The Basics
Final Score: Youngstown State 62, Detroit Mercy 47
Records: Detroit Mercy 2-16 (2-5 HL), Youngstown State 11-7 (4-3 HL)
Location: Detroit, Mich. (Calihan Hall)

DETROIT (1/18/2020) -- Freshmen Bridgid Fox and Sylare Starks both scored 15 points Saturday afternoon, but the Titans dropped a 62-47 home game against visiting Youngstown State from Calihan Hall. It was the final contest in a four-game homestand for the Titans (2-5 Horizon League).

Fox's 15 points were a career-high and her fifth game scoring in double figures this season. She sank 4-of-6 shots from the floor and 7-of-8 from the free throw line, adding six rebounds. Starks made 3-of-6 shots from 3-point range and 6-of-11 overall from the field for her 15 points. It was Stark's team-high 11th game scoring in double figures in her freshmen season. Junior Aly Reiff scored seven points off the bench, senior Zoey Oatis tied her season-high with 12 rebounds and freshman guard Annika Corcoran had five assists.

The Titans scored the first seven points of the contest with sophomore Maxine Moore and Fox scoring on back-to-back trips down the court. Starks then sank a 3-pointer off a feed from Corcoran at the 5:40 mark of the first quarter as Detroit Mercy went ahead 7-0. YSU answered with a run of its own and lead after the first quarter, 14-8.

Detroit Mercy answered in the second quarter, out-scoring YSU in the frame, 19-11. Fox scored two-straight buckets early in the stanza and later in the quarter, Reiff and Starks made back-to-back field goals to tie the game 19-19 with 4:14 left in the half. The Titans made it a 10-0 run late in the second quarter after Starks and Reiff closed the stretch with 3-pointers. Starks' triple came off a Zoey Oatis steal and Reiff's made the game 25-19 with 3:11 left in the second.

Sophomore guard Jiera Shears sank a tough lay-up to give Detroit Mercy a 27-22 lead inside of the final 90 seconds of the half and the Titans held the halftime lead, 27-25. Detroit Mercy shot 58-percent from the floor (7-of-12) in the second quarter alone, sinking two 3-pointers, and finished the first half shooting 40-percent on field goals (10-of-25). The Titan defense limited YSU to 24-percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes.

Starks scored 2 minutes into the second half to get into double figures and later scored on a 3-pointer off a Corcoran feed as Detroit Mercy trailed by one, 33-32, with 6:27 left in the third. YSU would then close the third on a run to take a 52-35 advantage heading into the final stanza.

Starks got to 15 points early in the fourth quarter, but YSU scored the next six points in the contest. Fox did a lot of damage offensively in the final frame, hitting all six shots at the free throw line and sinking her only field goal attempt, scoring eight of her 15 points in the final quarter. She also had a blocked shot in the fourth quarter.

Overall in the game, Detroit Mercy shot 15-of-45 (33 percent) and 4-of-24 from behind the 3-point arc. The Titans also made 13-of-26 free throws, while YSU made 87-percent of its free throw shots (20-for-23). The Penguins finished the game with a 36-percent shooting clip (18-of-50). The Titans had five steals and four blocks and tallied nine assists -- five by Corcoran.

Quinece Hatcher and Chelsea Olson both had 15 points to lead YSU (11-7 overall, 4-3 HL) in scoring on Saturday.

Titan News & Notes
• Starks led Detroit Mercy in scoring for the seventh time this season and was in double figures for the 11th time in 18 contests.
• Fox was in double figures for the fifth time in her freshmen campaign with a career-high 15 points (she had scored 14 points twice previously).
• Titan freshmen have scored in double figures 23 times in 2019-20.
• With her five assists, it was the third time in her rookie season that Corcoran had five or more dimes in a contest (Corcoran's averaging 3.4 assists in seven HL games).
• Oatis tied her season-high with 12 rebounds, just one shy of her career-high and the fifth time in her career with 10 or more boards.
• Starks made multiple 3-pointers for the 10th time in 2019-20.
• It was the 46th meeting in women's basketball between the two schools (Titans trail series, 24-22).
• The Titans close the regular season with seven of 11 away from Calihan Hall, beginning next weekend.

Up Next
Detroit Mercy returns to the road for three-straight, beginning next weekend with trips to Wright State (Thursday, Jan. 23) and Northern Kentucky (Saturday, Jan. 25). The Titans then head to Oakland the following weekend for a #MetroSeries clash with the Golden Grizzlies on Saturday, Feb. 1.