Top-seed Green Bay rode one of the nation’s best defenses to the Horizon League Tournament Championship on Sunday afternoon as the Phoenix defeated third-seed Loyola, 54-38.
The nation’s second-ranked scoring defense held the Ramblers to just 38 points and 29.8 percent shooting from the field in the win.
The Phoenix opened up a 10-point lead at 18-8 with 8:14 remaining in the first half and despite never completely breaking away from Loyola, the Phoenix also never had a lead less than double-digits the rest of the way.
Adrian Ritchie scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds to lead the Phoenix. She was named MVP of the tournament.
Sarah Eichler led Green Bay in scoring with 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Breannah Ranger was the final Phoenix player in double figures with 12.
Green Bay won despite shooting 35.9 percent from the field, their third-lowest shooting percentage of the season. The Phoenix also connected on just 5-of-28 three-point field goal attempts. The 17.9 percent three-point shooting was also their third lowest percentage of the season.
After five minutes of nearly even play between the two teams, Green Bay began to pull away from the Ramblers in the first half. The game was tied at four nearly five minutes in, when Green Bay went on an 11-2 run to take a 15-6 lead. Ritchie scored seven points during Green Bay’s run.
After a Rambler basket brought Loyola within seven, Ritchie and Eichler hit back-to-back three-pointers to give the Phoenix a 21-8 lead with 7:45 left before halftime.
Loyola could never get the deficit in single digits the rest of the first half as Green Bay always had an answer to stop any potential Rambler run. Green Bay made one final run at the end of the half, outscoring Loyola, 9-2, in the final 3:10 of the half to take a 34-17 lead into the break. Eichler scored seven of GB’s nine points and had an assist during the run.
The Ramblers scored four quick points to start the second half, but then went over 7:00 minutes without a point. They stayed though as Green Bay could only manage four points of their own during the seven minutes as both offenses struggled to get good looks. The Ramblers went on one last run, cutting GB’s lead to 11 at 38-27 with 10:24 left, but Green Bay held LU scoreless for over four minutes, going on a 6-0 run to take a 44-27 lead with 6:14 remaining in the game.
Simone Law led the Ramblers with 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. No other Rambler was in double figures.
Ritchie was named the MVP of the tournament after scoring 59 points in Green Bay’s three tournament wins. Eichler joined Ritchie in representing Green Bay on the team. Loyola had Law and Taylor Johnson on the All-Tournament team. Youngstown State’s Brandi Brown rounded out the five-player team.
All-Tournament Team
Adrian Ritchie (MVP) – Green Bay
Sarah Eichler – Green Bay
Taylor Johnson – Loyola
Simone Law – Loyola
Brandi Brown – Youngstown State
Tags: Green Bay - Women's Basketball
