LOUISVILLE, Ky. (12-18-23) - Trailing 43-39 with 6:12 remaining in the fourth quarter, senior
Annika Corcoran caught fire scoring 11 consecutive points off a jumper followed by three straight 3-pointers giving Detroit Mercy the lead for good as the Titans outscored Bellarmine 27-11 in the frame to earn a hard-fought 59-49 win on Monday night at Freedom Hall for their sixth road victory of the season. Corcoran matched a career-high 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 4-for-7 from long range while sophomore
Myonna Hooper posted a career-high 19 points missing only one shot going 7-for-8 from the field and a perfect 2-for-2 from behind the arc while grabbing eight rebounds with four assists and three steals.
Senior
Irene Murua added seven points grabbing a team-best 11 rebounds while senior
Jada Moorehead also posted seven points with seven rebounds. Graduate student
Imani McNeal chipped in with six points while sophomore
Amaya Burch had four points to round out the scoring for UDM (8-4).
Trailing by nine points to open the fourth quarter, Murua and Burch hit back-to-back layups followed by a 3-pointer from Hooper to cap off a 7-0 run cutting the deficit to two points, 41-39, at the 7:50 mark.
It was the Corcoran show after that as she caught fire scoring 11 consecutive points giving the Titans a 50-45 lead for good with 3:59 to go. Moorehead added a pair of jumpers along with a layup from Hooper as the Titans moved ahead by nine points, 56-47, with 1:34 remaining. UDM closed out the game on an 18-10 spurt for the 10-point win.
Overall, UDM shot a blistering 10-for-16 (62.5%) from the field while hitting 4-for-5 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter. Conversely, the Titans held the Knights (4-6) to only 3-for-15 (20.0%) shooting and 1-for-8 (12.5%) from behind the arc.
Bellarmine opened the third quarter utilizing a full-court press that gave UDM problems as the Knights went on a 14-5 run to take a 34-27 lead. The Titans were able to claw their way back to pull within six points, 38-32, heading into the fourth quarter.
Both sides put the clamps down defensively as Hooper connected on a layup to account for two of only six combined points that were scored to open up the second quarter as the Titans trailed 16-13 by the media timeout. Hooper then added another layup followed by a pair of Burch free throws tying the game at 20-20. After another pair of free throws from McNeal, Hooper took the ball strong to the rack and converted a buzzer-beating layup to cap off an 8-0 run giving the Titans their first lead of the game at 22-20 at the half.
Bellarmine opened the game on a 13-1 run by the first media timeout. Detroit Mercy responded with an 8-1 spurt of their own to close out the frame trailing by only four points, 14-9.
Detroit Mercy concludes non-conference play with the final game of 2023 against Florida A&M on Thursday, Dec. 21 at 1 p.m.
