Feb. 8, 2010

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ROCHESTER, Mich. - Senior Melissa Jeltema recorded her third straight double-double with 21 points and a career-high 18 rebounds and helped the Golden Grizzly offense go on a 21-1 run and hold the Ladies without a field goal in the game's final 10:15 as the Oakland University women's basketball team (12-12, 9-4 Summit League) took down Centenary (1-23, 0-13 Summit League) 66-46 Monday evening at the O'Rena.

"I thought over the last 10 minutes that the entire team stepped it up and played well," said head coach Beckie Francis. "However, Melissa Jeltema and Anna Patritto just refused to lose and they took the game over in their way. Melissa's 21 points, 18 rebounds and two steals and great defense in 35 minutes was amazing and Anna did a great job of stopping Centenary from going off offensively."

After two early lead changes, a pair of free throws by freshman Bethany Watterworth put OU up 7-6 and the Golden Grizzlies never relinquished their lead. The Ladies remained a thorn in OU's side, however, and never trailed by more than eight points in the first half. Centenary cut the OU lead to three points, 31-28, with 59 seconds to play in the first, a score that would follow both teams into the locker room at halftime.

The second half continued to produce a tight contest and after Oakland led by as many as seven, 36-29, the Ladies cut the lead to 38-37 with 13:50 to go. But the Black and Gold went on an 8-0 run that gave them their largest lead of the contest, 46-37, with 11:03 to play.

But the Ladies wouldn't go quietly, and a three-pointer by Donecia Cook and a pair of free throws by Leslie Forest would bring Centenary within one point, 46-45 with 8:42 to go.

Those, however, would be the last points the Ladies would put on the board for more than eight minutes as the Golden Grizzlies exploded into a 21-0 scoring run that was cut short only by a Centenary free throw with three seconds to go to give Oakland the 66-46 victory.

Jeltema's 21 points now ties her 11th all-time in school history with 1,439 career points. Watterworth was the other Golden Grizzly in double figures with 14 points, while junior Anna Patritto came close to a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds.

Oakland dominated in the glass with a 57-31 rebounding advantage, pulling down a season-high 29 offensive boards and scoring 19 points off those second chances. OU committed fewer turnovers with 12 compared to Centenary's 18 and improved on 29 percent first half shooting to 35 percent in the second half.

The Golden Grizzlies will next take off for their final road trip of the regular season when they play UMKC and Southern Utah on Saturday, Feb. 13 and Monday Feb. 15. Both games can be followed via All Access or Live Stats at www.ougrizzlies.com.

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