Written by Athletic Communications Intern: Brendan Billbury



Despite a year of uncertainty and COVID-19 protocols, the Oakland women's basketball team faced adversity head-on with a solid bounce-back season matching a program-best 12 Horizon League wins. For the first time in program history, the No. 4 seed Golden Grizzlies hosted a quarterfinal game against No. 5 seed and defending champion IUPUI in the 2021 HL Championships.

Even though the historical season was unfortunately cut short by the Jaguars, the future is bright in Rochester, Michigan and the program will look to sustain this level of success for years to come.

Coach Jeff Tungate sat down with Jason Ross Jr. to reflect on the season the team was able to put together and talk about the future of the program.

Tungate said, "We've now gotten it to the point where hopefully we can not just capitalize on this year and build upon that but then sustain it. I think that's really important."

Junior guard Kahlaijah Dean put together quite the season, becoming the 29th player in program history to eclipse the 1000 career point scoring mark while leading the team in almost every statistical category averaging 17.2 points, 5.6 rebounds with 106 assists.

For her efforts, the Bakersfield, Calf. native earned Horizon League First Team honors marking the third consecutive year Dean has garnered All-League honors after being named Sixth Player of the Year and All-League Third Team last season and named to the All-Freshman Team during the 2018-19 season.


The team's second-leading scorer, Alona Blackwell is returning to the program for her third season as well as redshirt junior Breanna Perry.

Blackwell brings back a presence beyond the three-point line and Breanna Perry will be looking to physically dominate opponents in the post on both ends of the court.

The four seniors the team graduates this year have had a profound impact on the trajectory of the Golden Grizzlies program. Their first year, the team was on the decline, only winning three conference games their sophomore season.

"They've left {the team} better than how they found it." Says Tungate.

While Jalisha Terry, Autumn Kissman, Myka Cromwell and Chloe Guingrich will leave a hole in the program that will be difficult to fill, the incoming recruiting class for the 2021-22 season is expected to fill the void and build upon the success the team earned this season.



Kendall Folley, Kennedie Montue, Prunelle Mungo, Olivia Sims and Helen Staley are the incoming freshmen.

"This is a great recruiting class and we had to beat out many outstanding programs to put this class together. Our staff deserves a tremendous amount of credit, for working extremely hard, to assemble this talented group," said Tungate. "All five have a great passion for the game of basketball and love to be in the gym. They fit our style of play and will be a lot of fun to watch over the next four years. They are tremendous student-athletes and will represent Oakland University extremely well, on and off the court."

The sense of urgency that the team will have during the summer and next season will be at an all-time high after a great season and a year underneath the umbrella of a pandemic, it makes you wonder if the incoming recruiting class will share that sense of urgency.

The incoming freshmen have faced adversity of their own during their senior year of high school. Associate Head Coach Ke'Sha Blanton expresses that they have had it worse than this year's team has had it.

"They lost out on so much. Their last year of summer ball with coaches, the ability to have a regular graduation and prom. They lost something every day even more so than we did here." Said Coach Blanton.



Kendall Folley, the point guard from Lebanon, Ohio has recorded more than 1,400 points in her high school career while playing and starting in 91 games. She only missed one game in her high school career due to injury.



Kennedie Montue from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania was the 2019-20 Valley News Player of the Year in Pa. She has racked up accolades her entire career including VND first-team honors as a sophomore, three-time team MVP and was a second-team all-state selection her junior season.



Prunelle Mungo from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a 6'2" forward and helped her team win the PIAA 3A State Championship as a freshman as well as consecutive city championships in 2018 and 2019.



From Toledo, Ohio, Olivia Sims comes to the Golden Grizzlies after helping Notre Dame Academy win three consecutive league and district championships as well as back-to-back state final four appearances.



To round out the class, the 6' forward from Rosemount, Minnesota, Helen Staley who has helped the Minnesota Fury win the state championship in 2019 and 2020 as well as a national championship runner-up in 2019. She is also a three-time South Suburban All-Conference selection.

The Golden Grizzlies have expanded their recruiting base with incoming freshmen from Minnesota and Pennsylvania. In part due to the pandemic, Oakland was able to secure these recruits.

Coach Ke'Sha Blanton commented on the recruiting process.

"The pandemic helped in that it closed things down for other teams and we were able to get some really great players before they could get out again and be seen in person."

The Golden Grizzlies' coaching staff had gone to AAU events prior to the COVID-19 shut down and made the connection with this recruiting class. That helped them when it came time to sign this class in the midst of a global pandemic.

In case it's not abundantly clear, the recruiting class that the coaching staff has put together is a group of winners at all levels of basketball. From high school to AAU to prep school, the incoming class will look to help the team create a culture of success and winning.

With the players that will be returning and the new student-athletes that will be coming on for the Golden Grizzlies, winning might be something to get used to in the Athletics Center O'rena.

Put simply by Coach Tungate, "winners win." 



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