It was a game of two halves as the Oakland University women’s basketball team suffered their worst home loss of the season, dropping 61-51 against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits.

The Golden Grizzlies (10-10, 6-5 Summit League) came into Monday night’s game having won five of their last six games, all coming within the month of January. Coupled with the team’s impressive 7-2 record inside the O’rena, Oakland looked to hand the Jackrabbits only their second conference loss of the season.

Meanwhile, South Dakota State (15-7, 10-1 Summit League) came into the game holding the top spot in the Summit League conference.

Redshirt freshman guard Amy Carlton surprisingly stepped up to lead the Grizzlies’ initial charge, scoring the first five points of the game.

Oakland head coach Beckie Francis was very pleased with Carlton’s play, highlighting her will on the court.

“What freshman takes the starting spot and scores the first five points in this kind of game,” Francis said. “She is a hustle player, always getting her nose in there, she really is my replacement for Zakiya. She is my ‘Rudy’ story, she’s a walk on, and the fact that she is starting like this and producing is incredible.”

Zakiya Minifee was lost for the season after a lower leg injury in the game against IUPUI in early January. Minifee was previously the team’s leading rebounder and one of the team’s top scorers.

While Carlton helped to set the tone early, it was senior center Brittany Carnago who stole the spotlight in the first half — and rightfully so. Carnago notched her 260th block of her career early in the game, setting a new school record. The previous record had been held by Brenda McLean, and had stood since 1985.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Carnago said. “It’s quite the honor to be up there with such excellent players”

With walk-ons stepping up and records being broken, Oakland was able to ride a 7-0 run into halftime and take a 29-23 lead into the locker room. The run was capped by a buzzer beater lay up by Carnago.

While Oakland carried the momentum into halftime, the Golden Grizzlies came out flat in the second half. Out of the break the Jackrabbits reeled off a 12-2 run to retake the lead for good, attacking the Grizzlies with a barrage of three pointers. SDSU went an impressive 7-12 from behind the arc in the second half, while Oakland matched with a dreadful 0-5 from the same distance.

“I thought what really hurt us was our defense,” Watterworth said. “And we went cold there for a little while, and we didn’t hit a shot which hurt us.”

Finally, freshman forward Shelby Herrington hit a jumper to stop the bleeding — but it was too little too late. SDSU took control of the game, shooting 46.7 percent in the second stanza, to Oakland’s 28 percent.

Oakland gave up a season high 12 three-pointers to the Jackrabbits, who relied on shots from the outside to seal the victory.

Watterworth led the Grizzlies’ attack with a game-high 25 points to go along with seven rebounds, which also tied for the game-high in that category.

Senior guard Sharise Calhoun was the only other Grizzly in double-figures, notching 11 points. Carnago chipped in seven.

South Dakota State sported a balanced attack with Jill Young having 15, Rachel Walters adding a career-high 12 off the bench and Ashley Eide contributing 10.

“We’ve done really well against (the top teams in the conference)” Francis said. “We have just a little bit more work to do and we’re focusing on peaking in March.”

The Grizzlies begin a two-game roadtrip with Western Illinois on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and then IUPUI on Feb. 6.

        

Contact Timothy Pontzer at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @timothy_pontzer