Thursday, March 31, 2011

Women’s Basketball 2010-11 Top 10 Highlights: No. 5-1



No. 5 – Third Straight Postseason Conference Tournament Victory


For the third-straight season, head coach Autumn Rademacher and the Titans advanced in the Horizon League Championships as Detroit defeated Valparaiso, 59-50, in the first round. Under coach Rademacher, UDM has always been ready to play once the conference tournament comes around as the red, white and blue downed Loyola in 2009 in the first round and Wright State last year in the quarterfinals.

All three wins have been in the friendly confines of Calihan Hall.

UDM was led by sophomore Cherridy Thornton's game and career-high 25 points, as the Detroit native was hitting from all over the court, ending the game 9-of-16 from the field, including 6-of-11 from three-point range. She also grabbed six rebounds and had three assists and three steals.

The Titans would just not let their season end as they trailed by 11, 35-24, at the 17:52 mark in the second half, but then went on a massive 25-6 run over the next nine minutes to take a lead they would never give up. Detroit hit 10-of-15 shots during the run, which saw Thornton tally 14 points on four triples and a layup.

Highlights of the victory

No. 4 – Titans Go Into Hinkle Fieldhouse And Pull Out Win

It was a team effort from the very start as the Titans braved the winter conditions – an ice storm that saw them leave a day early – and played together as a team to end a 12-game losing streak to the Butler Bulldogs, 55-51.

Butler came into the game at 8-1 in the Horizon League, just a game out of first, but UDM saw all eight players who played score to earn the win.

Sophomore Cherridy Thornton the way with a game-high 14 points, while sophomore Yar Shayok had 12 points and nine rebounds.

After withstanding an earlier Butler charge, Detroit came back to take a lead, but the game would be tied at 25-all at the half.

The Titans were up by one, 33-32, with 16:10 to go in the second period, when Detroit took the lead for good with a 13-3 run over the next six minutes to jump out in front, 46-35. Butler got within two on a few occasions, but the red, white and blue never let the Bulldogs regain the lead.

Highlights of the victory.

No. 3 – Dixon’s Monster Weekend

It was raining buckets and the storm that was passing went by the name Dominique Dixon as the sophomore netted back-to-back 30-point games on the road at nationally-ranked Green Bay and at Milwaukee.
Dixon was simply spectacular going for 31 at Green Bay and 32 at Milwaukee. She was a career-best 12-of-18 from the field against the Phoenix, with three 3-pointers, and then went 11-of-16 from the field with a career-high six triples against the Panthers.

With the back-to-back 30-point outings, she became just the second player in school history to tally two-straight games with 30 or more with the other nearly 30 years ago in Cheryl Williams during the 1981-82 season. It was also Detroit’s first 30-point outing since Molly Peterman had 35 against UIC in 2002.

For the week, Dixon averaged 31.5 points hitting 67% from the field (23-of-34), 69% from three (9-of-13) and 88% at the free throw line (8-of-9) as Detroit cruised past Milwaukee, 90-76, and nearly defeated No. 21 Green Bay, falling 69-62.
For her efforts, she was named the National Jesuit Player Of The Week by the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight on Jan. 6.
No. 2 – Titans Rally To Take Win Away From Eastern Michigan

The saying "It ain't over till it's over" was never more convincing then on Dec. 8, 2010, as the Titans went from losing a game to the victors in six minutes, upending in-state rival Eastern Michigan, 62-60.

Detroit had a lead early, but an 8-0 run to end the first half gave Eastern Michigan a 29-28 lead at the intermission. The lead changed hands a few times in the opening minutes of the second half, but EMU would eventually garb the lead and extend it to 12, 57-45, with 6:05 left in the contest.

That is when Detroit turned the tables to stun the EMU crowd.

Detroit was down by a dozen when the Titans turned outscored the Eagles 17-3 down the stretch.

Junior Lauren Allen had a team-high 14 points and six assists, while sophomore Dominique Dixon added 13 points and sophomore Demeisha Fambro chipped in 12.

It was the biggest second-half comeback in Titan history behind a 15-point turnaround against Southwest Texas (now known as Texas State) on Dec. 22, 1997. In that contest, Detroit trailed by 15 at the half, 36-21, but came back to win, 56-53.

No. 1 – Detroit Beats Michigan In Ann Arbor

Detroit led from the very start as the Titans did not something they had not done since 1983 – defeat Michigan on the road – as UDM was simply dominant in a 67-48 victory.

The win ended a six-game slide to the Wolverines as the Titans earned their first win over their in-state rivals since 1994. The win was the first for UDM in head coach Autumn Rademacher’s three-year tenure against the Big Ten – Detroit was 0-4 prior to the outcome – and was also the first win for Detroit against a “BCS” school on the road since the Titans defeated Miami, 78-77, in 1995.

Sophomore Dominique Dixon tallied a game and then career-best 20 point going 7-of-14 from the field and 4-of-6 from behind the arc.

Three other Titans scored in double digits as junior Jalesa Jones had 13 points, six rebounds and four assists, junior Lauren Allen had 11 markers, four boards and three assists, while sophomore Cherridy Thornton netted 11 points and pulled down six caroms.

Sophomore Yar Shayok posted a game-high14 boards and just missed a double-double ending with eight points.

Detroit held Michigan to just 30 percent from the field, including 25 percent in the first half, as well as just 6-of-30 (20%) from three-point range. The Titans also dominated the boards by the tune of a 47-30 margin.

Detroit led from the very start, but put the game away with a 14-2 run in the second half. Up by six, 45-39, with 8:05 left in the game, the Titans scored seven straight to go up by 13, 52-39. Detroit would later increase its lead to as many as 21, 67-46, before the horn sounded for the 19-point victory.

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