ROCHESTER, Mich. - Oakland headed into Green Bay looking for more of the magic that helped them upset the Phoenix just over a month ago, looking to fight for higher seeding as the postseason grows closer.
The Golden Grizzlies opened to a slow start, falling behind 7-0 early behind a cold 0-of-6 start. Even while on a run, Green Bay struggled to start the game as well, going just 3-of-11 to start the game.
Linda Van Schaik broke the Phoenix run, knocking in the first Oakland points of the night with a corner three as Oakland trailed 3-7 with 5:29 left in the first quarter.
The defense of Oakland held up strong, rotating with quickness and urgency, forcing the Phoenix to many long possessions, but the offense stayed cold as the Golden Grizzlies had one of their lowest scoring quarters of the season, trailing 5-18 at the end of one.
Oakland's offense created good, open looks, the shots just weren't falling in the first ten minutes.
The Golden Grizzlies kept pushing forward as the second quarter began, starting the quarter with two high-quality defensive possessions that ended in a tough Green Bay shot at the end of the shot clock after a Cam Grant block, and a forced jump ball.
Jasmine Dupree-Hebert broke the cold spell offensively for Oakland early in the quarter as well, draining a three from the left wing as Oakland trended upwards, still trailing 18-8 with 8:09 left in the first half.
Green Bay responded with a 6-0 stint, but Brooke Quarles-Daniels continued her assertive play, knocking down a pair of free throws to make the score 11-27 in favor of Green Bay with 3:53 left in the second quarter.
Oakland manufactured a good portion of their points from the charity stripe, going 5-of-8 (.625) in the first half, outshooting the Phoenix who went 2-of-5 (.400) from the stripe in the opening half as the Golden Grizzlies remained behind 14-33 as the half came to a close.
All of Oakland's field goals in the first half came from deep, with Kennedie Montue adding a triple to the sheet, following Van Schaik and Dupree-Hebert. Quarles-Daniels and Van Schaik led the way for Oakland with four points apiece in the first half.
Defensively, Oakland held Green Bay to .378 (14-of-37) shooting from the floor, but without the offensive rhythm to support the other side of the ball it was tough to close the gap.
After a quiet first half, Markyia McCormick came out strong in the third quarter, scoring five consecutive points for Oakland as she drained a triple with 8:36 left in the third quarter, pulling the Golden Grizzlies back into the game slowly, now down 19-35.
After a Van Schaik layup with 5:24 left in the quarter, Oakland started the second half 4-of-7 (.571) from the floor, making more field goals in the five minute window to start the second half than they did in the entire first half. With a rhythm developing offensively, it would be on the defense of the Golden Grizzlies to string together stops if a comeback was truly in the works.
Even with Oakland picking up the pace in the scoring column, Green Bay continued to run in transition and push the ball ahead for buckets in space, outsourcing Oakland 12-9 in the final five minutes of the quarter behind 8-of-13 (.615) shooting as they led 32-55 with one quarter eft to play.
Oakland did end the quarter with three straight scores, two off of steals as they turned up the pressure defensively, putting on a heavy full court press that sped up Green Bay enough to cause problems for the Phoenix.
Oakland would have their second best scoring quarter of the night, reaching 13 points, but they were unable to mount a comeback as they split the season series with the Phoenix, fallingÂ
45-74 at the Kress Center.
Oakland shot under .300 from the floor for just the third time this season, never fully being able to catch any kind of momentum from the field, with their best chance having come in the third quarter where they were outscored by just four points (18-22) and shot 8-of-16 (.500) from the field.
"We struggled to score on the first half hitting only three field goals. I thought we turned it around in the second half but the deficit in the first was too much to dig out of," said Acting Head Coach Deanna Richard.
Quarles-Daniels led all Oakland scorers with 11 points (5-of-8 FT) and seven rebounds. Van Schaik was the only other Golden Grizzly to reach double-digits, scoring 10 points (4-of-9).
With just three games left in the regular season, Richard emphasizes it's never too late in the season to learn and turn things around, saying "We must stay together and know that failure is a part of our path to success".
Oakland stays in Wisconsin as they head to Milwaukee on Saturday, Feb. 24 to face the Panthers for their final road game of the regular season.
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