DETROIT (12/26/2019) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team opens Horizon League play Saturday afternoon, hosting Metro Series rival Oakland in a noon contest from Calihan Hall. The game may be seen live via ESPN-Plus with the Voice of the Titan women's team,
Denny Kapp, calling all of the action.
It's a day of basketball against Oakland with the Titan men's basketball squad also playing the rival Golden Grizzlies in Rochester at 3 p.m. ET from the O'rena as they also kick off Horizon League play on Saturday. A limited number of tickets are available for the Detroit Mercy-Oakland men's basketball game.
The Titans are playing their fourth-straight home game from Calihan Hall in the month of December and sixth home contest overall in 2019-20.
On The Court:
- Detroit Mercy freshman guard Markyia McCormick was named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week on Monday (Dec. 23), marking the third time this year a Detroit Mercy freshmen has earned the weekly accolade from the Horizon League.
- Freshman guard Sylare Starks leads all league freshmen and currently ranks 16th in the conference in scoring at 10.1 points per game. She went across 100 career points in her 11 collegiate game during her last game, scoring 12 points against Eastern Michigan.
- The Titans hold a 15-14 series advantage over the Golden Grizzlies and an 8-6 edge in games played at Calihan Hall.
- Senior Zoey Oatis ranks third in the Horizon League and 143rd in the NCAA in steals per game (2.0) and has a team-high 22 thefts so far this season.
- Four Detroit Mercy freshmen scored in double figures in the Titans' setback against EMU last Saturday. Three players established new career-highs -- Markyia McCormick (19 points), Annika Corcoran (16 points) and Bridgid Fox (14 points). Sylare Starks also added 12 points and Detroit Mercy freshmen scored 64 of the 70 points in the 84-70 loss.
- The red, white and blue scored a season-high 70 points in its last game, including hitting a season-best eight 3-pointers and sinking a season-high 24 free throws.
- The Titans are one of the youngest teams in NCAA Division I with 10 underclassmen (five freshmen, five sophomores) and holds an average age of 19.3 on its roster.
- 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.
- Detroit Mercy plays all four games in December at home, hosting Valparaiso (Dec. 5), Toledo (Dec. 14), Eastern Michigan (Dec. 21) and Oakland (Dec. 28) from Calihan Hall.
- The red, white and blue also open Horizon League play with five of seven from Calihan Hall, hosting Milwaukee (Jan. 9), Green Bay (Jan. 11), Cleveland State (Jan. 16) and Youngstown State (Jan. 18) after a road trip to Chicago and Indianapolis to play UIC (Jan. 2) and IUPUI (Jan. 4) just after the New Years holiday.
Scouting Oakland:
- Oakland is 5-6 on the season following non-league playand are 2-4 in road games this season with wins coming over Florida International and Chicago State away from Rochester. The Golden Grizzlies also have victories over Concordia, Jacksonville State and Lourdes in non-league play.
- The Golden Grizzlies are led in scoring by junior transfer Jalisha Terry, who is averaging 11.4 points per game and also leads the team in assists (37), with that total ranking fourth in the Horizon League.
- Chloe Guingrich leads the squad in rebounding at 7.9 boards per game, while Kayla Luchenbach ranks second in both scoring (10.2 ppg) and rebounding (5.3 rpg).
- Oakland is first in the Horizon League in free throw percentage (77.3), with Terry ranking second in that category (87.5 percent).
McCormick Earns Titans' Third HL Freshman of the Week Honor of 2019-20 Season
Titan freshman guard
Markyia McCormick (Pickerington, Ohio) was the third Detroit Mercy student-athlete to earn Horizon League Freshman of the Week honors on Monday as she was named the weekly honoree. She joined classmates
Sylare Starks (Nov. 25) and
Bridgid Fox (Dec. 16), who also earned the honors in the opening seven weeks of the 2019-20 season.
McCormick scored a career-high 19 points in Detroit Mercy's 84-70 setback against Eastern Michigan last Saturday. She scored 15 of her points after halftime, including a stretch of 12-straight points in the third quarter for the Titans. She shot 6-of-14 from the floor and made 6-of-8 free throw attempts. It was her third double figure scoring effort in her past four games. She ranks second on the team in scoring (8.4 ppg).
Last Time Out
The Titans suffered an 84-70 setback to Eastern Michigan in their non-conference finale on Saturday, Dec. 21 despite four Detroit Mercy freshmen scoring in double figures. Three Titans established new career-highs with
Markyia McCormick scoring a career-high 19 points, also tying a Titan season-high. Freshman guard
Annika Corcoran added a career-best 16 points, hitting three 3-pointers, while freshman forward
Bridgid Fox scored a career-high 14 points in the second-straight game, adding eight rebounds for the Titans. Freshman guard
Sylare Starks was the fourth member in double figures with 12 points. In the game, Titan freshmen scored 64 of the 70 points and combined to sink the eight 3-pointers.
Trio of HL Freshman of the Week Honors
Three Titan freshmen have earned Horizon League Freshman of the Week honors early in the 2019-20 season with
Sylare Starks (Nov. 25),
Bridgid Fox (Dec. 16) and
Markyia McCormick (Dec. 23) all receiving the weekly accolade in the first seven weeks of the season. Detroit Mercy has the most HL Freshman of the Week honors so far this season and it's the first time three different freshmen from the same team have been bestowed with the honor since the Horizon League moved to a Freshman of the Week format prior to the 2013-14 campaign.
Up Next
Detroit Mercy returns to the road next weekend, heading to Chicago on New Years Day and playing UIC on Thursday, Jan. 2 at 8 p.m. ET. The Titans then head to Indianapolis for a league contest with IUPUI on Saturday, Jan. 4. Detroit Mercy hosts Milwaukee (Jan. 9) and Green Bay (Jan. 11) the following weekend from Calihan Hall.
