The Basics
Final Score: Detroit Mercy 73, UIC 60
Records: Detroit Mercy 2-23 (2-12 HL), UIC 7-18 (0-14 HL)
Location: Detroit, Mich. (Calihan Hall)
DETROIT (2/15/2018) -- Behind a 33-point third-quarter outburst and a Titan season-high 25 points from sophomore guard
Anja Marinkovic, the University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team rolled to a 73-60 victory over visiting UIC on Thursday from Calihan Hall.
Trailing by two points at the halftime break, Detroit Mercy used an 11-1 run to open the third quarter to take the lead in the game. The Titans sank their first nine shots overall in the third stanza to take command of the contest and never look back.
Sophomore forward
Ashley Miller opened the scoring in the third quarter with a lay-up and junior
Brittney Jackson followed with a pair of free throws. After
Zoey Oatis nabbed her third steal of the contest, she sank a lay-up on the fast break and forced UIC to call a timeout with Detroit Mercy on a 6-2 run.
Oatis made the ensuing free throw following the timeout to convert on the 3-point play and Marinkovic then scored the next four points to give the Titans a 38-31 lead with 7:11 left in the stanza. Jackson followed a UIC 3-pointer with one of her own as Detroit Mercy led 41-34 with 6:38 left in the third. It was the fifth-straight make to open the frame.
Marinkovic then scored again on a fast-break lay-up and senior forward
Brianne Cohen converted on a tough bucket on the block. Freshman forward
Lexey Tobel sank the eighth-straight shot in the third quarter on a 3-pointer from the wing as Detroit Mercy went up 48-35 and the Titans closed out the 9-for-9 stretch with another Cohen bucket, off an assist from senior
Nicole Urbanick.
The Titans led by double figures the rest of the stanza, hitting 7-of-8 free throws (4-for-4 from Jackson) before Urbanick drilled a trey with 39 seconds left in the quarter. Urbanick's 3-pointer tied the career mark for 3-pointers made at 231 and gave Detroit Mercy 33 points in the stanza, the most in a quarter this season.
UIC opened the fourth quarter with a 3-point play, but Detroit Mercy scored the next six points to take an 18-point lead, 66-48, with 7:59 left. The game was never in doubt the remainder of the contest.
Marinkovic came out on fire in the game, hitting two 3-pointers in the first quarter, scoring 10 points in the opening frame and totaling 15 points by the halftime break. She led all scorers with her 15 points in the first 20 minutes, hitting 6-of-8 shots in the first half, including 3-of-5 from downtown.
Overall in the game, she was 11-of-15 from the floor and 3-of-7 from beyond the arc and added career-highs with seven rebounds, three blocks and three steals.
As a squad, the Titans had eight blocks in the game, three as well from Miller. The Titans also had a season-high-tying 10 steals, with Oatis tying her career-high with four steals. Junior
Gracie Roberts added two steals.
Cohen and Jackson each added 11 points in the game, while Urbanick tallied nine points off the bench for the Titans.
Detroit Mercy shot 45.7 percent in the contest (21-for-46) and 80 percent from the free throw line (24-for-30).
Titan News & Notes
• Urbanick is one 3-pointer away from setting the new record in career 3-pointers (232).
• With her 25 points, Anja Marinkovic reached the 500-point milestone in her career.
• Cohen moved past former teammate Rosanna Reynolds and into fifth place in career free throws made (322).
• It was the fifth 20-point effort of Marinkovic's career and most points since she scored 29 last season at Minnesota.
• The 10 steals from Detroit Mercy tied a season-high (also had 10 steals at IUPUI on Jan. 11).
• It was the third game of eight or more blocks this season; Detroit Mercy went over 100 blocks on the year.
• The 24 free throw makes were also the season-highest of the year (25 vs. Clemson).
• Detroit Mercy shot nearly identical in both wins over UIC (45.8 percent on Jan. 13 and 45.7 tonight).
• Marinkovic also had career-highs in rebounds (7), blocks (3) and steals (3).
• Oatis has 10 steals in the past three contests.
• The Titans improved to 2-0 against UIC this season and 4-2 under head coach
Bernard Scott.
Up Next
Detroit Mercy returns to the court Saturday afternoon for a 1 p.m. ET game against IUPUI from Calihan Hall. The Titans have three-straight games at home during their final homestand of the 2017-18 season.
