DEARBORN, Mich. -- The University of Michigan-Dearborn and the Cleary Cougars played an exciting wire-to-wire contest on Wednesday (Jan. 17). The Cougars eeked out a victory over the Wolverines by a final score of 69-64. Maya Barakat paced the Wolverines with 19 points and an impressive 20 rebounds.

Taedom Stein led the charge for Cleary, scoring 22 points, including eight out of 11 free throws. Mileisha Rodriguez was another standout performer for Cleary, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Amy Jackson made four three-pointers to end the game with 14 points. Rylee Thomas and Riley Merryfield contributed five and 10 points, respectively.

India Grissom also had a strong game, scoring 15 points and grabbing four rebounds for the Wolverines. The Wolverines shot 35.6% from the floor and struggled from deep shooting 14.3%. Winter Semester addition Olivia Scott saw significant action, playing 22 minutes and scoring seven points on three of five shooting.

The game was close for a large portion of the game. Cleary had the upper hand in the second half, thanks to their upper hand on fast-break points. They also scored 13 points off turnovers, while UM-Dearborn could only manage 22. While Cleary's bench could only score 13 points, it was enough to secure the win as UM-Dearborn's bench contributed just seven points.