OU Women Defeat Rochester, Show Early Season Strengths on the Court

While the difference in competition level between the and women's basketball programs is significant, there are always benefits to be gained for each side in what has become an annual event.

For the eighth time since 1998, the Warriors made the short 5 mile drive to the O'rena Thursday night for a chance to see how they measured up against the Division 1 Golden Grizzlies' team.

The veteran Oakland squad came away with a 74-30 victory in its home opener and at times looked to be in midseason form with just a few games under its belt.

"I think this was a good performance overall by the whole team," Oakland associate head coach Eric Stephan said. "We were very unselfish. I've coached a lot of years and have seen games like this where it gets out of hand and you have a lot of one-on-one and not very clean basketball going on. I don't think we ever had that out of our team (tonight)."

Four players reached double figures for the Grizzlies, led by junior Bethany Watterworth's 17 points.

For Rochester College (4-4), junior forward Sam Tomaschko scored a team-high 13 points, including 2-of-2 shooting from 3-point range. Her nine rebounds and two blocks were the most for either team.

OU returning 5 starters

Prior to the season, Oakland was picked to finish second in the Summit League preseason poll behind heavy-favorite Oral Roberts University. The Grizzlies upset the Golden Eagles in stunning fashion last season in the conference tournament, but fell short to South Dakota State in the championship game.

All five regular starters from a year ago are back, led by junior forward Watterworth (Lake Orion), who averaged 17.8 points per game and was second in conference scoring.

Watterworth is off to a fast start again this season, as she has become one of the quickest players in program history to eclipse 1,000 career points.

The starting five also features a pair of experienced seniors in center Brittany Carnago and point guard Sharise Calhoun.

Carnago, at 6-foot-4, is among the nation's elite players when it comes to shot blocking. She averaged 6.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last season, and will be looking to elevate those figures back to where they were in her sophomore season.

Calhoun is a streaky scorer, capable of dominating segments of a game when she has the hot hand. She averaged 12.8 points per contest in 2010-11.

The starting lineup is rounded out with two sophomores who received big minutes as freshman. Zakiya Minifee and Malika Glover will be counted on to produce offensively as part of the team's motion offense, which calls for quick ball movement to cycle through to find the open shooter.

Highlights of the schedule include a trip to the Breslin Center to face Michigan State on Nov. 27, and a meeting with another Big Ten opponent, Purdue, on Dec. 20.

If the team can avoid the rash of injuries sustained by so many players last season, Oakland will be poised for a serious run at reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006.

Backups see play time

By seizing a sizable lead early in the first half against Rochester College, Oakland was able to deploy its entire bench and give extended minutes to the many newcomers that back up the team's veteran starting five.

"Peyton Apsey can come in and play good perimeter defense, and we've got Jenna Bachrouche, Julia Veston and Shelby Herrington coming in on the post," Watterworth said. "That makes our post play very deep and that's really nice to have. We're a deep team and we showed that tonight."

Oakland's Victoria Lipscomb also turned in a promising performance with 11 points and five rebounds. She missed all but three games of the 2010-11 season with an injury, and her return to health and subsequent impact will be a storyline to watch as the season wears on.

"She's getting back to her (old) self," Stephan said of Lipscomb. "We've noticed it for a few weeks in practice, but Tuesday night when we played at American (University), she really had a great game for us. I think (she's progressing) because she is such a mature kid and she knows how to handle things."

Not unexpectedly, the Grizzlies outshot by a wide margin for the game, but it was Oakland's edge in the rebounding game where the coaching staff noticed the biggest improvement over previous games.

"Obviously, we made a big step (forward) with our rebounding tonight," Stephan said. "I think (rebounding) is the key. We're a great defensive team, but defense ends with a rebound."

The Grizzlies' win ran their early record to 2-1. The team will play host to Providence on Tuesday.