It may still be quite early in conference play, but you won’t have to scroll at all to find the Detroit Mercy women’s basketball team in the standings. At 2-0 in the league after their first two Horizon League tests, the Titans are off to as good of a start as they could have anticipated. While they were off this week, they notched two big-time wins to open league play last week.
First, they took on Cleveland State at home last Thursday night, a team in which they struggled against last season when the Vikings went 27-10. Cleveland State came into the contest at 7-1, and Detroit Mercy was attempting to snap a five-game losing streak that included setbacks against a couple of Big Ten members in Wisconsin and Michigan. Detroit Mercy did just that, as Addisen Mastriano and company took down the Vikings 78-68 in front of the Titan faithful at Calihan Hall.
The sophomore Mastriano was the story of the game. While she has played in a modest reserve role throughout her time in college thus far, she exploded for a career-high 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting in the huge win. Mastriano, who’s tied for the tallest Titan on the roster at 6-3, hadn’t logged double-digit minutes in any of the first six games this season, but was called upon to play 21 minutes to attempt to match-up against Viking 6-4 senior Izabella Zingaro. She showed up in a massive way, making a big difference on both sides of the ball. Mastriano wasn’t alone however, as three other players made their way into double figures for the night. Senior Myonna Hooper had an excellent performance, scoring 12 and pulling down seven rebounds, while senior Jasmine Edwards and junior Makayla Jackson added 11 and 10 points, respectively. They survived a 25-point performance from Vikings senior Colbi Maples, their leading scorer.
The Titans didn’t quite lead wire-to-wire, but it was a game they controlled throughout. They took the opening quarter 23-14, and remained up five heading into the half. They remained steady in the second half, retaining a lead anywhere from four to 12 points for the majority of it. The biggest turning point though, was the response Detroit Mercy had to a Vikings run that brought them their only lead of the second half. An 8-2 spurt that put Cleveland State up 48-47 was quickly answered when the Titans finished the final 4:36 of the third quarter on a 7-0 run. That run extended into the fourth quarter when a Myonna Hooper three-pointer put the Titans up 57-48. The lead got down to four at 62-58 with 3:11 to go, but five straight Addisen Mastriano points pushed the lead back out to nine, and the Titans were able to hang on from there for the 76-68 decision.
Detroit’s College Team then remained at home to take on IU Indy on Sunday. A great game followed, with the Titans outlasting the Jaguars 74-69 in Calihan Hall. A first half managed largely by Detroit Mercy culminated into a 40-34 lead at the break, though they had just led 40-28 minutes before. The Jaguars’ momentum shift lasted into the majority of the third quarter, where they took a 48-45 advantage with 3:11 left in the third, and remained up one (50-49) heading into the final frame. The Titans though, came out of the gates in the fourth quarter on fire, ripping off a 13-3 run that gave them a 62-53 lead with just over four minutes to go. That gave them enough cushion to hang on to the five-point win.
Makayla Jackson and Jasmine Edwards scored 16 points apiece, with seniors Nisea Burrell and Aaliyah McQueen both tacking on 13. A big difference in this one was the battle inside, with the Titans winning that war, outscoring IU Indy 44-28 in the paint.
Head Coach Kiefer Haffey had a lot of good things to say about the way his squad has played for each other and meshed as a team as of late:
“Our team really locked in these last couple weeks on just being good teammates, and being more about each other, and having better energy and positivity for one another.”
“We even talk about that in practice, how it’s not a magic trick. The days that we decide to show up and believe in each other and pour into each other, we’re really good and the days that we maybe don’t feel like it or have poor energy, we won’t be as good. I think they’ve done that so far in conference play.”
Moving forward, the man in charge had one main thing to say about what he wants to see his team clean up or improve upon in the next stretch of games:
“We’ve got to make shots better from the outside overall, [that] being the main thing, but the reality is, [we need to] keep bettering everything, every day.”
One player specifically that has stood out this season has been Jasmine Edwards. She leads the team in scoring, netting 12.4 points per game so far this year, but she’s also been tremendously efficient, shooting it at a 59.1% clip. Those numbers are good for an eight-point improvement from last season and an almost 11 percentage-point advancement. Edwards talked about all the things she worked on in the offseason to help prepare herself for her senior campaign.
“I really focused on consistency this offseason. I wanted to be intentional with my workouts, improving my conditioning, and tightening up my fundamentals. I spent a lot of time on my shot selection, finishing through contact, and understanding the game even better as opposed to rushing plays.”
While there’s been improvement, Edwards still isn’t satisfied and wants to continue to see herself make that next jump:
“Even though I’m playing well, I’m always looking to improve. I really want to keep working on being more vocal and consistent on the defensive end, especially in tough moments.”
“I also take a lot of pride in being a leader. I try to lead by example though my work ethic, attitude, and how I treat my teammates. Being someone others can rely on when things are hard means a lot to me.”
Next Up
Detroit Mercy is back at it this upcoming week, when they go on the road to take on a Robert Morris Colonials team that stands currently at 6-2 on Tuesday. That game will tip off at 6pm in the UPMC Events Center. The Titans will then head to New Orleans to play in the Tulane holiday tournament. They’ll take on Mercer next Saturday, the 20th at 2:30pm at the Devlin Fieldhouse.
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