Feb. 13, 2015 ROCHESTER, Mich. - The Oakland women's basketball team concludes its four-game road trip on Valentine's Day as the Golden Grizzlies travel to Cleveland State on Saturday to take on the Vikings starting at 2 p.m. at the Wolstein Center. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Grizzlies are coming off a 76-54 loss at Youngstown State on Friday. Nola Anderson led the team with 13 points and six rebounds, while Sinclair Russell added 11 points.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Oakland is 3-1 all-time against Cleveland State, including 1-0 at the Wolstein Center. The only loss to the Vikings came earlier this season as CSU won 72-64 on Jan. 31 inside the Athletics Center O'rena
SCOUTING CSU
Cleveland State enters the game having won three out of its last four games and are third in the Horizon League standings at 5-4. The Vikings are led by Cori Coleman and Imani Gordon who each rank in the top-10 in the Horizon League in points per game.
1,000 POINT CLUB
Junior Elena Popkey passed the 1,000 career point mark on Feb. 4 after scoring 19 at Green Bay to become the 26th player in program history to reach the 1,000 point mark. Teammate Olivia Nash is also looking to reach the 1,000 point plateau as she is just 69 away. They would become the first pair of teammates since Jayme Wilson and Anne Hafeli during the 2004-05 season to reach 1,000 points in the same season
TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK
The Golden Grizzlies pride themselves on taking care of the ball and it has shown on the court this season as they rank 80th in the NCAA in turnover margin, 44th in turnovers per game and 34th in assist-to-turnover ratio. Oakland is also 38th in assists per game. Peyton Apsey is third in the Horizon League with a 2.3 assist-to-turnover ratio, good for 25th in the NCAA, while Elena Popkey is fifth in the Horizon League and 60th in the NCAA with a 1.9 assist-to-turnover ratio.
DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Olivia Nash is third in the Horizon League with seven double-doubles already this season. She was named Horizon League Player of the Week on Dec. 29 after recording back-to-back doubles against IPFW and Central Michigan, averaging 15.5 points and 12.5 rebounds over the two-game stretch. Elena Popkey also tallied a double-double with 17 points and 12 assists against IPFW. The 12 assists was the first double-digit assist performance by an Oakland player since 2010. Sinclair Russell collected her second-ever double-double against Milwaukee setting career-highs with 15 points and 15 boards. Nola Anderson tallied her first career double-double at Valpo with 17 points and career-best 12 rebounds.
ANNIVERSARY SEASON
Oakland is celebrating two milestone seasons in 2014-15. This marks the 40th year of women's basketball at Oakland as head coach Kathy Williams went 8-7 in the inaugural season back in 1974-75. This is also the 25th anniversary of the 1989-90 Division II Final Four team. That team won the GLIAC Championship with a 14-2 conference record. The then Pioneers won NCAA Tournament games over IPFW, St. Joseph's (Ind.) and snapped Central Missouri State's 55-game home winning streak before falling to Bentley in the national semifinal, 72-68.
COACH TUNGATE AT THE HELM
Jeff Tungate was named the head coach for the women's basketball team on July 16, 2013. He had spent the previous six seasons as the associate head coach for the men's basketball program and is going into his 10th season overall with the Golden Grizzlies. In 2014, Tungate received the inaugural Oakland Athletics Coach of the Year award. In his first season, Tungate led the Golden Grizzlies to its first non-losing season in league play since 2010-11. Oakland finished the season with a 8-8 record in its inaugural season in the Horizon League. He also implemented a new offense that averaged the most points per game since 2007-08 and the most total points in five seasons. He coached the first-ever All-Horizon League performers in Bethany Watterworth (2nd team) and Kim Bee (All-Defensive).
UP NEXT
The Golden Grizzlies return home for the first time in two weeks as they host the University of Detroit Mercy in the next chapter of the Metro Series on Wednesday, Feb. 18. It will be Oakland's annual Pink Game as fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness.
#WEARtheBEAR
