The Oakland women’s basketball team kicked off its regular season in exciting fashion, dealing the Cleary University Cougars a 90-32 loss with the stands packed with middle school students for Oakland’s School Day.
“It was insane,” Oakland head coach Keisha Newell said regarding the Oakland crowd. “Just imagine if we got those fans for every single home game. So it was something for us to try to aspire to get to, but it was awesome. The energy was insane. I couldn’t hear myself think.”
Cali Denson led the Golden Grizzlies in scoring with a career-high, shooting an efficient 72.7% from the field on her way to 21 points off the bench. Filippa Goula also had a solid showing, stuffing the stat sheet with 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Goula got things started for Oakland early in the first as the Golden Grizzlies’ stifling defense forced the Cougars into multiple bad looks from the field, leading to an easy transition layup for Goula.
As the first continued, the Golden Grizzlies’ defense kept getting the better of the Cougars. Through Cleary’s first ten possessions, the Cougars committed six turnovers as the Golden Grizzlies jumped ahead to 9-3.
Oakland’s hot start on the defensive end gave the team a ton of momentum moving through the first as the Golden Grizzlies’ lead ballooned to 27-5 to end the first. Notably, at the end of the first, Oakland forced the Cougars into more turnovers than Cleary could get off shot attempts.
With the second quarter underway, the Golden Grizzlies continued to find success in transition scoring. Denson and Makenzie Luehring both made quick work of a lax Cougar defense, as both players got easy looks in the paint through the quarter’s first two minutes.
Towards the end of the second, the Golden Grizzlies established it was their game to lose as Denson kick-started an 11-0 run in the final two minutes of the half to give Oakland a 48-11 lead heading into the break.
From the box score at half, Oakland’s tough defense stood out like a sore thumb. The Cougars were held to 15.4% (4-for-26) from the field, while the Golden Grizzlies knocked down 51.3% (20-for-39) of their shots. Additionally, the Cougars committed 15 turnovers to Oakland’s four.
In the third quarter, the Golden Grizzlies continued to attack the paint with force, while the Cougars struggled to find any consistency. All but three of Oakland’s 21 third-quarter points came from inside the paint or at the free-throw line.
During the final quarter, Cleary showed some more competitiveness down the stretch, especially offensively, but there was no chance of them making a comeback as the Golden Grizzlies came out on top 90-32.
Up next, the Golden Grizzlies will have a quick turnaround as they look to keep their momentum up in a road game against the Wisconsin Badgers on Nov. 5. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 pm EST, and the game will be livestreamed on Big Ten Plus.
Takeaways
This iteration of the Golden Grizzlies looks much more relaxed on offense so far, and that’s thanks to their improved spacing. The last couple of seasons, the team felt more stagnant on offense due to poor spacing, leading to some offensive lapses at times.
This different offensive strategy is what likely led to Oakland’s multiple runs in this game. The Golden Grizzlies had three runs in this game that featured the team scoring four consecutive baskets, with all three coming in different quarters.
From a roster standpoint, Luehring and Goula complemented each other well as the starters in this backcourt. Goula sees the game two steps ahead at times, and Leuhring meshes well as a three-level scorer.
“They (Luehring and Goula) exemplify what we want on the defensive end, and those two together are a one-two punch,” Newell said.
The offensive jolt Denson provided off the bench was a breath of fresh air, and perhaps, not even that surprising. Denson joined this Oakland roster last season but missed the entire year due to injury. As a freshman at Eastern Michigan, Denson showed signs of emerging as a reliable scorer, and as far as her debut as a Golden Grizzly in this game, she wasted no time showing she can bring that offensive spark.
“I was just proud because she’s been through so much, she hasn’t played in a real game in over a year, so it was great we were able to get her a bunch of minutes so she can just feel comfortable again out there,” Newell said of Denson.
Defensively, Oakland fans could not have asked for a more promising start for this Golden Grizzlies team. In the previous two meetings between Oakland and Cleary, the Cougars mustered at least a 50-point performance.
With Oakland holding the Cougars to just 32 points, 16 of which came in the fourth quarter, it will be interesting to see how this Newell-led Golden Grizzlies team will perform defensively throughout the rest of the season.
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