TOLEDO, Ohio – The program's third visit to the Buckeye State this month, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies will play their second game in a three-day span when they head to Savage Arena to battle the Mid-American Conference's (MAC) Toledo Rockets at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, December 21.

Currently enjoying a season-long three-game win streak and off to the program's best 10-game start since 2017-18, Oakland will enter play at 6-4 (1-1 Horizon League).

Claiming the first Nike #HLWBB Player of the Week honor of her career on Monday, December 19, junior forward Alexis Johnson paces the Golden Grizzlies in scoring at 11.5 and has totaled 40 points and 16 rebounds over the last two contests.

Classmate Linda van Schaik is not far behind at 10.7 points-per-game, with senior Breanne Beatty and freshman point guard Brooke Daniels both also averaging better than nine.

Playing 24.2 minutes per night off the bench, graduate student point guard Raquel Ferrer-Bernad is shooting 32 percent (8-25) from distance and is third on the team with 19 assists.

TOLEDO RUNDOWN
Receiving 11 of the 12 first-place votes, the Rockets were picked to win the MAC in the Preseason Coaches Poll and are led by Tricia Cullop, a 15-year veteran and the winningest coach in school history with over 300.

Thus far, the predictions of the MAC head coaches look to be accurate, as Toledo has won eight of their first 10 games, including a victory over the then-No. 14 Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor on December 8.

The only two games the Rockets have lost were back-to-back tilts against the Duke Blue Devils and Penn State Nittany Lions on November 20 and 25, respectively.

As a team, Toledo is putting up 71.6 points-per-game, with 5-foot-10 senior Quinesha Lockett leading the way at 15.4.

Juniors Sammi Mikonowicz, the Rockets' top rebounder at 7.1 per game and a native of nearby Rossford, and Khera Goss are also important pieces in Toledo's offensive attack, both averaging 9.2 points.

Along with the three Rockets mentioned in the prior two paragraphs, sophomore forward Jessica Cook and senior guard Sophia Wiard, who hails from Muskegon, round out Cullop's starting five.

TELEVISION AND LIVE STATS LINKS
Wednesday's action will air live on ESPN+ (subscription required), and can be accessed using this link.

Additionally, the Live Stats are available here.

ALL-TIME SERIES AND LAST MEETING
Dating to December 17, 2005, Oakland and Toledo have tangled six times, with the Rockets winning five.

In the last meeting, an 84-72 Toledo victory at the O'rena on November 9, 2021, seniors Kahlaijah Dean and Kayla Luchenbach combined to score 40 points for the Golden Grizzlies, while Lockett had 23 for Toledo.

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, 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.