Saturday, January 25, 2003

Oakland rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to defeat Valparaiso 53-46 on Saturday afternoon in Rochester, Mich.

The Crusaders struggled shooting from the floor all afternoon going just 1-for-14 (7.1%) from three-point range while connecting on just 31.6% (18-of-57) of their total attempts in the contest.

Both teams started slowly with Valpo holding the Golden Grizzlies without a field goal for the first 6:43 of the game. The Crusaders were not shooting well early either, though, connecting on just one of their first ten attempts.

The low-scoring first half saw the Jenna Stangler (St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville H.S.) tally nine of the Crusaders 24 points in the first stanza as the Brown and Gold took a 24-19 lead into intermission.

After Katie Wolfe cut the lead to three on the first possession of the second half, Valpo reeled off five straight points capped off by a conventional three-point play by Jeanette Gray (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso H.S.) to build Valpo's largest lead of the game, 29-21, with 17:53 to play.

Jayme Wilson hit three three-pointers in a four possession stretch to key a 21-7 Oakland run turning the eight-point deficit into a 42-36 lead for the hosts with 9:59 to play.

The Crusaders answered with six straight points to tie the game, capped off with a fast-break lay-in by Meredith Baugher (Berea, Ohio/Berea H.S.), but Oakland tallied eight of the next ten points to pull away and record the victory.

Valpo made just one basket in the game's final 7:15 as the Crusaders fell to 9-8 overall, 2-2 in the Mid-Continent Conference.

Stangler led the Crusaders with her first career double-double, tallying 13 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Gray added 11 points, while Katie Boone (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove H.S.) added ten points and seven boards.

Anne Hafeli led Oakland (5-11, 1-3 Mid-Con) with 15 points, while Wilson added 12 and Wolfe chipped in 11 more. Amanda Batcha grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

Valpo will conclude their roadtrip on Monday evening in Indianapolis with a 6 p.m. CST contest against IUPUI.