The preseason favorite in the Horizon League, #21/16 Green Bay remained undefeated on Thursday night as the Phoenix defeated Toledo, 72-65.
Detroit, Loyola and Milwaukee were also in action Thursday night, but could not pull out victories. Detroit fell to Big 10 opponent Michigan, while Milwaukee dropped a tough decision at top-ranked Baylor and Loyola lost in the final minute to La Salle.
#21/16 Green Bay 72, Toledo 65
The Phoenix overcame a halftime deficit to defeat Toledo, 72-65, and end the Rockets 21-game home winning streak.
Lydia Bauer led all players with 23 points, sinking five three pointers while Sarah Eichler sank a career-high four threes, finishing with 14 points in the Phoenix win. Julie Wojta was one rebound shy of her third consecutive double-double as the senior led all players with nine boards while chipping in 17 points for the Phoenix.
Green Bay shot a season-low 33 percent from the field in the first half of play while being outrebounded 21-13 by the Rockets as Toledo took a 32-30 lead into halftime. It was the second time this season the Phoenix has trailed at the break. Adrian Ritchie led the Phoenix with eight points at the break, going 6-for-6 from the free throw line while Eichler chipped in six points.
At the 17:47 mark in the second half, Toledo boosted its lead to five, but Bauer answered by scoring five consecutive points to give Green Bay a 38-37 lead and start a 12-0 run for the Phoenix. Green Bay would never trail again.
The Phoenix shot 55 percent from the field and 60 percent from both the free-throw line and three-point range in the second half. Bauer poured in 18 second half points while Wojta added 12 points and five rebounds in the second half.
Green Bay is off for 12 days before hosting Ball State Dec. 20 at the Kress Events Center at 8 p.m ET.
Michigan 61, Detroit 51
Detroit cut a 17-point second half deficit down to two, but could get no closer as Michigan held off the Titans, 61-51.
Sophomore Senee Shearer was on fire in the second half hitting five 3-pointers after coming into the game 0-of-14 from three and missing her first three of the game. She ended up with a career-high 15 points on 5-of-10 from the field, all 3-pointers.
Freshman Shareta Brown had 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. The 15 points also kept her streak alive of scoring in double digits in every game this season, while she also posted her fourth double-double of the year.
Detroit connected on a season-best eight 3-pointers and outrebounded an opponent for the seventh time this season with a 39-33 advantage.
The Titans started quick out of the gate with a 3-pointer by Demeisha Fambro and a basket by Lauren Allen to take a 5-0 lead. A Brown jumper would give the Titans another five-point advantage, 7-2, just a little more than two minutes into the contest.
Detroit’s next game is not until Dec. 18, when UDM hosts IPFW at 1:00 p.m.
La Salle 48, Loyola 45
Playing its first game in the remodeled Gentile Arena, Loyola shot just 34% and dropped a 48-45 game to La Salle tonight.
Loyola was scoreless for the first 5:45 before two Patrice King free throws got them on the board. After missing its first 10 shots from the floor, King finally knocked down the team's first field goal and a Katie Kortekamp three-pointer later gave LU its first lead, 9-8. The Ramblers trudged to a 17-15 lead on a Lisa Samplawski bucket with 5:18 left in the half but the Explorers outscored the home team 15-6 the rest of the way to take a 30-23 lead into intermission.
The Ramblers scored 11 of the first 13 points of the second period to take a 34-32 lead. The game went back-and-forth the entire half with Loyola taking a 43-40 lead with 5:13 left after two straight King baskets. However, LU scored just two points the rest of the way with Abby Skube's potential game-tying three-pointer rejected at the final buzzer.
Loyola held La Salle to just 24% shooting in the second half and forced 24 turnovers for the game.
King led the Ramblers with 13 points with Monica Albano, in her first game back after missing the last three contests with an injury, added 10 points.
Loyola returns to the court on Saturday afternoon when it battles Northwestern at Gentile Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.
#1/1 Baylor 72, Milwaukee 41
Milwaukee could never get on track against the nation’s top-ranked team as the Panthers fell to Baylor in Waco, Texas, 72-61.
UWM was paced by freshman Ashley Green who was the only Panther in double-figures, scoring a team-high 11 points and tying for team-high honors with seven rebounds in her first collegiate start.
The Panthers only trailed 8-5 six minutes into the game before Baylor went on a 14-0 run to effectively put the game away.
Milwaukee held Baylor to its lowest-scoring output of the season with the 72 points, topping the previous low of 76 points against then-#6 Tennessee.
But the Panthers could get going offensively, shooting only 28 percent from the field for the game and just 17 percent (5-of-29) from three-point range.
Milwaukee continues its Big 12 road trip on Sunday afternoon when it plays at #24/23 Oklahoma.
Tags: Detroit Mercy - Women's Basketball · Green Bay - Women's Basketball · Horizon League - Women's Basketball · Loyola - Women's Basketball · Milwaukee - Women's Basketball
