GREEN BAY, Wis. – Wright State posted a commanding 98-70 victory of Youngstown State in the first semifinal of the Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship. In the nightcap, Green Bay took down UIC, 68-59.
#HLWBB Scoreboard (March 14)
(2) Wright State 98, (3) Youngstown State 70
(1) Green Bay 68, (4) UIC 59
#HLWBB Schedule (March 16)
Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship
Kress Events Center, Green Bay, Wis.
(1) Green Bay vs. (2) Wright State
1:00 ET/12:00 CT on ESPNU
(2) Wright State 98, (3) Youngstown State 70
Second-seeded Wright State jumped out to a 12-2 lead on 4-of-4 shooting from Tay’ler Mingo and cruised to a 98-70 victory.
Mingo posted 19 first-half points as the Raiders outshot the Penguins 48% (21-44) to 27% (9-34) in the first stanza.
Wright State (25-8), who entered the contest averaging a league-best 83.4 points per game, posted 53 first-half points and led the Penguins 53-25 at intermission.
“The key for us was to get the game as fast as we could,” Wright State head coach Mike Bradbury said.
The Raiders opened their lead to 77-44 at the under-12 (11:45) media timeout powered by 25 points from Mingo and 20 points from Kim Demmings, the Horizon League Player of the Year.
When asked what the message was before the game, Bradbury simply stated, “have fun,” noting he felt the team came out tense in the Raider’s quarterfinal victory over Milwaukee.
Mingo finished with 26 points on 10-17 from the field. Demmings also accounted for 26 points on 10-18 shooting. As a team, Wright State shot 47% (39-83) while the Penguins shot 34% (23-67), which included 4-25 from three.
Youngstown State (15-16), who appeared in the semifinals for the second straight year, was led by Heidi Schlegel with 20 points and six rebounds.
Karen Flagg posted nine points and 11 rebounds for the Penguins.
With 17:18 remaining in the game, Liz Hornberger hit her first three-pointer of the game to set a Penguin school record for three-pointers in a career with 199.
“I don’t get that without the 13, 14 other girls on team,” Hornberger stated.
It was the third time this season the Raiders beat the Penguins, and was the only team in the league Youngstown State did not beat this season.
Wright State, who has never won a Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship, punches its championship game ticket for the first time since 2007-08 and will mark the Raiders third appearance in school history.
(1) Green Bay 68, (4) UIC 59
Top-seeded Green Bay battled back from an early first half deficit to fourth-seeded UIC to earn a 68-59 victory.
Emily Kobel knocked down her first three shots, all of which were three-pointers, and the Flames got out to an early 13-7 lead.
"It's a 40 minute game, it was a wake up call for us to stay poised and get back after it," Green Bay guard Megan Lukan said.
Green Bay scored the next four points before a UIC timeout to cut the lead to 13-11. However, UIC would go on another spurt and took a seven point lead with 8:54 remaining in the first half on a steal and a lay-up by Rachel Story, 21-14.
After trading buckets, the game went nearly three minutes without a field goal before Tesha Buck drilled a tray to cut into the Flames lead, 25-21.
Green Bay would close the first half on a 16-6 run with Buck ending the half with a three-point play after being fouled on a layup and the Phoenix took a 34-30 lead into half.
Buck had a game-high 17 first-half points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field while Sam Zastrow had five assists.
The Phoenix contained Katie Hannemann and Ruvanna Campbell, two of UIC’s top three scorers, to eight and two first-half points, respectively. For the contest, Campbell posted nine points while Hanneman had eight.
In the second-half, Green Bay opened its lead to 45-38 at the under 12 (11:39) media timeout, led by six points by Megan Lukan.
UIC would get within four of the Phoenix lead with 5:38 remaining, but it was as close as they would get.
Buck, the Horizon League Freshman of the Year, finished the game with a career-high 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting. She also added eight rebounds. Kaili Lukan posted 14 points.
"She's done a good job all year round filling the stat sheet," Green Bay head coach Kevin Borseth said about Buck's play.
Green Bay (22-8), who started their season 1-2 in Horizon League play, won 12 of their 13 final regular season games. With Wednesday’s quarterfinal win over Valparaiso and Friday’s win over UIC, the Phoenix have won 14 of their last 15 games. Their only setback came Feb. 23 at home vs. Youngstown State.
UIC (22-9) set a program record for wins in a season and is among the leaders in the nation for largest turnaround from 2012-13. The Flames finished last season 9-21.
When asked about the team's chances of post season play, UIC head coach Regina Miller said, "I would be quite suprised if our league didn't get two teams into the WNIT."
Green Bay, who has won or shared the last 16 regular season titles, will appear in the championship game for the 15th time in the last 18 years.
Tags: Green Bay - Women's Basketball · UIC - Women's Basketball · Wright State - Women's Basketball · Youngstown State - Women's Basketball
