ROCHESTER, Mich. – Separated by just one game in the Horizon League standings, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies will continue their four-game homestand by welcoming in the Northern Kentucky Norse for a Friday the 13^th showdown at 7 p.m.

An impressive performance despite falling to the Youngstown State Penguins, 68-67, in overtime in their last action on Saturday, January 7, Oakland is 7-8 and 2-4 in the conference, while the Norse are 9-6 and 3-3 in league action.

Totaling 216 and averaging 14.4 per game, the Golden Grizzlies are the top offensive rebounding team in the Horizon League this season, led by senior Breanne Beatty's 39, good for 2.6 per night.

Beatty is also Oakland's second-leading scorer at 9.9 points, behind only junior forward Alexis Johnson's 11.2.

Tallying a team-best 18 in the Youngstown State game, Johnson has scored in double figures in three-straight and five of her last seven.

Point guard Brooke Quarles-Daniels, who previously was just Daniels before hyphenating her last name earlier in the week, has been one of the top freshmen in the conference, averaging 9.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 23.5 minutes.

SCOUTING NORTHERN KENTUCKY
Picked to finish fourth in the Preseason Horizon League Coaches Poll, the Norse are coached by former Western Kentucky Hilltoppers standout Camryn Whitaker, a seven-year veteran.

Graduate student guard Lindsey Duvall, the 2017 Miss Kentucky Basketball during her time with the Bullitt East Chargers, leads not only Northern Kentucky in scoring, but the entire conference at an even 18 points-per-game.

Duvall also registers a team-leading 9.5 rebounds per night, good for second in the league.

With Youngstown State fifth-year senior forward Lilly Ritz recording 17.3 points per contest, the Golden Grizzlies will be facing the Horizon League's top-two scorers in consecutive games.

Senior Ivy Turner and sophomore Kailee Davis, a Detroit Renaissance product, are both also giving the Norse double-digit points, averaging 11.9 and 13.8, respectively.

As a team, Northern Kentucky is third-best in the conference at 70.4 points-per-game, while defensively, they are seventh, allowing 66.5 points.

TELEVISION AND LIVE STATS LINKS
Friday's action will air live on ESPN+ (subscription required) and can be accessed here. Jake Riepma, Sharese Lucas-Perry and Oakland volleyball redshirt sophomore outside hitter Patti Cesarini will be on the call.

Additionally, the Live Stats are available at this link.

ALL-TIME SERIES AND LAST MEETING
Dating almost seven years ago to January 14, 2016, the Golden Grizzlies and Norse have squared off 14 times with Northern Kentucky holding a 10-4 edge in the series.

Most recently, the Norse held off Oakland, 66-62, at then-BB&T Arena on February 24, 2022. Beatty led the Golden Grizzlies with a season-high 20 points, while Duvall and Turner both finished with 18 for Northern Kentucky.

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 Quarles-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.