STATESBORO, GA. – The USC Upstate women's basketball program fell 71-64 to Detroit Mercy on Friday afternoon in its first of two games of the Georgia Southern Thanksgiving MTE Tournament.   

Upstate dominated the first quarter against Detroit Mercy as the Spartans led 20-11 after the first 10 minutes. Despite not getting on the board first, Upstate was able to take the lead early in the first quarter, forcing Detroit Mercy to play catch up. 11 points scored in the final three and a half minutes of the quarter helped to give the Spartans some cushion from the Titans' offense. Jeni Levine was dangerous on offense as she led the Spartans' scoring with five points. Rebekah Gordon, AC Markham, and Isabell West contributed four points respectively to the Spartans' 20 first quarter points. Upstate dominated the first quarter stat lines as well in comparison to Detroit Mercy with an 80.0% free throw percentage compared to Detroit Mercy's 75.0% in addition to going 40.0% from distance compared to Detroit Mercy's 0%.  

In the second quarter, the Titans were able to tie the game three times (24-24, 27-27, 30-30) before taking the lead in the final few minutes before halftime. Dakota Reeves came alive in the second quarter scoring half of the Spartans' second quarter points. West continued to stack up points, adding four in the second quarter to her now eight-point total. Trinity Johnson led the team in rebounds with three while Gordon and Markham collected two each as well. At the break, Upstate continued to take advantage of free throw opportunities, sitting with an 85.7& free throw percentage compared to Detroit Mercy's 62.5%.  

Coming out of the break, the Spartans were able to outscore the Titans in the first few minutes before a scoring drought that lasted roughly two minutes. Detroit Mercy was able to go on a six-point scoring run that left the Spartans trailing 44-37 with under four minutes remaining in the third quarter. Upstate continued to push offensively and outscored Detroit Mercy in the final minutes 8-7 but would need to continue to battle in the final quarter as the game sat 51-45. West scored six points in the third quarter, going 2-2 from the field as well as 2-2 from the charity stripe. She also led the team in rebounds in the third quarter with four rebounds, three of which were offensive.  

In the final quarter, the Spartans got back to sharing the wealth of scoring as Markham, Gordon, Levine, and West all scored four points apiece. Markham led the team in rebounds with three while West collected another two as well. The Spartans finished the game strong, going 9-10 from the free throw line, finishing the game with an 89.5% free throw percentage. Upstate had more points in the paint, more second chance points, more points off turnovers, and more bench points than Detroit Mercy in the final quarter.  

 
Game Information 
Score: USC Upstate 64; Detroit Mercy 71 
Records: (2-5; 0-0 Big South) vs. Detroit Mercy (4-2; 0-0 Horizon League)   

Location: Hanner Fieldhouse | Statesboro, Ga.   

How It Happened: 

First Quarter: Upstate 20; Detroit Mercy 11 

• Detroit Mercy got on the board first with a turnaround jumper, but Upstate was quick to score as well with a layup from Gordon.  

• The Titans took the lead with a free throw just before J. Levine sunk one from distance and a driving layup to give the Spartans a four-point lead in the first four minutes.  

• As the game went into the media timeout, Detroit Mercy was able to bring Upstate's lead within one basket (9-7). 

• In the final three and a half minutes, the Spartans outscored the Titans 11-4 to lead 20-11 after the first quarter.  

Second Quarter: Upstate 32; Detroit Mercy 36 

• The first two minutes of the second quarter saw four points for Upstate compared to the five points Detroit Mercy was able to put away.  

• Detroit Mercy went on an eight-point scoring run to tie the game 24-24 going into the media timeout.  

• Coming out of the media timeout, the Spartans and Titans both posted six points to make the game tied 30-30 before Detroit Mercy took the lead with a driving layup with just over four minutes left in the half.  

• In the final minutes, Detroit Mercy established a four-point lead with the game sitting 36-32 going into the break.  

Third Quarter: Upstate 45; Detroit Mercy 51 

• Coming out of the break both teams were slow to get points on the board with Upstate scoring five points and the Titans scoring two points in the first minute and a half before a two-minute scoring drought. 

• The Titans went on a six-point scoring run to make the game 44-37 with under four minutes left in the quarter.  

• Upstate outscored Detroit Mercy 8-7 in the final minutes of the fourth quarter but trailed by six points going into the final quarter.  

Fourth Quarter: Upstate 64; Detroit Mercy 71 

• With Upstate claiming the lone four points scored in the first two minutes they brought Detroit Mercy's lead down to two points.  

• The three minutes leading up to the media timeout saw the Spartans tie the game 53-53 before the Titans scored five points to reclaim the lead.  

• Following the media timeout, Upstate went 3-3 for free throws, tying the game 58-58 before making another two free throws to take the lead (60-58).  

• Detroit Mercy responded with nine unanswered points to 67-60 with 20 seconds remaining.  

• The final 20 seconds saw four points for both teams to finish with the Spartans falling 71-64. 

Notable 

• Jeni Levine scored a career-high 13 points, surpassing her previous high of 10 points set against S.C. State (11/20/23). 

• Isabell West had her third game this season scoring in double-figures and scored a career-high eight free throws.  

• AC Markham tied her career-high for rebounds with 10, which was most recently set against UNC Asheville (1/21/23). 

• Upstate had a season-high 66 field goal attempts as well as tied its season highs for free throws made (17) and rebounds (38).  

• The Spartans had a season-low 14 turnovers and a season-high 89.5% free throw percentage (17-19) against the Titans.  

Up Next for the Spartans 

USC Upstate will finish the Georgia Southern MTE Thanksgiving Tournament playing the University of North Florida Saturday at 2 p.m. ET. 

 
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