ROCHESTER, Mich. - The Oakland women's basketball team closes out the regular season against Northern Kentucky on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 4 p.m. followed by Wright State on Senior Day Saturday, Mar. 2 at noon. Both games are presented by the Oakland University Credit Union and will be broadcast live from the Blacktop at the O'rena on ESPN+ and ESPN3 respectively with Brad Golder on the call.
A look at the NKU: Northern Kentucky is 9-17 overall sitting in sixth place at 8-8 in conference play. The Norse are led by freshman Taylor Clos (10.0 ppg) and redshirt junior Molly Glick (10.0 ppg). NKU has won the last two meetings with Oakland leading the all-time series 8-5.
Season Rewind vs the Norse: Nikita Telesford scored a team-high 15 points going 6-of-9 from the field with six rebounds while
LaKyesha Stennis added 11 points as Oakland fell 72-50 back on Jan. 27.
Kahlaijah Dean and
Chloe Guingrich also chipped in with six points each.
Scouting the Raiders: Wright State is 22-6 overall on the season sitting atop the Horizon League standings at 14-2 and is ranked 11th in the latest collegeinsider.com Women's Mid-Major Poll. The Raiders are led by senior Mackenzie Taylor (11.9 ppg) and junior Michal Miller (11.8 ppg) who rank ninth and 10th respectively in the league in scoring. Wright State leads the all-time series 12-1 with Oakland's last win coming on Feb. 11, 1989.
Last time vs WSU: LaKyesha Stennis equaled a career-high with 16 points with five rebounds as Oakland fell 69-58 in a defensive battle on Jan. 25.
Taylor Jones added 10 points with four assists while
Chloe Guingrich grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds with seven points.
Mercy Agwaniru also dished out career-high three assists.
Notes:
Senior Send Off: Prior to tip off against Wright State, the women's team will honors seniors
Sidney Santos,
LaKyesha Stennis,
Mercy Agwaniru,
Nikita Telesford and
Taylor Jones for their hard work and dedication to the program.
Tungate Returns: Head coach
Jeff Tungate returns to the side line after missing the last seven three games due to medical issues with his back. In his absence, Associate Head Coach
Eric Stephan served as acting head coach leading the team to a 2-5 mark with wins over arch-rival Detroit Mercy to complete the series sweep over the Titans and UIC.
Moving on Up: Jones now ranks ninth all-time in program history with 1561 points needing only 18 more to move into the eighth position past Jayme Wilson (2003-06).
So close: Jones' career-high 16 assists vs UDM (2/9) was just one shy of the school game record of 17 held by Margaret Boyle vs. Lake Superior St. (2/28/87) and Dawn Lichty vs. St. Joseph's (3/10/90). In addition to her lone triple double this season, she has missed two more with 11 points, 16 assists and nine rebounds in the same game against UDM and had 23 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists against UIC (2/16).
Frontline Efficiency: Autumn Kissman ranks seventh in field goal percentage (50.5) followed by
Chloe Guingrich in ninth (48.5) and
Nikita Telesford 15th (44.6). Kissman posted a career-high 16 points against UDM (1/4) and Green Bay (1/20) while Luchenbach also added a career-best 13 points going 6-for-7 from the field with two blocks vs UDM. Telesford has scored a season-high 17 points three times this season and reached double figures five times.
Block Party: Oakland ranks second in the league in block shots (111) and blocked shots per game (4.10) which ranks 62nd and 66th respectively in the nation. Individually,
Mercy Agwaniru (1.2) leads the team and ranks fourth in the league while
Kayla Luchenbach (0.8) is tied for 10th followed by
Nikita Telesford (0.6) tied at 14th.
Grab and Go: The Golden Grizzlies are third in turnovers forced (16.11) and fourth in steals per game (8.10) with Jones and
Kahlaijah Dean (1.6) tied for sixth individually.
Dropping Dimes: Oakland is fifth in the league in assists (13.00) while Jones is tied for second individually (4.1) followed by Breedy who is tied at 13th (2.3).
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