Last Saturday the Horizon League women’s basketball teams put on a show with two overtime games and another game going down to the final minute.
Thursday night, Cleveland State, Green Bay, Loyola and UIC took all the drama out of their contests early. All four teams would not trail in the second half as they cruised to victories.
Cleveland State 68, Milwaukee 58
The Cleveland State women's basketball team, behind 26 points from Shalonda Winton and a career-high 18 points from Cori Coleman, earned a 68-58 victory at Milwaukee Thursday evening. The Vikings are now 8-9 on the season and 3-3 in the Horizon League, while the Panthers fall to 4-12 (0-6).
Winton, who tallied 20 or more points for the fourth straight contest, also posted a game-high 10 rebounds, marking her seventh double-double of the season. Honesty King and Janelle Adams each recorded seven points for the Vikings, while Imani Gordon added six and Kiersten Green added four.
The Vikings came out firing during the first half, jumping out to an 8-0 lead following three-pointers from Coleman and King and a Winton layup. CSU was then able to extend its lead to 14-3, as they allowed just one Milwaukee field goal throughout the first 5:25 of the contest.
Cleveland State held at least a six-point lead throughout the rest of the first half, as Winton scored 17 of her 26 points during the first 20 minutes of play. The Vikings and the Panthers traded baskets over the final six minutes of the half, with CSU holding a 12-point advantage (38-26) at halftime.The Panthers opened the second half on a 7-2 run, closing the gap to seven points at 40-33 at the 15:35 mark. CSU responded with six straight points on a pair of Winton jumpers and two Adams free-throws to extend their lead to 13 (46-33) with 13:10 remaining.
Over the next six minutes CSU went on a 15-6 run, including eight points from Coleman to gain a 23-point advantage (62-39), their largest lead of the night.
Milwaukee forced CSU into five turnovers and four missed shots over the next 4:48 though, as the Panthers posted 15 straight points to come within eight at 62-54 with 1:24 left to play. After being held scoreless for a five-minute stretch, Green gave the Vikings a nine-point lead (63-54) with just over one minute left. CSU held the lead for the rest of the contest, coming away with the 68-58 victory.
The Vikings shot 46-percent from the floor (24-52), while they held Milwaukee to a .351 clip (20-57), including 13-percent from three-point (3-23). CSU forced a season-high 24 turnovers, turning them into 22 points. The Vikings were also one shy of their season-high with 18 assists on 24 field goals.
CSU will stay in Wisconsin to face league-leading Green Bay on Saturday. Milwaukee remains at home and hosts Youngstown State on Saturday.
Green Bay 75, Youngstown State 50
The No. 12/11 Green Bay (16-0, 6-0) women’s basketball team celebrated its 36th consecutive regular season victory with a 75-50 win over Youngstown State (8-9, 2-4) Thursday at the Kress Events Center. Green Bay’s 16-0 start ties the best start in program history, both coming under fifth year head coach Matt Bollant.
Junior Lydia Bauer led the Phoenix with 19 points while Adrian Ritchie scored in double figures for the third consecutive game, pouring in 17 points. Senior Julie Wojta was held to 12 points, tying her season low, but still posted her ninth double double of the season while grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds.
Bauer scored the first five points of the game, including a three from left corner in opening possession while the Penguins’ defense forced Green Bay to turn the ball over three times in the first 90 seconds.
At the 15:57 mark, YSU cut the Phoenix lead to three (7-4) with a three from Monica Touvelle from the right corner. The Penguins came as close as three again with 14:14 to play in the opening half when Kenya Middlebrooks hit a jumper to cut the Phoenix lead to 9-6.
Wojta sparked a 12-2 run for Green Bay with a layup at the 13:57 mark. Quilling added a three from the left wing as Wojta and Ritchie combined for the other nine points throughout the four minute stretch. The Penguins’ stopped the Phoenix run with a three from Kelsea Fickiesen, cutting Green Bay’s lead to 10 with 9:52 to play in the opening half.
The Phoenix led by as many as 16 twice in the first half. With 6:08 remaining, Bauer found Ritchie for a three to make it 32-16 before Hannah Quilling closed the half with a pair of free throws with 3.2 seconds remaining.
Green Bay led 36-20 at the break while scoring 18 points off Youngstown State’s 15 turnovers. Meanwhile the Penguins were unable to capitalize on Green Bay’s nine turnovers in the opening half. The Phoenix was outrebounded 15-12 in the first half with Brandi Brown leading the way with six boards. Ritchie paced all players with 11 points as Bauer and Wojta each chipped in nine.
YSU opened the second half with an 8-3 run with Ritchie sinking a three for the Phoenix as the shot clock expired, boosting Green Bay’s lead to 15 (39-24).
The Penguins came as close as 11 (41-30) in the opening minutes of the second half thanks to a layup from Fickiesen, forcing a Green Bay timeout. The Phoenix regrouped and came out of the timeout starting a 10-2 run which included a three from both Bauer and Ritchie.
Bauer was fouled on a three-point attempt with 8:50 to play, fueling a 17-3 run for Green Bay with Bauer sinking all three free throw attempts. With 3:34 remaining, Sam Zastrow checked into the game and drained a three, giving Green Bay its largest lead of the contest with a 30-point margin.
Green Bay finished the game shooting 49 percent from the field, scoring 33 of its 75 points off Youngstown State’s season-high 28 turnovers. Known for her tough defensive play, Quilling chipped in eight points, including two three pointers in the Phoenix win.
Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year Brandi Brown led all players with 21 points and 10 rebounds, scoring 13 points in the second half going 5-for-5 from the field.
Loyola 86, Valparaiso 56
Junior Abby Skube scored a season-high 24 points off the bench and Loyola outscored Valpo 46-16 over the last 16 minutes in an 86-56 win over the Crusaders this evening at Gentile Arena. The Ramblers move back to the .500 mark (9-9, 4-3) with their third straight win while the Crusaders drop to 5-12 (1-5) with the loss.
After falling behind 10-7 after five minutes, Loyola began to find an offensive rhythm. Five points from Skube capped a 7-0 LU run that gave the Ramblers a four-point lead and a basket later from Lisa Samplawski bumped the lead to nine (22-13) exactly halfway through the half. However, Valpo hung tough and pulled within a deuce on a Gina Lange basket with just over three minutes left. However, Katie Kortekamp knocked down a three-pointer on the ensuing possession and another three from Monica Albano sent Loyola to the locker room with a 38-31 halftime lead.
Valpo scored nine of the first 11 points of the second half, the last two on an Ashley Timmerman basket, to prompt an early LU timeout. The Ramblers were a different team the rest of the way, rattling off eight straight to take a 48-40 lead and Loyola blew it open later, connecting on four straight three-pointers to kickstart a 23-3 run that sealed the game.
Loyola blazed the nets at a 54% clip for the game and knocked down 9-of-18 from the arc while holding Valpo to just 36% shooting, 28% in the second half.
Skube was terrific, hitting 9-of-12 overall (4-6 3FGs) for her season-high point total, which is just two shy of her career high set last year at Valpo. Simone Law added 16 points and six boards in support.
Lange led Valpo with 17 points, while Timmerman chipped in 12. Tabitha Gerardot was the only other Crusader in double figures with 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Loyola searches for its fourth consecutive win on Saturday when it takes on Butler. Valparaiso stays in the city and heads over to UIC to face the Flames on Saturday.
UIC 77, Butler 42
Seniors Shamiea Green and Jasmine Bailey combined for 51 points to outscore the entire Butler Bulldog team as the Flames (11-7, 4-3) down the Bulldogs (6-11, 2-4), 77-42, Thursday night inside UIC pavilion. Green totaled 29 points, while Bailey chipped in 22, uniting for the team’s highest single-game scoring duo this season.
The 35-point triumph over Butler marks the largest UIC victory since Nov. 20, 2005, when the Flames defeated Alabama State, 84-39.
Butler owned a two-point lead with 17:05 on the clock in the first half and never found themselves on top again as the Flames went on 6-0 run.
UIC gained a 13-point lead in part because of an 8-0 spurt, which was ignited by a three-point play by redshirt sophomore Katie Hannemann, followed by back-to-back jumpers from Bailey to help the Flames find a 32-19 lead with 7:35 left in the first stanza.
The Flames concluded the half on a buzzer beater form redshirt junior Heidi Dahkne as the Flames headed into the locker room with a 47-26 advantage. Green owned a game-high 18 points as Bailey posted 12 to outscore the entire Bulldog squad at the break.
Just like the start of the contest, Bailey knocked down a trey to begin the second half. The Flames continued to build upon their lead as Bailey spurred a seven-point run for UIC, which was capped off with a jumper by Green to find a 72-35 score with 8:08 left to play.
The Flames limited Butler to 16 second half points on just 5-of-27 shooting. UIC also controlled the glass in the final 20 minutes, out-rebounding BU, 26-12.
For the game, UIC posted a season-high 10 three-pointers and shot a perfect 9-of-9 from the free throw line.
Sarah Hamm led the Bulldogs with a career-high 23 points. Devin Brierly was the only other Butler player to score in double figures with 11 points. Outside of Hamm and Brierly, the other Bulldogs combined to shoot 1-for-30 from the field.
The Flames return to action inside the UIC Pavilion Saturday as they take on Valparaiso. Butler is also in action Saturday, staying in Chicago to face Loyola.
Tags: Cleveland State - Women's Basketball · Green Bay - Women's Basketball · Loyola - Women's Basketball · UIC - Women's Basketball
