensive end, swiping 10 balls in the contest, while turning the ball over just seven times. Detroit Mercy had a 10-to-7 assist-to-turnover ratio in the contest. The red, white and blue also sank nine 3-pointers -- six after halftime -- which was a season-high.

Oatis shot 50 percent from the floor (7-of-14) in the game, adding her game-best five steals, four rebounds and three assists. Shears was 4-of-9 from downtown in the contest, also sinking all four of her free throw attempts. Miller had a team-best 10 rebounds -- three offensive and three defensive in the second half.

Titan News & Notes
• Detroit Mercy's seven turnovers were the fewest by the program since just five turnovers in a 95-93 overtime win at Wright State on Feb. 20, 2016.
• The 73 points scored were also the best since scored 74 late last season against Oakland at home on Feb. 19, 2018.
• Oatis' 17 points was her third game scoring better than 15 points this season.
• Oatis notched the second five-steal game of the season and is the only HL player with two five-steal contests so far this season.
• Tobel scored in double figures for the sixth time this season and 16th time in game No. 40 in her Titan career.
• Shears has 25 points in the past two games for the Titans and tallied her first career double-figure scoring effort.
• Miller became the third player this season to reach 10 boards in a game after Oatis and Titan freshman Paige Bellman.
• The Titans notched 10 steals -- the fifth time this season with 10 or more in a game. Detroit Mercy entered the game No. 3 in the HL in steals as a team.
• It was the 25th meeting all-time between Bowling Green and Detroit Mercy (Titans trail series, 15-10).
• The Titans were meeting their third-straight MAC foe and are currently playing four-consecutive against the conference.
 

FINAL // Bowling Green 79, Detroit Mercy 73.

What a great effort in the second half from the Titans, nearly pulling off the comeback on the road. Lexey Tobel (19 points), Zoey Oatis (17 points, 5 steals) and Jiera Shears (16 points) all in double figures. pic.twitter.com/wBM8QFtdAY

— Detroit Mercy Women's Basketball (@Detroit_WBB) December 18, 2018

Up Next
Detroit Mercy returns to the court Friday, traveling back to Ohio for a 7 p.m. tip-off against Toledo. The final non-conference game against the Rockets is slated to be broadcast live via ESPN-Plus from Savage Arena.