Oakland survives fourth-quarter push from Milwaukee, defeats Panthers

BROCK HEILIG Sports Editor

The Oakland women’s basketball team hosted the Milwaukee Panthers at the O’rena on Friday, Feb. 3, as the two teams fought for a position in the Horizon League standings. Both teams entered the contest at 5-7, and Oakland was able to escape with a close victory to take full control of seventh place in the league.

Brooke Quarles-Daniels, Breanne Beatty, Alexis Johnson and Kennedie Montue all finished in double-figures for the Golden Grizzlies in what was a really solid, all-around team win.

Things certainly didn’t start out as head coach Jeff Tungate would have hoped, as Oakland fell behind by 10 points less than five minutes into the game. However, Oakland still had plenty of time to play catch up, which it did in impressive time.

The Golden Grizzlies followed up the 10-point deficit with a 10-0 run over just 1:16 of game time, and the score was suddenly tied.

Milwaukee stretched its lead back to as many as nine points later in the first quarter, but Oakland closed the deficit to only four points by the end of the 10-minute quarter. It was an abnormally highscoring quarter, and both teams were on track to score well into the 80’s.

The script was flipped in the second quarter, though.

After the teams combined for 48 points in the first quarter, they combined for just 20 in what seemed to be a complete anomaly of a second quarter. Milwaukee finished with six second-quarter points, and it went scoreless over the last 5:44. The Panthers shot just 2-9 from the floor, 0-4 from deep and turned the ball over six times in the second quarter.

Oakland likely could have taken better advantage of Milwaukee’s horrific stretch, but the Golden Grizzlies were still able to flip a four-point deficit into a four-point lead going into the second half.

The lids came off the baskets in the third quarter, and Oakland began to stretch its lead. It got as high as 11 points, but Milwaukee trimmed that lead to seven by the end of the third quarter.

With 4:23 to go in the game, Milwaukee’s Grace Crowley made a layup to tie the game at 63. The Panthers hung around for the remainder of the game, but Oakland showed great resilience as it closed things out.

Quarles-Daniels and Beatty each finished with 16 points, while Montue and Johnson finished with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

“We made plays when we needed to. They stepped up and made plays, now we need to get stops when we need to,” Tungate said. “Our defense wasn’t real good tonight, but we made the plays we needed to make — that’s a huge win against a good Milwaukee team.”

“Our defense has to be better, obviously,” Tungate continued. “We got killed inside today on a lot of high-low feeds and stuff like that, so our defense has got to pick up.”

Currently, Oakland is just one game out of fifth place in the conference, which would earn the Golden Grizzlies a bye in the league tournament starting later in February.

Kampe: Oakland ‘didn’t come to play’ in 83-72 loss to Purdue Fort Wayne

Brock Heilig

Sports Editor

The Oakland men’s basketball team welcomed the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons to the O’rena on Thursday, Feb. 2, as the team looked to end its two game losing skid. Unfortunately for the Golden Grizzlies, the previously 6-6 Mastodons came to play, and they defeated Oakland on the blacktop, 83-72.

It was a rough game for Coach Greg Kampe’s team, which now slides into a three-game losing skid. The Golden Grizzlies never led on Thursday, and although they showed some fight at the end, it was still a bad blemish on an already unimpressive resumé.

Oakland fell behind by nine points less than four minutes into the game, but an impressive burst on their part then tied the game at 13 with 12:49 to go.

The Mastodons continued to fight, however, and they quickly put Oakland right back in a sizable hole. By the end of the first half, Oakland found itself down seven at home to a team that was a game behind in the Horizon League standings.

Oakland shot terribly from beyond the arc in the first half, shooting just 1-10 from distance. Despite the cold first half from Oakland, Purdue Fort Wayne didn’t exactly shoot the lights out, either, and the Golden Grizzlies were still in position to make a second-half comeback.

However, the Mastodons scored the first eight points of the second half, and they quickly built themselves a 15-point lead.

Jalen Moore did everything he could, but the visiting Mastodons wouldn’t give up any ground as they maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half.

Oakland cut the lead to four points with 51 seconds to go, but Purdue Fort Wayne was able to hold on to secure the victory.

Moore finished with 28 points on 7-22 shooting, including a perfect 12-12 from the free throw line. Junior forward Trey Townsend recorded a doubledouble with 14 points and 14 rebounds in 40 minutes.

“We got what we deserved,” Kampe said after the loss. “We did not come to play — that’s the first time I can sit here and say that, all year. And it’s really disappointing to me, because there was a lot on the line tonight, a lot at stake. We still had a chance to win the conference — we still had a chance to be a top four team.”

Despite Kampe’s disappointment, Oakland’s chances of winning the conference are not mathematically impossible, yet, and the Golden Grizzlies currently find themselves just two games out of fourth place in the league.

With seven regular-season games left, Moore knows it’s now or never. The fifth-year senior is currently in his final year of eligibility, and this is his last chance to have a shot at playing in the NCAA Tournament.

“Honestly, it’s just ‘how bad do we want it?’” Moore said. “I think I’ve been through this, two years, back-to-back years where we started off pretty hot and then towards the end of the season we just let it fade away. And, me being a leader, I can’t let that happen anymore.”