Slow Start Sinks Oakland in 84-64 Loss to Purdue Fort Wayne

On Friday, January 2nd, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies women’s basketball team fell to the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons, with a final score of 84-64 inside the OU Credit Union O’rena.

The loss moves Oakland’s record to 4-10 on the season and 1-3 in conference play, keeping the Golden Grizzlies in the bottom five of the Horizon League standings.

Lianna Baxter led the Golden Grizzlies in scoring, putting up 15 points, along with a team-high six rebounds. Angie Smith and Layla Gold joined Baxter as the three Oakland players to score in double figures, with Smith and Gold tallying 13 points apiece. 

As for Purdue Fort Wayne, the Mastodons were led by Alana Nelson, who led the team in scoring with 24 points. Lili Krasovec also had a solid game for Purdue Fort Wayne, finishing with 15 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Purdue Fort Wayne had the hot hand at the start of this matchup, forcing their way inside the paint, as the Mastodons jumped to an early 7-0 lead. Baxter stopped the bleeding moments later, knocking down a three for Oakland’s first points of the game.

Despite Baxter’s three, the Mastodons’ physicality on both sides of the court caused one issue after another for the Golden Grizzlies. As the Mastodon defense stood tall, they continued to find looks down low. Notably, Purdue Fort Wayne’s first 15 points came from the paint or at the free-throw line.

With the first quarter coming to a close, the Mastodons found some wide-open opportunities for three, which the team converted as the Oakland defense shifted more inside, looking to prevent Mastodon looks down low. As for the Golden Grizzlies, Jasmine Dupree-Hebert and Gold supplied some offense, but the Mastodons’ consistency on offense gave them an early 24-8 advantage at the end of the period.

As the second quarter got underway, the Golden Grizzlies showed some improvement offensively, taking advantage of some slow defensive rotations from the Mastodons, as Makenzie Luehring cashed in on two layups early in the quarter.

Oakland’s offense continued to roll the rest of the second; however, so did the Mastodons’ offense to an extent, as the Golden Grizzlies took away a lot of Purdue Fort Wayne’s looks in the paint. Although Oakland played a much more sound quarter compared to their opening ten minutes, the Golden Grizzlies went into halftime down 17 points, as the Mastodons led 42-25.

Entering the break, Purdue Fort Wayne shot a blistering 59.3% (16-for-27) from the field while Oakland made just 28.6% (10-for-35) of their looks. From deep, the Mastodons made 62.5% (5-for-8) of their threes while the Golden Grizzlies shot at a 17.6% (3-for-17) rate from beyond the arc. Despite Oakland’s offensive struggles, the team had the rebound advantage, outrebounding the Mastodons 19-17.

The Golden Grizzlies came out running in the third quarter, converting their first three baskets, leading to a Mastodon timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Purdue Fort Wayne started to run a half-court press on Oakland, slowing down the Golden Grizzlies’ pace while forcing them to take more threes.

As the third quarter continued, both teams remained neck and neck. Any Oakland attempt to cut into the Mastodon lead was quickly met with an answer. Similarly, the Mastodons’ lead didn’t balloon by much at the end of the quarter, as Purdue Fort Wayne led 61-41 to end the third.

In the fourth and final quarter, Purdue Fort Wayne continued to roll, shutting the door on any Golden Grizzly comeback attempt as the Mastodons came away victorious, defeating Oakland 84-64. 

Up next, the Golden Grizzlies will take a quick road trip to take on the Youngstown State Penguins on Monday, January 5th, with a tip-off scheduled for 6:30 pm. The Penguins will prove to be a tough test for the Golden Grizzlies, as Youngstown State ranks near the top of the Horizon League standings.

Takeaways

This game felt over as soon as the first quarter ended for the Golden Grizzlies. Although the team was outscored in every quarter except the fourth, where both Oakland and Purdue Fort Wayne put up 23 points, making up a 16-point deficit is undoubtedly a challenge.

That challenge becomes even harder with injuries. 

Oakland’s leading scorer, Cali Denson, was once again absent in this matchup as she tends to a knee injury. Joining Denson was Filippa Goula, who is another mainstay of this Oakland roster, as Goula has started in every game except one this season.

Without Denson and Goula, the Oakland offense fell flat at times, especially when they weren’t generating turnovers on offense. The Golden Grizzlies looked somewhat lost on multiple offensive possessions following a Mastodon score, oftentimes taking up the full shot clock just to take a tightly contested shot.

All-in-all, the Golden Grizzlies need Denson and Goula back healthy to stay competitive this season. Until then, Oakland will look to Dupree-Hebert, who made her first start this season, and Luehring to step up in place.