ROCHESTER, Mich. – Completing their two-game homestand against Mid-American Conference (MAC) foes to begin the 2022-23 season, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies (1-0, 0-0 Horizon League) will square off with the Central Michigan Chippewas (0-1, 0-0) at the O'rena on Saturday, November 12 at 2 p.m.
The nightcap of a doubleheader with the Oakland men's program, the Golden Grizzlies defeated the Akron Zips, 74-67, on Monday, November 7, while the Chippewas fell at home to the Missouri Valley Conference's (MVC) Valparaiso Beacons, 71-64, the same night.
MONTUE LOOKS TO BUILD OFF OPENING NIGHT
After scoring in double figures just once as a freshman, a 10-point showing in the road loss to her home state Robert Morris Colonials on January 28, 2022, sophomore guard
Kennedie Montue hit five of her nine 3-point attempts in the victory over Akron, pouring in a game-best 21 points.
Joined by junior Alexis Johnson with 12, senior
Breanne Beatty with 11, and freshman Brooke Daniels with 10, Montue was one of four Golden Grizzlies to reach the double-digit mark Monday, providing the team with a promising number of consistent scoring options.
RUNDOWN ON THE CHIPPEWAS
Coached by former Michigan Wolverine Heather Oesterle, Central Michigan made consecutive National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament appearances in 2019 and 2021, and likely would have made three-straight had the 2020 edition not been canceled by the coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Chippewas did take a major step back in 2021-22, though, finishing just 4-25 (2-18 MAC), and their leading scorer from last season at 18.6 points-per-game – guard Molly Davis, a Second Team All-Conference selection and Midland Dow graduate – elected to transfer to the Big Ten's (B1G) Iowa Hawkeyes.
One of three Central Michigan players with at least 10 points in the season-opener against Valparaiso, freshman forward Sydney Harris led the way with 18 in 32 minutes.
As a team, the Chippewas took 76 shots Monday and Harris put up nearly one-third of these on her own, going just 8-for-25, including 2-for-16 from 3-point range.
Graduate students Nadege Jean, Jahari Smith, Anika Weekes and freshman Bridget Utberg also drew the start against the Beacons and all played at least 25 minutes. Taylor Anderson, a freshman from South Lyon East, tallied 27 minutes off the bench and registered 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting and nine rebounds.
ALL-TIME SERIES AND LAST MEETING
Dating to November 25, 2007, Oakland and Central Michigan have faced each other eight times, with the Chippewas emerging victorious in six of those.
In the most recent meeting, however, which came last season on December 7, 2021, the Golden Grizzlies ran past Central Michigan, 79-58, in Mount Pleasant behind senior
Kahlaijah Dean's career-high 34 points.
TELEVISION AND SOCIAL MEDIA COVERAGE
Saturday's action will air live on ESPN+ (subscription required), and be can be viewed using
this link.
Additionally, you can use
this link to access the Live Stats.
SEASON-LONG STORYLINES
NEW FACES FOR GOLDEN GRIZZLIES
Faced with the graduations of
Kahlaijah Dean,
Kayla Luchenbach and
Brianna Breedy, who combined to average 28.7 points and 9.9 rebounds last season, the Golden Grizzlies brought in a trio of diversely talented transfers in Raquel Ferrer-Bernad, Alexis Johnson and Linda Van Schaik.
A Southfield A&T Warriors graduate, Johnson is a junior forward who played three seasons in Conference USA (C-USA) for the Marshall Thundering Herd, while Ferrer-Bernad is a graduate student point guard who came from a different C-USA program, the Florida International Panthers.
Van Schaik, another junior, joined Oakland by way of the Sun Belt Conference's Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks and projects to provide the team with another 3-point shooting threat.
On top of the program's work in the transfer portal, the Golden Grizzlies' 2022 recruiting class features a couple of high-upside players in guard Brooke Daniels, a Miss Michigan Basketball candidate a year ago from L'Anse Creuse North, and Lianna Baxter, a 6-foot-1 forward who starred at Oconto and is one of the top-100 scorers in Wisconsin high school history.
BREANNE BEATTY HEADLINES GROUP OF RETURNING PLAYERS
Appearing in all 83 of the program's games over the last three seasons, and starting all but two of them, senior guard/forward
Breanne Beatty was named to the Preseason All-Horizon League Second Team on October 18.
The pride of Worthington, Ohio, Beatty is Oakland's leading returning scorer at 9.7 points-per-game in 2021-22.
In addition to Beatty, junior guard Sug Williams and guards
Kennedie Montue and
Aaliyah McQueen and forward
Miriam Ibezim, all of whom of sophomores, are back with the program and are in line to contribute significantly right from the season's opening tip.
JEFF TUNGATE ENTERS 10TH SEASON
Named the eighth head coach in program history on July 16, 2013, the 2022-23 campaign is the 10
th with
Jeff Tungate at the helm.
Third on the school's all-time wins list with 106, Tungate and four-year veteran assistant
Crystal Davis made some changes to the coaching staff ahead of this season, bringing in Golden Grizzly Hall of Famer and former Mercyhurst Lakers head coach Deanna Richard and Tim Webb, who has extensive coaching experience at both the high school and collegiate levels in Michigan, as assistant coaches.
