ROCHESTER, Mich. – Any sports team will echo the phrase "next man up" when they're down athletes, but few rise to the occasion like the Oakland women's basketball team has the past two weeks.

Before facing Milwaukee on Dec. 30, the Golden Grizzlies were informed they'd be down multiple players due to COVID-19 protocols, shortening the rotation and forcing players who usually don't play consistent minutes into important roles. Players like graduate student C'Erra Maholmes and freshmen Kendall Folley and Kennedie Montue were tasked with many minutes for the first time. 

They didn't just meet expectations, they made their presence felt. The Golden Grizzlies beat Milwaukee by 13 on the road, then a week later responded with a win against Purdue Fort Wayne, with just six players available. 

"I'm extremely proud, they stepped up to the challenge and it shows how hard they've been working in practice," acting Head Coach Ke'Sha Blanton said.

Maholmes turned in a career night against Milwaukee, scoring 10 points, grabbing five rebounds and stealing the ball four times, all career-highs. Folley played 28 minutes and had three steals, as well as three assists, which tied the team-high that night. 

"She [Maholmes] had that knee injury and it just took more time to heal than we anticipated," Blanton said. "Seeing her at full strength in her senior year with this opportunity to not just play, but start and contribute to two of the best wins in a long time – it's an amazing thing."

Blanton viewed these experiences as not just basketball lessons, but life lessons.

"Punches are going to be thrown, are you going to break or fold?" Blanton said. "They showed they're going to stand up and keep punching, they punched their way through for two games. I'm excited, because they're not even at the ceiling of what they can do, they're just tapping into it." 

Montue, who played five minutes all season before Milwaukee, scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds in 18 minutes of action. Seven of her nine points came in the first half, which contributed to a 14-point halftime lead. 

"I didn't know if an opportunity would come for me, but when it did I just played my game, played as hard as I could and left it all on the court," Montue said. 

Blanton had recruited Montue for years before she committed to Oakland, and had reassured the freshman that her opportunity would come. Stepping in for experienced teammates wasn't intimidating for Montue, she felt supported by her team and coach the whole way.

"They always have my back," Montue said. "They're always pushing me to get better. When I went out on that floor, they told me to play my heart out. When I made my first three they were like 'keep shooting, you're playing fine, don't get in your head.'"

She was named Freshman of the Week the week following, becoming the first Golden Grizzly to receive that honor this season.

"It shocked me at first, I didn't think I'd be freshman of the week," Montue said. "From there, when I saw I was freshman of the week, I realized there's a lot more to come from me. I can always get better and be stronger." 

Blanton saw the energy and enthusiasm of her team through these freshmen getting their shots. The team's motto is "Be Us," and Blanton feels they've lived up to that with their "we not me" mentality.

"When you can get a team to play selflessly, wins and opportunities are going to come," Blanton said. "They don't think of 'me,' they think of 'we.' I'm like a proud mom right now."

The Golden Grizzlies' next game against Green Bay was canceled, giving them a week between games. Instead of gaining more players for the Jan. 6 game against Purdue Fort Wayne, more players were forced out due to COVID-19 protocols. 

A team of just six entered the Gates Sports Center for a conference showdown against Purdue Fort Wayne. Instead of feeling pressured, the Golden Grizzlies applied pressure. What followed was their most impressive win of the year. 

Folley, who set a career high in minutes the week prior, was told she'd be playing essentially the whole game as the team's only point guard. Knowing their game against Cleveland State two days later would be canceled, the six remaining Golden Grizzlies knew they'd be able to play hard for 40 minutes knowing they had another week between games. 

The 5-foot-7 guard scored the first basket of the game, gliding through the defense with a spin move into a layup, something Folley said she did in high school "all the time." After hitting the first basket, she settled in.   

"We had more players drop and we figured out it was just six, that's when I given the 'you'll be playing 40 minutes,'" Folley said. "I was so nervous, I was worried I'd be super tired and let the team down, but you have to keep pushing. There was nothing I could do about it, I got to a point where I wasn't even thinking about a sub." 

The Mastodons, sitting with the same record as Oakland, needed a win. Purdue Fort Wayne thought they had the game in the bag, evidenced by joking Folley heard from the sideline during the game. 

"It was frustrating knowing what our teammates were going through back home," Folley said. 

The Mastodons came out firing, hitting 75% of their shots and 3-pointers in the first half. At one point, their lead was 16. The halftime buzzer sounded and Oakland was down 12, staring down a loss that would drop them to 3-3 in Horizon League play.

"We went into halftime knowing we could play better. Ke'Sha told us we were playing like we had just six players – it's just basketball," Folley said. "It was more of us switching the mindset from 'oh there's just six of us, we're tired' to 'it's just 20 more minutes of basketball, just play as hard as you can.'" 

Folley and the Golden Grizzlies went on a run starting midway through the third quarter. Oakland cut the lead to five going into the fourth. The freshman from Lebanon later converted an and-one to finally take the lead back in the fourth quarter. Folley finished with 12 points, five rebounds and four assists, and followed Montue as the next Freshman of the Week. 

"It's an honor [Freshman of the Week], it's great. I was super excited, especially finding out at practice with all my teammates and everyone being so excited for me," Folley said. "For me, it was something that came with all the hard work and that next man up mentality, I just had to take advantage of the opportunity I was given." 

The team was elated when Sylare Starks' 3-pointer hit back rim, with Blanton rushing to embrace Alona Blackwell, who hit the game-winning three. The "spectacular six," "super six," "Oakland six" or whatever their nickname may become, have taken the momentum from that game and ran with it, according to Blanton.

"Even as we have people coming back, they're keeping the same intensity and pushing people to rise to their level," she said. "It's been a really great atmosphere, those six have really stepped into leadership roles. It's been fun to see those six grow as they've been bonded together from that experience." 

After consecutive wins which required the whole team's effort, Montue felt there isn't a tougher group in the Horizon League.

"They went and played Purdue Fort Wayne with six players, went down 16, worked their butts off and won that game," Montue said. "I've never been more proud of my teammates than I was that night. We're a very tough team, it's hard to break us down. It's going to be very hard to beat us if we keep working hard and do what we need to do to win."

For Blanton, the win will be a memory for the rest of her life, something she hopes will be the same for her players, her fellow coaches and any Oakland fans that experienced that triumph with them.

"It was a story for the rest of my career I'll tell," Blanton said. "They definitely made a memory that not only they'll tell – but people at Oakland that experienced it – will tell for the rest of their lives."