ROCHESTER, Mich. – The last of four consecutive contests at the O'rena, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies were defeated by the Green Bay Phoenix, 70-50, on Sunday, February 5.

The Golden Grizzlies are now 11-12 and 6-8 in the Horizon League, tying them with the Milwaukee Panthers for seventh in the conference standings.

Picking up their fifth consecutive victory, Green Bay improves to 19-4 and 12-2 in Horizon League action, keeping them even with the Youngstown State Penguins atop the conference leaderboard.

Junior Alexis Johnson and freshman Brooke Quarles-Daniels paced Oakland with 10 points apiece, with senior Breanne Beatty adding eight and emerging sophomore Aaliyah McQueen tallied seven and four rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench.

Four Phoenix players scored in double figures, led by sophomore guard Bailey Butler with a game-high 16 points and followed by classmate Jasmine Kondrakiewicz and senior Sydney Levy, both of whom had 14.

Green Bay held a nine-point margin, 19-10, at the end of the first quarter and was able to up it to 13, 41-28, by the halftime break. The Golden Grizzlies won the rebounding battle, 38-32, but the Phoenix doubled Oakland up in assists, 16-8.

HELEN-SHEREDA SMITH HALFTIME CEREMONY
During the halftime break, Director of Athletics Steve Waterfield was joined on the floor by 1980 Oakland University graduate and standout women's basketball player Helen Shereda-Smith for a ceremony to recognize her career, which still holds multiple program records, and unveil a banner with her No. 31 on the western wall of the O'rena.

Making the day even better for Shereda-Smith, she was joined by her husband, Greg Smith, as well as their children, grandchildren and other family members.

Oakland University played a video on the scoreboard featuring tributes from both head coach Jeff Tungate and former Director of Athletics Corey Van Fleet and Waterfield and Shereda-Smith both delivered great speeches to the crowd recognizing this historic achievement.

Historic is the appropriate word here because although Shereda-Smith is the sixth banner to hang forever in the O'rena, she is the first to represent the 49-year history of the women's basketball program as the previous five all starred for Greg Kampe's men's teams.

Shortly before the Golden Grizzlies and Green Bay reemerged from their locker rooms to begin the third quarter, Shereda-Smith made the few steps up a ladder and pulled down the black curtain herself to unveil her banner to the applause of the more than 380 in attendance.

UP NEXT
Hitting the road for the first time since a January 22 date with the IUPUI Jaguars, Oakland will head to Youngstown, Ohio to battle the Penguins at the Beeghly Center on Thursday, February 9 at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ (subscription required).

Youngstown State is in third place in the Horizon League at 16-7 overall and 10-4 in conference play.

As an interesting note that is almost certainly unrelated to Thursday's action, the retirement of Youngstown State University President Jim Tressel, 70, became official on Wednesday, February 1.

A recognizable name to college football fans, Tressel won four then-Division I-AA National Championships with the Penguins before succeeding John Cooper in Columbus and winning 106 games and the 2002 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship with the Ohio State Buckeyes from 2001-10.