FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Playing on the road has proven to be a struggle this year for the Oakland University women’s basketball team. The Golden Grizzlies (8-8; 4-3 Summit League) had only managed a lone road victory this season, going 1–6 away from the O’Rena. Meanwhile, Oakland has played extremely well at home, going 6-2 on their home floor.

With a tough road test coming up against the IPFW Mastodons (6-11; 4-3 Summit League), the Oakland faithful decided to take the O’Rena to Fort Wayne.

More than 400 students, alumni, and staff amassed into a huge ‘Grizz Gang’ on Saturday afternoon, giving Oakland a significant home-court advantage. The Grizzlies used that advantage to garner a 67–47 victory.

Oakland head coach Beckie Francis loved the crowd, and citied it as a major reason for the Grizzlies’ second road win this season.

“We would make a three and the arena would go nuts in a road game, you just can’t beat that,” Francis said. “We really felt that, and I imagine it was depressing for their team. It was definitely an advantage.”

Conversely, Chris Paul, the head coach of IPFW was very frustrated with the major difference in the crowd.

“When we show up with 12 fans and they have 400, I think we need to start doing some things,” Paul said. “We deserve better than this. We don’t deserve to be taunted by Oakland fans in our gym.”

While the crowd was a major factor, Oakland played one of its best games on the season. Oakland was able to withstand a 10-0 run early on in the first half, and pull it close late before the end of the first half. The Golden Grizzlies headed into the locker room only down 27-25 at the break.

The Oakland offense exploded in the second half with a 16-2 run to pull away for the victory. The defense matched the intensity of the offense, with Oakland limiting the quality shots for IPFW and dominating on the boards in the second half.

Oakland shot an outstanding 59.1 percent on field goals in the second half while IPFW matched that with a low 27.6 percent. The Golden Grizzlies went three for three from beyond the arc in the second half, while the Mastodons went 3-14 in that same time period, significantly crippling their offensive attack.

Coach Francis attributed the strong second half to her team finding an identity and a newfound confidence.

“We were smart tonight. We attacked and got to the free throw line,” she said, “For a young team that is what I was really happy about. Even though we had a lead and we could’ve gotten passive and played afraid, this team is getting more confident.’’

The Grizzlies had their best night of the year from the free throw line. Oakland shot 17 of 18 from the charity stripe.

Star junior forward Bethany Watterworth agreed with her coach, keying the victory on the Grizzlies’ ability to slam the door shut on the Mastodons.

“I think that is something we have struggled with a lot this year, putting teams away when we are up. We tend to let them back in,” she said, “But today I think we turned the corner on that. We were concerned with getting stops and our defense is ultimately fueled the big lead we were able to get.”

Watterworth led all scorers with 22 points as well as adding six rebounds. Senior center Brittany Carnago notched 12 points and sophomore guard Victoria Lipscomb led the team with eight rebounds.

For the Mastadons, sophomore guard Amanda Hyde was the only player in double figures with 10 points.

The Golden Grizzlies play their next game at conference rival Oral Roberts on Jan. 21. The team returns home on Jan. 28 to face North Dakota State.