DETROIT (11/26/2019) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team heads to Las Vegas for the Thanksgiving holiday with the Titans competing in the 2019 South Point Shootout on Friday and Saturday against Sacred Heart and Tennessee Tech, respectively.

Both games are set for 2 p.m. ET tip-offs and 11 a.m. locally in Las Vegas from the South Point Casino & Hotel.

The games may be seen live via Vimeo Stream and live statistics will be available for the games. Detroit Mercy is playing in the first game of five each day at the 2019 South Point Shootout.

It's the third time under head coach Bernard Scott that the Titans have played in a Thanksgiving weekend tournament with Detroit Mercy playing at the Cal State Northridge Thanksgiving Classic in 2016-17 and then in the San Juan Shootout in Florida the following season in 2017-18.

On The Court:

• Freshman guard Sylare Starks was named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week on Monday, Nov. 25 following the third week of the regular season. She averaged 12.5 points per game and shot 50-percent from 3-point range and 87-percent from the free throw line. She leads the team in scoring at 9.7 points per game.
• Sophomore forward Nicole Johanson has scored in double figures in three-straight games and is averaging 13.0 points and 8.0 rebounds across her past three outings.
• Senior Zoey Oatis tallied her third career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, adding four steals and three assists in Saturday's setback to Akron.
• Four Titans scored in double figures in the last game -- Starks with a career-high 14, freshman guard Annika Corcoran with a career-best 11 and both Oatis and Johanson with 10.
• Oatis ranks in the top-five in the Horizon League in steals per game (2.2) and in the top-100 nationally with 13 steals after six games.
• Sophomore forward Maxine Moore has scored in double figures in four of six games thus far and ranks second on the team in scoring at 8.8 points per contest.
• Detroit Mercy has played six of eight games away from Detroit in Novemeber to open the 2019-20 season; The Titans are home for the entire month of December.
• The red, white and blue have never faced Sacred Heart or Tennessee Tech in women's basketball.
• Head coach Bernard Scott is in his fifth season at the helm of the Titans and has led them to two top-four finishes and a Horizon League championship game in 2017.
• The Titans were picked to finish in ninth place in the 2019-20 Horizon League Preseason Poll.

Last Time Out
Four Titans scored in double figures -- led by Titan freshman Sylare Starks' career-high 14 points, but Detroit Mercy fell 81-60 to visiting Akron on Saturday from Calihan Hall in Detroit. Senior Zoey Oatis had her third career double-double in the contest, totaling 10 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists for the Titans. Freshman guard Annika Corcoran was also in double figures with a career-high 11 points, while sophomore forward Nicole Johanson scored in double figures for the third-straight contest with 10 points, adding six boards.

Detroit Mercy led after the first quarter, 20-17, and trailed by just two at halftime, 35-33. The Zips scored 25 points in the third quarter to gain control of the game. The Titans out-rebounded Akron, 42-38, but had 23 turnovers. Detroit Mercy shot 37.9-percent.

Starks Named HL Freshman of the Week
Titan freshman guard Sylare Starks (Fort Wayne, Ind.) was named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week on Monday, Nov. 25 following her performance in a pair of games last week. She averaged 12.5 points per game and shot 50-percent from 3-point range and 87-percent from the free throw line. She scored in double figures for the third and fourth-straight times in the first six games of her Detroit Mercy career.

Starks had 11 points in a career-high 36 minutes at Western Michigan last Wednesday, before scoring a career-best 14 points in Saturday's home game against Akron. She hit two 3-pointers in each game and ranks ninth in the conference in 3-pointers made per game (1.7). Starks is also second among league freshmen in scoring, leading the Titans at 9.7 points per game.

Career Nights for Johanson
Following her first career double-double at George Mason, where she totaled career-highs across the board with 12 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, sophomore forward Nicole Johanson added 17 points, seven rebounds, sinking 7-of-9 shots at Western Michigan in 22 minutes. She scored 15 points after halftime. It was her second-straight game scoring in double figures. She then added 10 points and six boards against Akron, her third-straight game in double figures.

Over her past three games, Johanson is averaging 13.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 16-of-29 from the floor (55.1 percent). She ranks second on the team in scoring thus far at 8.3 points per game and second in rebounding (5.5 caroms per game). Johanson has been plus in four of the six games for the Titans (+3 vs. Loyola, +1 at Butler, +2 at George Mason and +3 at Western Michigan). She also has five blocks.

Scouting Sacred Heart / Tennessee Tech:

• Sacred Heart is 2-3 on the season with victories coming over Hofstra (71-44) and Bridgeport (77-63) and losses coming on the road at Seton Hall, Siena and Stony Brook.
• The Pioneers were 19-13 last season and 14-4 in the NEC.
• Three players average in double figures, led by Adrianne Hagood's 18.3 points per game. She is shooting 52-percent from the floor. Jessica Woods averages 13.6 points and 9.0 rebounds for SHU.
• Tennessee Tech, a 22-win team a year ago, is 3-2 with wins over Cumberland (88-51), Louisiana-Monroe (75-68) and Samford (72-57).
• The Golden Eagles are averaging 71.6 points per game and shooting 45.7 percent.
• Kesha Brady leads the squad at 16.6 points per game, also pulling down 6.6 caroms per game. Anacia Wilkerson adds 6.6 boardss and 2.4 blocks per game.

Youthful Titans
Detroit Mercy has one of the younger squads in Division I in 2019-20 with 10 underclassmen and just three upperclassmen on the roster. The Titans have five freshmen and five sophomores this season. A look at the other schools acround the country that have nine or more sophomores/freshmen (three in Horizon League): 

Nine (9) or more sophomores/freshmen:

• Mercer 11 (3 freshmen, 8 sophomores)
• Winthrop 11 (6 freshmen, 5 sophomores)
• Detroit Mercy 10 (5 freshmen, 5 sophomores)
• Iona 10 (6 freshmen, 4 sophomores)
• Ohio State 10 (7 freshmen, 3 sophomores)
• Indiana 9 (7 freshmen, 2 sophomores)
• Indiana State 9 (8 freshmen, 1 sophomore)
• Middle Tennessee 9 (4 freshmen, 5 sophomores) 
• Seton Hall 9 (5 freshmen, 4 sophomores)
• Wright State 9 (4 freshmen, 5 sophomores)
• Youngstown State 9 (7 freshmen, 2 sophomores)

Up Next
Detroit Mercy returns home for its annual Field Trip Day game next week on Thursday, Nov. 5, welcoming old Horizon League foe Valparaiso to Calihan Hall for an 11 a.m. start. It's the fifth annual Field Trip Day contest under head coach Bernard Scott with nearly 12,000 fans attending the previous four games.