DETROIT (11-22-22) - With three seconds left in the game, sophomore
Emma Trawally Porta took an inbound pass from senior
Imani McNeal, turned towards the baseline, and hit a pull-up jumper tying the game a 63-63 with 0.6 seconds left on the clock to cap off a furious Detroit Mercy come back. The game was looking to be heading to overtime. However, after Northern Illinois took a timeout to advance the ball to half-court, Emily Meinert broke free on a back-door cut, took a long inbounds pass from Chelby Koker and made the game-winning lay-up just beating the buzzer giving the Huskies a 65-63 win on Thursday evening at Calihan Hall.
Freshman
Amaya Burch posted her first career double-double scoring a career and game-high 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting and 5-of-11 from three-point range while grabbing a career-best 11 rebounds. Trawally Porta posted a career-high 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting going 1-for-1 from long range and from the free throw line. Freshman
Maite Lara Garcia also had a solid performance coming off the bench scoring a career-high 11 points going a perfect 5-for-5 from the field with six rebounds.
Despite outscoring NIU (4-1) 20-18 in the third quarter, Detroit Mercy (1-4) still trailed by eight points, 49-41, entering the fourth but battled down the stretch in a roller-coaster frame just to put themselves within reach of overtime. The Titans began to come back with a 9-0 run cutting the deficit to two points at 52-50 at the 6:02 mark. NIU responded with a 9-1 run to lead, 61-51, before freshman Ana Cabañas Llorens delivered a nice pass to Trawally Porta for a lay-up to cap off an 8-2 spurt for Detroit Mercy to pull within five points with 14 seconds left. Out of a timeout, Burch drained her fifth triple cutting the deficit to 63-61 with 4.4 seconds left. The Titans needed a stop and got one as McNeal tied up the inbounds pass for a jump ball giving the ball back to the Titans which set up Trawally Porta's shot to tie the game.
In the first half, Burch scored all six points for the Titans in the first quarter converting on an and-1 opportunity with a lay-up and an ensuing free throw followed by a 3-pointer as Detroit Mercy trailed by 10 at 16-6. Both teams scored 15 points each as Detroit Mercy trailed by 10, 31-21 heading into the locker room.
After the Thanksgiving break, Detroit Mercy travels head coach
Kate Achter's alma matter Bowling Green on Monday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m.
