Feb. 27, 2010

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ROCHESTER, Mich. - Freshman Bethany Watterworth became the first Golden Grizzly in two years to score more than 30 points in a game with a career-high 32 to lead the Oakland University women's basketball team (17-12, 14-4) past IPFW (13-16, 10-8) by a score of 82-68 on Senior Night at the Athletics Center O'Rena. OU closes out the regular season riding a six game winning streak and has secured the No. 2 seed at The Summit League tournament.

"I want to give a lot of credit to our seniors," said head coach Beckie Francis. "They played with a lot of emotion. This team is very close, and the fact that they can put the emotion away and get the job done today makes me very proud of them today."

After Oakland took a 12-11 lead at the 13:59 mark, IPFW held onto the lead for the next 10 minutes and were ahead by as many as six points before the Golden Grizzlies chipped the lead away and went ahead for good off a layup by senior Melissa Jeltema with 3:24 to go for a 31-30 score. OU would lead by five at the half, 39-34.

In the second half, it was IPFW's turn to chip away at the lead and brought the game to a 58-58 tie with 11:38 to play. But the Golden Grizzlies exploded into an 18-0 run over the course of five minutes to take a 76-58 lead with 8:00 to go. Oakland would maintain a double-digit edge for the remainder of the contest for the 82-68 victory.

Watterworth's 32 points gave her her 25th double-digit outing of the season and became the first Golden Grizzly since 2008 to score more than 30 points in a game. Senior teammate Hanna Reising was the last to accomplish this when she dropped 32 points against South Dakota State on Feb. 2, 2008.

Also notching double-figures for OU were Jeltema with 12 points and Reising with 10. Junior Anna Patritto and freshman Victoria Lipscomb also contributed nine points apiece.

The Mastodons were led by Stephanie Rosado's 24 points, while Chelsey Jackson scored 20 and Jordan Zuppe added 10 points.

Oakland was out-rebounded 33-28, though the Black and Gold committed fewer turnovers with nine compared to IPFW's 18. OU also had a large contribution from their bench with the reserves outscoring IPFW's bench 50-11. OU finished the night shooting 53 percent from the field while IPFW went for 46 percent.

With the regular season n the books, the Golden Grizzlies next compete at The Summit League tournament, which runs March 6-9 at Sioux Falls Arena in Sioux Falls, S.D. Catch all the tournament action at www.ougrizzlies.com.

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