Women's Basketball Scoreboard (Feb. 27)
Green Bay 79, Wright State 72 (OT)
UIC 73, Youngstown State 65
Oakland 81, Cleveland State 71
Green Bay 79, Wright State 72
In a physical battle for the top spot in the Horizon League, the Green Bay women’s basketball earned a thrilling 79-72 victory over Wright State at the Nutter Center on Thursday evening.
With the win and a Youngstown State loss to UIC, the Phoenix moved into sole possession of first place with a record of 10-3 and an overall mark of 17-8. Wright State fell to 20-8 overall and 9-4 in the Horizon League.
“It was anyone’s game tonight,” head coach Kevin Borseth said. “Wright State makes you beat them, they play strong and with a lot of heart, and the fans really saw a good one tonight.”
Heading into overtime tied at 68, senior Breannah Ranger (Skokie, Ill.) hit a layup off an assist by classmate Sam Zastrow (Algoma, Wis.) for the first points of the extra session, putting the Phoenix ahead for good. Sophomore Kaili Lukan (Barrie, Ontario) scored the next four points for the Phoenix, sandwiching a layup by Wright State’s Ivory James to put Green Bay ahead by four, 74-70, with 2:29 on the clock.
Wright State got to within two points after a pair of Tay’ler Mingo free throws (74-72), but it was all the closer it would get. After neither team was able to score a basket during a nearly two minute span as the clock wound down to 30 seconds, Green Bay scored the final five points of the contest for the final 79-72 margin.
Freshman Mariah Monke (Fergus Falls, Minn.) started the scoring, and junior Megan Lukan (Barrie, Ontario) came up with a big defensive rebound on the next Raiders possession before being fouled to send her to the line where she made the first of two free throws. Kim Demmings missed a runner on the next possession and it was again a big defensive rebound by the Phoenix, this time by freshman Tesha Buck (Red Wing, Minn.)that sealed the game. Pulling the ball down, she was fouled and walked to the other end of the court where she sunk both of her free throws with six seconds remaining.
“I don’t know that we ran anything different in overtime to make the difference, but we were able to work through the heavy pressure that Wright State put on us all night,” Borseth said. “Shooting is all about rhythm and we were able to find it and make the shots.”
It was a game of runs in the second half, featuring nine ties and three lead changes. Wright State led by as many as eight points with 15:47 remaining (43-35) before an 11-3 Phoenix run tied it for the sixth time in the contest, 46-46, with 12:24 remaining. No team led by more than three points the rest of the way, as Green Bay went ahead 68-65 with 1:41 on the clock. A three by Breanna Stucke tied it with 1:28, and neither team was able to score in the final minute, sending it to overtime.
Wright State came out strong to start the game, building to a nine point lead (16-7) just over eight minutes in. The Phoenix weathered the storm and went on a 15-5 run over the next six minutes to assume its first lead of the contest, 22-21, with 6:19 remaining. A stingy defense forced five Raider turnovers during the run, while Green Bay shared the wealth on the offensive end with six different players scoring during the run, capped by a pair of free throws by Zastrow.
Green Bay led by as many as three with just over five minutes remaining (24-21) before Wright State closed the opening stanza on a 15-7 run including a buzzer-beater shot by Breanna Stucke to give the home team a 36-31 lead at halftime.
Zastrow had a career game, finishing with 12 points and six assists in 29 minutes. Freshman Mehryn Kraker (West Allis, Wis.) had a strong second half scoring 15 of her 19 points, while Buck notched her first career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Ranger also finished with a double-double, chipping in 14 points and 10 boards.
“Sam[Zastrow] was the player of the game for us,” Borseth said. “Tonight she came in and had a lot of great plays. She played in a triple threat position, something a lot of our kids couldn’t do tonight because Wright State is so strong.”
Green Bay finished the game shooting 45.9 percent (28-61) from the field, including a perfect 4-for-4 in overtime. They also led the Raiders in rebounding (44-36), points in the paint (38-18) and bench points (26-10).
Wright State finished the game 33.3 percent (21-63) from the field and received 20 point performances from Demmings and James. Tayler Stanton finished with a game-high 14 rebounds.
“One game doesn’t make a season, and we are going to have to play Valpo at home on Saturday so we need to be ready,” Borseth said.
UIC 73, Youngstown State 65
The UIC women's basketball team (20-7, 9-5 HL) broke the program record for single-season wins Thursday (Feb. 27) with a 73-65 road victory over first-place Youngstown State (13-13, 9-4 HL). Senior Katie Hannemann led all scorers with 24 points.
UIC’s win total eclipses the 2006-07 squad, who went 19-13 and made the program’s lone trip to the postseason (WNIT). The Flames are 9-5 through 14 conference games for the second time under head coach Regina Miller as they also accomplished the feat in 2011-12.
UIC’s defensive pressure collected 13 steals and forced 20 YSU turnovers. The Flames scored 21 points off turnovers and 14 second-chance points on 15 offensive rebounds.
UIC out-rebounded YSU (39-27) and is 20-3 this season when winning the battle on the boards. UIC also limited Heidi Schlegel, the Penguins' leading scorer, to ten shots and two free throw attempts. She finished the contest with 17 points.
“Tonight’s win was a total team effort and we are extremely proud to have made history at UIC,” said UIC head coach Regina Miller. “To defeat the top team in the conference on their court takes a tremendous defensive performance and our players stepped up to the challenge. We are not finished with this historic season and there is much more to accomplish in the upcoming weeks.”
The Penguins jumped out to a 23-12 advantage with 8:45 left in the first half, their largest lead of the contest. UIC went on an 8-0 run and ultimately tied the game at 31-31 on three free throws from Terri Bender with 2:12 on the clock.
Hannemann’s jumper with 1:34 before halftime gave UIC a 33-31 lead heading into the locker room. The Flames are a perfect 18-0 this season when leading at the break.
YSU scored the first two points of the second half but UIC responded with an 8-0 run to go up 41-33. The Penguins narrowed the Flames’ lead to 44-43 on Jenna Hirsch’s three-pointer with 12:34 remaining. However, that was the closest YSU would get as UIC scored 21 out of the next 29 points. UIC’s largest lead was 71-56 with 1:25 left on the clock.
Hannemann had 12 points in each half for her third 20-point effort over the last four games. She made 9-of-15 attempts from the floor and has converted 67.9 percent of her field-goal attempts over the last four games.
Hannemann (977 career points) needs 23 more points to become the 19th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. She also pulled down eight rebounds and picked up two steals.
Sophomore Ruvanna Campbell picked up her ninth straight double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. It is Campbell’s League-high 19th double-double of the season.
Campbell also collected three assists, three blocks and three steals. She had eight points in the second half.
Senior Rachel Story poured in 16 points for her 22nd double-digit scoring performance of the season. She passed the 900-career point mark in the second half and tied her career high with seven rebounds.
Sophomore Terri Bender scored 11 points for her 13th double-digit performance. Bender also handed out six assists and collected a career-high seven steals. Her 82 steals are third all-time in a single season.
Oakland 81, Cleveland State 71
Elena Popkey and Bethany Watterworth each recorded double-doubles as the Oakland women's basketball team (12-15, 7-7 HL) won its final regular season home game defeating Cleveland State (13-14, 8-6 HL), 81-71, Thursday evening in the Athletics Center O'rena. The Golden Grizzlies had their largest comeback of the season, trailing 14 points, but outscored the Vikings 52-34 in the second half to earn the victory on Senior Day.
"This is a great win for our team and a great win for our seniors," said head coach Jeff Tungate. "It's nice to see them leave on senior night with a victory. In the first half, I thought we played like it was senior night. We were nervous and missed a lot of open shots. After we settled down, we started playing the way we are capable of. It was great to see us respond in the last ten minutes of the first half and the second half.
Popkey scored 22 points, 16 in the second half, and tied a career-high with 12 rebounds. Watterworth tallied 13 points and 10 rebounds, her first double-digit rebound performance of the season. Kim Bee finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Olivia Nash added 11 points.
Trailing 37-29 at the half, OU would be behind by 14 points early in the second period until it got on a 16-5 run over five minutes of action to tie the game at 56-56 with 7:31 remaining. The Golden Grizzlies would seal the win as they outscored the Vikings 21-5 over the final four minutes led by Popkey with eight points. OU shot 41.7 percent in the second half and held CSU to 32.4 percent.
Cleveland State grabbed the lead at intermission by causing nine Oakland turnovers and converting 15 points off of the turnovers. The Vikings shot 43.3 percent from the floor including hitting seven 3-pointers to take the eight point advantage.
Oakland honored its three seniors, Kim Bee, Victoria Lipscomb and Bethany Watterworth before the game. Each had solid performances combining for 35 points and 21 rebounds in their final regular season game in the O'rena.
The Vikings were led by Khayla Livingston with 16 points on four 3-pointers and Kiersten Green added 12 points.
Tags: Green Bay - Women's Basketball · Oakland - Women's Basketball · UIC - Women's Basketball
