Dec. 2, 2010

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery

Oakland 68, Southern 39
Athletics Center O'Rena (405 attendance)
ROCHESTER, MICH.

Oakland (4-3, 1-0 Summit)

• The Golden Grizzlies are a 13-0 against Southern Utah at the O'Rena. Oakland has won the last four games in the series.
• The Golden Grizzlies had the same starting lineup for the first time all season, keeping together the same starting unit used against Cornell.
• Brittany Carnago blocked two shots to claim an outright hold on 13th place overall in The Summit League with 130 career blocks. She is just one block shy of tying Debbie Delie for fourth place all-time at Oakland. She has now blocked a shot in five of the six games she has played in this season.
• The Golden Grizzlies are now 6-6 in division I conference opening games and are 4-2 in league opening games played at the O'Rena.
• Brittney Nelson knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the game. She has attempted a 3-pointer in every game for OU this season, hitting a season-high four 3-poitners against Penn State.
• Freshman Zakiya Minifee had six rebounds, she is averaging over six rebounds per game this season and has never failed to pull in less than four boards in a game.
• Bethany Watterworth had 14 points at the half. She has reached double-figures in the first half five times in seven games this season. Oakland is 4-1 in games where Watterworth has reached double-digits.
• Oakland forced 11 first half turnovers. It's only the second time that OU has forced double-digit turnovers in the first half this season. However, the team has forced double-digit turnovers in a half a total of six times this season.
• The Golden Grizzlies never trailed. After the score was tied at 2-2 with 18:37 to play Watterworth hit a layup that sent OU on a 17-5 run to take a 12-point lead. OU led by as many as 18 points in the first half.
• By holding Southern Utah to 29.2 percent shooting in the first half, Oakland held an opponent under 30 percent from the field in the first half for the third consecutive game. OU improved that percentage in the second half, holding the guests to just 20.7 percent shooting, the lowest of any half this season.
• The 20.7 percent shooting effort by Southern Utah in the second half is lowest for any OU opponent this season.
• Watterworth has scored in double-figures in the last three games. Thursday ended her streak of consecutive double-doubles at two. The forward from Lake Orion, Mich. has scored in double-figures in six of the seven games this season.

Southern Utah (2-5, 0-1 Summit)

• The Thunderbirds have used the same starting-five in all seven games this season.
• Challis Pascucci began the night fourth in career blocks at Southern Utah with 112. She blocked one shot in the game.
• The 19 points scored in the first half were the lowest for SUU in any half of basketball this season.
• Southern Utah did not score for the final 3:30 of the first half.
• Pascucci scored 10 points to lead Southern Utah. It is the third consecutive game that OU has held a team to just one player in double-figures.
• Southern Utah was just three points over its lowest scoring game against Oakland. The Thunderbird's previous lowest scoring output against OU was 36 points in an 83-36 defeat at the O'Rena on Jan. 22, 2007.
• Southern Utah is joining the Big Sky Conference beginning in 2012.

Coach JR Payne's Postgame quote:

"We couldn't overcome our first-half struggles. We fell behind a good team in Oakland, a team that had a good night shooting. We didn't have an answer for Watterworth. Starting league-play on the road is always tough, but tonight gave our freshmen a chance to gain some experience."