Detroit, Mich. - Oakland falls in their first Metro Series game this season in an up and down game in Detroit.

Ready to bounce back after their first league loss, Oakland started the game with their usual full court defensive pressure, leading to an immediate steal and score from Quarles-Daniels, adding to her season steals streak early, as she has officially recorded at least one steal in every game this season.

Oakland showed to be maybe a little too aggressive defensively, as Detroit countered the early Oakland score with a 11-0 run, thanks to a lot of off-ball cuts and movement.

Down 2-11 with 5:26 left, Linda Van Schaik would spark a 9-0 run with back-to-back triples. Alexis Johnson would cap off the Oakland run with a corner triple of her own, tying the game at 11 with 4:32 left in the first quarter.

A very back-and-forth opening quarter continued, as Detroit's Amaya Burch hit a floater to close a 9-1 spurt to end the quarter, giving Detroit a 20-12 advantage after the first ten minutes.

Van Schaik's pair of triples made her the leading Oakland scorer with six (2-4 3FG), while guard Imani McNeal led all scorers with seven points (2-2 FG).

In a very defense-heavy first half, including a second quarter where just 15 total points were scored, both teams had to earn each bucket and convert on limited looks. Oakland seemed to be getting good looks by using their size advantage to get deep looks in the post, but they struggled to convert on looks from inside the paint. 

The Golden Grizzlies shot just 6-31 FG (.194FG%) in the first half. All but two of those field goals came from beyond the arc, as Oakland shot 4-13 3FG (.308 3FG%).

Van Schaik continued to carry the Oakland offense in the scoring column, attacking the rim and shooting from deep. The Oakland senior carriedd her hot first quarter into the second, scoring five of the Golden Grizzlies' first six points of the quarter.

After a Van Schaik hit her third triple of the half with 4:32 left in the second quarter, the Detroit lead was cut to six (18-24). Detroit then sparked another run as the Oakland offense continued to stall, this time scoring five unanswered points to boost the Detroit lead to 11 (29-18) at halftime.

The major source of the Titans' run was their rebounding and ability to get into the lane. Detroit outrebounded Oakland 24 to 18 in the first half, establishing a paint presence. They also outscored Oakland 16 to 4 in points in the paint. 

Van Schaik was the only Golden Grizzly to reach double figures in the first half, reaching a game-high 11 points (4-8 FG, 3-5 3FG).

The Oakland defense stumped Detroit at times in the opening half, getting five steals and forcing ten Titans turnovers in the first 20 minutes. The Golden Grizzlies would need their offense to match the pace of their defense to put them in a position to win.

Oakland came out of halftime and showed the intensity and speed that was missing in the first half, continuing to use their ball pressure on defense to create turnovers. 

Quarles-Daniels snatched her second steal and fastbreak score to spark a 11-2 Oakland run. Markyia McCormick would heat up, scoring a left-handed and-one in the lane, while Miriam Ibezim started to dominate in the paint, scoring her own bucket through contact to pull Oakland to within four points (32-36) with 4:15 left in the third quarter.

The momentum shifted in every way for Oakland in the second half, finding their rhythm in attacking the paint. While shooting 4-12 (.333 FG%), the Golden Grizzlies lived at the free throw line in the third frame, taking and making more free throws in the ten minutes out of the half than they did the entire first half (8-15 FT).

McCormick lifted her scoring total up to nine points in the quarter, going 4-8 FT (.500 FT%) as Oakland outscored Detroit 17-13 in the quarter. 

At the start of the fourth quarter, both teams came out looking to make a game-winning push. The Titans bounced back from their cold shooting third quarter and sparked an 8-2 run to start the fourth, as two consecutive threes from Anika Corcoran off of missed defensive rotations from Oakland gave Detroit a 50-37 lead with 7:12 left to play. 

The Golden Grizzlies fought the whole way through, as a Maddy Skorupski corner three (5:55) and a McCormick spinning bucket kept hope alive, as the 5-0 stint closed the Detroit lead to 12 (42-54) with 5:05 left in the game.

The swarming press defense of Oakland began to fluster the Titans, as as they racked up turnovers against Detroit (four in the quarter), the comeback effort was kept alive.

Oakland continued to feed Skorupski late, as she hit a clutch-time triple and layup to cut the Detroit lead to nine (53-62) with 1:06 left in the game.

The late push was too little too late for Oakland, and despite a much more formidable second half, Oakland fell 55-66 at Calihan Hall.

McCormick used her downhill speed to end the game with 13 points (6-10 FT), a team high. Van Schaik (13 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds) and Quarles-Daniels (10 points, 2 steals, 5 rebounds) were the other two double-digit scorers for the Golden Grizzlies. Ibezim (8 points, 5 rebounds) and Skorupski (9 points, 2-4 3FG) also contributed on the scoreboard.

"There's going to be adversity, but we're all buying in and we have to work on little things and fix the details… that's what it boils down to; the little things," said Acting Head Coach Deanna Richard. "I think defensively we got into our zone and forced a lot of turnovers out of that. We also realized we were great coming off of down screens, so we need to work that action more as well".

Oakland continues their schedule as they head to Cincinnati, Ohio to take on Xavier at 12 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 7.



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