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UNLEASH THE GRIZZ

Oakland University Athletics

Scoreboard

Wbb celebration
51
Cleary Cleary 0-1
95
Winner Oakland Oak 1-1,0-0 Horizon
Cleary Cleary
0-1
51
Final
95
Oakland Oak
1-1,0-0 Horizon
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Cleary Cleary 12 20 6 13 51
Oakland Oak 25 28 22 20 95

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Jordan Nelson

Smith Rains from Deep as Oakland Blows Out Cleary in Home Opener

ROCHESTER, Mich. - Oakland kicked off action on The Blacktop in style as they earned a convincing victory over Cleary at home to move to 1-1 on the season.

The Golden Grizzlies came out the gate aggressive on both ends, swarming and double teaming the Cougars on defense while getting touches into the paint against the Cougars zone defense, as Maddy Skorupski and Dani Grim both knocked down a pair of midrange shots to kick off the game.

Oakland also crashed the offensive boards early with four of their first six boards coming on the offensive end, including one by Madison Royal-Davis leading to  a Cleary foul as Oakland trailed 8-6 with six minutes left in the opening quarter.

Right out of the first media timeout the Golden Grizzlies turned up the pressure, creating multiple steals on defense, leading to a 16-2 run, lifted by eight Macy Smith points and capped off by a pair of Baxter layups as Oakland ended the quarter with a 25-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

A stifling defensive quarter sparked the Oakland momentum as Cleary was held to 4-14 shooting (.286) in the quarter, compared to an over .500 shooting quarter (9-of-17 FG) from the Golden Grizzlies. Oakland also swatted four shots, two each from Baxter and Royal-Davis as Oakland owned the paint early.

Macy Smith scorched the court with eight points (2-of-4 3FG) in the opening frame, while Skorupski tallied six early points (2-of-4 FG).

After a Leah Bullard layup extended the Oakland run to begin the second quarter, the Cougars responded with a 5-0 run of their own as a Rylee Thomas layup cut the Oakland lead to 10 (17-27) with 8:20 left in the half.

Smith would continue to torch the Cougars, hitting her third three-pointer of the half as she extended Oakland's lead to 34-19 with 6:27 remaining. Royal-Davis would score her seventh point of the night with a tough putback layup as Oakland capped off a 9-2 spurt to go up 36-19 with 5:35 left in the second quarter.

Before the end of the half Oakland would go on another tear, this time 10-0 with the catalyst once again being Smith as she knocked down another pair of triples as the Golden Grizzlies led 48-27 with 2:33 left in the half.

After a few more traded buckets on each side, Oakland would lead 53-32 at halftime.

The Golden Grizzlies shot over .600 from the floor (19-of-31 FG) while also going 4-15 on threes (.400), while outscoring Cleary in the paint 22-16.

Smith dominated in the opening 20 minutes, tallying a career-high 17 points, making five threes in the first half, also a career-high. Royal-Davis added 11 first half points on a perfect 4-4 shooting.

On the defensive side we saw much of what Oakland excelled in last season, creating turnovers as they forced Cleary into 14 turnovers, snagging seven steals, leading to 27 points off turnovers and 10 fastbreak points.

The second half started no differently than the first as Oakland started the half on a 15-0 run as a pair of Buckley free throws stamped the run to give the Golden Grizzlies a 68-32 lead with 5:35 left in the third. During the run Smith, Grim, and Buckley each amassed four points while Oakland held Cleary to miss their first seven shots over the first half of the quarter.

The Cougars would also put Oakland in the bonus early in the quarter, giving Oakland free throws for the rest of the period as Oakland shot 12 total in the third quarter (7-of-12 FT), helping their lead balloon to 37 points (75-38) at the end of the quarter as they outscored Cleary 22-6 in the frame.

With the game all but put away headed into the final quarter, Oakland would use some solid final frame play from Sereniti Roberts-Adams (6 points) and Jaidyn Elam (10 points, 7 rebounds) to finish with a 95-51  victory in their home opener.

Ball movement, uptempo play, and active defense led the Golden Grizzlies to this victory, ending the game shooting just shy of .500 (33-of-68 FG) while nailing 11 threes (11-of-31 3FG). 

Three other players joined Elam scoring in double-digits. Skorupski ended the game with 11 points (4-of-9 FG), three steals, five assists, and four rebounds. Royal Davis also finished with 11 points (4-of-4 FG) to go with two blocks and four rebounds. Smith was the star of the game, ending with a career and game-high 23 points (8-of-12 FG) while hitting six shots from deep (6-of-10 3FG).

Looking to keep the momentum swinging, the Golden Grizzlies head to West Point, N.Y. on Tuesday, Nov. 12 to take on Army.
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