Michigan-Dearborn held Lourdes to just 10% shooting in the first half and 25.4% for the game on Saturday afternoon, and defeated the Gray Wolves 64-54 at Tam-o-Shanter in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference opener for both schools.
 
"We knew going in that we would need to knock down some outside shots to win today," head coach Karen McConnell said afterwards.  "We obviously didn't do that.  You have to give them credit for their game plan.  We had trouble adjusting to their box-and-one."
 
The Wolverines took a quick 13-3 as the Gray Wolves went without a field goal for the first 5:41 of the contest.  Lourdes made just two of its first 23 shots from the floor over 15 minutes as Michigan-Dearborn increased its lead to 21-7.  The Gray Wolves held the Wolverines without a field goal for more than nine minutes until a three-pointer with under two minutes to play before intermission but still took a 26-15 lead into the locker room. 
 
Lourdes finished the opening 20 minutes just 3-for-30 from the floor and failed to make any of its 10 three-point attempts. 
 
A pair of three-pointers by Lauren Tilden (Ravenna, Ohio/Ravenna H.S.) and Rachel Flores (North Baltimore, Ohio/North Baltimore H.S.) pulled Lourdes to within 28-17 with 15 minutes to play in the game.  The Gray Wolves were able to pull to within eight, 32-24, following another triple from Tilden, but Michigan-Dearborn immediately answered with four straight points to push the lead back to double figures.
 
"In the second half it seemed like every time we did something positive to try to make a run we'd shoot ourselves in the foot right afterwards," McConnell added.
 
The Wolverines pushed the lead back to 16 with 9:22 to play and maintained a double digit advantage until the final minute when Lourdes scored six straight points.
 
Flores finished 4-for-9 from three-point range to lead the Gray Wolves with 12 points while Tilden added 11 more.  Emily Orsini (Akron, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban H.S.) added 10 points while Jesse Fidler (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold H.S.) pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.
 
Jalissa Williams led Michigan-Dearborn (2-3, 1-0 WHAC) with 23 points and 14 rebounds as four Wolverines finished in double figures in the scoring column.
 
Lourdes (4-2, 0-1) will begin a three-game road trip on Wednesday evening as the Gray Wolves travel to Grand Rapids, Mich.  Tip-off against Cornerstone is set for 5:30 p.m. at Mol Arena.