Rochester, Mich - Oakland was able to pull off their second straight upset of a top-ranked Horizon League team, falling short against Cleveland State at home.

Oakland started the game strong, responding to Cleveland State's game-opening bucket with a 8-0 run as Brooke Quarles-Daniels used a steal and coast-to-coast layup (7:33) and a free throw to put Oakland up 8-2 with 5:39 left in the opening quarter.

The Golden Grizzlies defense flustered Cleveland State, much like it did Green bay, as Oakland forced four Viking turnovers in the first five minutes of the game, forcing several shot clock violations and drawing charges forcing Cleveland State to hesitate in their decision-making.

Linda Van Schaik reached eight points early in the quarter, hitting back-to-back triples to put Oakland up 14-6 with 2:51 remaining in the first. Miriam Ibezim would extend the Oakland lead to double-digits with a crafty up-and-under post move, making the score 16-6 with 1:23 remaining.

Cleveland State fought back into range, scoring six points in the final minute of the opening quarter. Oakland's Maddy Skorupski knocked in a corner triple with just 16 seconds left, but Shadiya Thomas responded with a jumper of her own with a single second left on the clock, cutting Oakland's lead to seven as they entered the second quarter up 19-12.

Three of Oakland's seven makes were from deep in the first, going 3-of-5 (.600) from beyond the arc. Two of those came from Van Schaik as Oakland's offense continued to ride the groove they established last time out.

Oakland's offense came a bit more sparingly to start the second. While still shooting an efficient 2-of-3 in the first five minutes, it wasn't the normal volume of shots that the Golden Grizzlies put up. On the other side, Cleveland State warmed up a bit, starting 3-of-5 from the field and getting to the free throw line frequently.

Despite drawing fouls, the Vikings were very inefficient from the stripe, going 5-of-13 (.385) in the quarter.

Looking to warm back up, it was Van Schaik again who would catch the hot hand, scoring back-to-back buckets again, reaching 13 points and keeping Oakland in the lead at 28-23 with 3:45 left in the first half.

The remainder of the quarter became a back-and-forth affair, as the teams traded essentially every bucket, responding to the opponent's scoring. Cleveland State would finish the half with a 5-0 strike, cutting Oakland's lead to just two at half, as the Golden Grizzlies took a 34-32 lead into halftime.

Van Schaik led all scorers with 13 points (5-of-7 3FG) while Quarles-Daniels also ended the half in double-figures with 11 points (5-of-8 FG) and five rebounds. The pair accounted for almost ¾ of Oakland's first half points, helping the Golden Grizzlies shoot efficient marks of .400 (4-of-10) from three and .467 (14-of-30) in the first half.

Oakland's burst to start the game gave them a good cushion throughout the half, staving off any comeback attempts from the Vikings. A second half that reflected the first would put Oakland in prime position to come away with another huge conference win.

The Vikings continued to battle, and at the start of the second half they took their first lead since the game was 2-0, as a Mickayla Perdue layup put Cleveland State up 36-34 with 9:12 left in the quarter.

Ibezim would spark a fire under the Golden Grizzlies, hitting a free throw followed by an and-one layup with 7:49 left to start the scoring in the second half.

Cleveland State heated up on offense as well, going on a 10-0 run, largely scoring on post ups as their points in the paint totals rose to 30. After a triple from Perdue, Cleveland State would make the double-digit lead their own, going up 49-37 with 4:07 left in the third quarter. Markyia McCormick shut down the run, responding with a triple of her own to bring Oakland back within eight (40-48) with 3:25 left in the quarter.

After only hitting two threes all game, the Viking went 3-of-4 (.750) from deep in the third quarter alone on the back of three triples and 13 points in the frame by Perdue, using their offense to go up 58-43 headed into the fourth. Oakland had their worst shooting quarter of the night, shooting just 3-of-15 (.200) in the quarter.

With a critical run needed by the Golden Grizzlies, Maddy Skorupski provided the urgency needed from the Golden Grizzlies after a cold third quarter. The Sophomore guard opened up the quarter with a pair of steals in the first two minutes, tying her career high in steals (4) and creating the fastbreak scoring opportunities Oakland lives on, scoring six quick points as Oakland trailed 67-54 with 6:50 remaining.

Even with a 10 point quarter from Skorupski, Oakland was unable to claw all the way back, falling 77-65 to Cleveland State.

Oakland forced the Vikings into 23 turnovers, their normal high rate, but were outscored 15 to 17 on points off turnovers.

Despite a loss, five Golden Grizzlies scored in double figures. Quarles-Daniels led the way with 15 points (7-of-12), three steals, and seven rebounds. Van Schaik ended with 14 points (5-of-12), and Skorupski finished with 13 points (5-of-11) to go along with a career-high seven steals. Ibezim added 10 points to the mix along with four rebounds.

Oakland was unable to stop the shooting of Perdue, who knocked down a game-high six triples on her way to 24 points.

"Our girls are resilient. They are fighters. It's a game of runs and Cleveland (State) had more than we did. The third quarter is what hurt us tonight. If we play four quarters well, I think it's a different ball game," said Acting Head Coach Deanna Richard. 

Excluding the third quarter, Oakland outscored Cleveland State 56-51and shot 22-of-48 (.459) from the floor.

"We lost our enthusiasm and our energy. We thrive on that kind of thing and when our energy goes down, we go down. We need that excitement in our game and tenacity  that we just didn't have in that quarter".



The Golden Grizzlies prepare to play their first road game in eighteen days as they head to Indiana to take on IUPUI on Sunday, Jan. 28 at 4 p.m.

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