AKRON, Ohio – Five Golden Grizzlies scored in double figures as the Oakland women's basketball team defeated Akron on the road Monday night, 91-87 in double overtime in its season opener from Rhodes Arena.
 
Linda van Schaik registered a team-best 21 points going 8-13 from the floor, an impressive 62 percent shooting. Markyia McCormick added 15 points in her Oakland debut, with seven of her points coming from the free throw line. Kianni Westbrook scored 13 points while Brooke Quarles-Daniels and Alexis Johnson rounded out the double-digit scores with 12 and 11 points respectively.
 
After building a 9-4 lead, Akron went on a 7-0 run with 5:28 left in the first quarter, with a Zips three pointer to take an 11-9 lead. The Golden Grizzlies responded tying things up at 17-all heading into the second quarter.
 
Oakland (1-0, 0-0 HL) entered halftime up five, 35-30 sparked by a steady offense in the second quarter, shooting 80 percent, going 8-of-10 from the floor.
 
Oakland led by as much as 11, 53-42, with under a minute remaining in the third quarter, but Akron turned it up offensively scoring 24 fourth quarter points, including the tying bucket to bring it to 70-70 with just eight ticks remaining in regulation to force overtime.
 
The Golden Grizzlies trailed by as much as three in the second overtime, but a Johnson triple tied things back up at 83-83. The Black and Gold never trailed by more than three points all game. Two good free throws by McCormick sealed the deal to give Oakland the double overtime victory.
 
Defensively, Oakland was able to force 23 turnovers scoring 27 points off Akron's miscues. Oakland shot 47 percent (31-66) on the night and 33 percent (6-18) from long-range.
 
Akron's Reagan Bass scored a game-high 33 points, going 12-22 from the floor.
 
Oakland will continue its road swing with in-state foe Michigan State Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 6:30 p.m. from the Breslin Center. Wednesday's game will be broadcast on B1G+.