ROCHESTER, Mich. – Riding a two-game win streak to move their season record back above .500 at 5-4 (1-1 Horizon League), the Oakland Golden Grizzlies will play their first home contest in over five weeks when the Madonna Crusaders visit the O'rena on Monday, December 19 at 7 p.m.

Since defeating the Central Michigan Chippewas, 71-60, on November 12, the Golden Grizzlies have played seven-straight games away from home, a series of trips that spanned five states ranging from Illinois to Vermont.

In the final tilt of this seven-game swing, Oakland knocked off the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks, 82-74, on Saturday, December 17 behind a career-high 25 points and seven rebounds from junior Alexis Johnson and a double-double from senior Breanne Beatty.

With her standout performance in Oxford, Johnson is now the Golden Grizzlies' leading scorer at 11.1 points-per-game and is second in rebounding at 4.8, just behind Beatty's 4.9
Junior Linda van Schaik is Oakland's other player averaging double-digit points, entering Monday at 10.8 per night.

Coinciding with her moving into the starting five, freshman point guard Brooke Daniels has tallied at least 10 points in three of the last four and racked up a career-best five assists against the RedHawks.

Reaching the 20-minute mark for the first time at the collegiate level Saturday, fellow freshman Cam Grant has also begun to emerge, giving the Golden Grizzlies 13 points and 10 boards over the last two games.

MADONNA RUNDOWN
A member of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC), the Crusaders are coached by two-year veteran Jaresha Obey.

Madonna's record stands at 1-12 (0-9), but they did defeat the Judson Eagles, 51-43, in their most recent action on December 13.

A Bay City Western Warrior, freshman guard Paige Humerickhouse paces the team in scoring at 7.5 per game, followed by Southfield Christian Eagle and fellow freshman guard Ti'Syn Callahan at 7.2

Perry, Ohio's JaC'ana Anderson, another freshman, is the Crusaders' leading rebounder at 5.3, with junior Mount Pleasant native Sophie Ruggles just over a board behind at 4.2

Having reached 60 points just twice in their first 13 contests, Madonna is averaging 49.8 points-per-game, while Oakland is at 66.1

LIVE STATS LINK
The Live Stats for Monday's action can be accessed here.

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 10^TH 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.