Top-seed Green Bay and third-seed Loyola were victorious on Friday night at the Kress Events Center to advance to the Championship Game of the 2013 Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship.
The game begins at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday and will be televised by ESPNU. The Phoenix will look to win their third consecutive tournament championship, while Loyola is making its first appearance in the conference championship game since the 1989 tournament.
(3) Loyola 72, (2) Youngstown State 45
Third-seed Loyola led from start to finish in defeating second-seed Youngstown State, 72-45, in Friday night’s first semifinal at the Kress Events Center.
Youngstown State had no answer for Loyola’s Simone Law and Taylor Johnson in the first half as the duo combined to score 28 of Loyola’s 32 first half points.
The Ramblers scored the first four points of the game and after Youngstown State’s Brandi Brown made a layup to score the Penguins first hoop of the game, Loyola went on a 16-4 run to take a 20-6 lead with 8:25 left in the first half.
Youngstown State would never get the margin to single digits again in the game.
The Penguins Karen Flagg connected on a jumper to bring YSU within 12, but the Ramblers scored the next eight points to take a 28-8, 4:58 before the break.
Youngstown State made a mini-comeback at the end of the half, going on a 7-2 run to cut Loyola’s lead to 32-15 at the break.
The Penguins started the second half the same way they ended the first, opening the final 20 minutes on a 10-4 run to get within 36-25 on a Brown three-pointer, but that was as close as YSU would get to the Ramblers.
Loyola put the game out of reach on a 22-4 run to take a 58-29 lead with 9:43 left in the game.
Law finished with a game-high 29 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field. Johnson had 19 points for the Ramblers, while Monica Albano also reached double figures in scoring with 10. Ayrealle Beavers had a game-high eight assists for the Ramblers. Shar’Rae Davis led Youngstown State with 12 points, while Brown – the Horizon League’s Player of the Year – finished with 11. The Penguins could never get anything going offensively as they shot a season-low 25.9% from the field.
(1) Green Bay 71, (4) Detroit 54
Top-seed Green Bay connected on three-pointers on three consecutive possessions early in the second half to gain some breathing room and never looked back in knocking off fourth-seed Detroit, 71-54, in the second semifinal on Friday night.
Green Bay’s lead was 31-28 when the Phoenix started their three-point streak. Megan Lukan connected on the first trey to give GB a 34-28 lead. After a Demeisha Fambro jumper cut the lead down to four, Adrian Ritchie made a three and then stole the ball and Sarah Eichler knocked down a three-pointer to give the Phoenix a 40-30 lead with 16:37 remaining in the contest.
The back-to-back-to-back blows gave the Phoenix their biggest lead of the game at the time and Detroit was never able to get back on track as the closest UDM would get to Green Bay the rest of the game was six points.
Detroit got within six at 42-36 with 14:27 remaining in the game, but Green Bay went on a 12-4 run to take a 54-40 lead with 8:06 left in the game and Detroit would never get within single digits again.
Green Bay jumped out to an 11-4 lead at the beginning of the game, but Detroit responded with a 12-2 run to take a 16-13 lead on a Senee Shearer three-point basket.
The game was tied at 20 with 6:35 left until halftime when Green Bay’s defense limited Detroit to just one made field goal the rest of the half as the Phoenix took a 27-22 lead into the break
Four Green Bay players scored in double figures, led by Lukan with 19 and Ritchie with 17. Lydia Bauer scored 13 points and Eichler was the final Phoenix player in double figures with 12. The Phoenix knocked down 10 three-pointers for the game and were 19-of-21 from the free throw line.
Detroit was led by Shearer who finished with 17 points. Fambro was the other Titan in double figures with 13 as Green Bay held UDM’s leading scorer, Shareta Brown, to just one made field goal on the game.
Tags: Green Bay - Women's Basketball · Loyola - Women's Basketball
