Ames, Iowa -- The Green Bay women’s basketball team battled back from a 17-point halftime deficit to take the lead late in the second half, but Kentucky scored the final four points of the game to win, 65-62, in Monday’s Second Round NCAA Tournament game.
Green Bay was behind 42-25 at halftime and still trailed 49-33 with 12:44 remaining in the game when the Phoenix and their patented buzz defense went to work. Green Bay went on a 13-2 run to cut Kentucky’s lead to 51-46 with 9:18 left. UK scored the next four points to come back up by nine, but the Phoenix responded with an 8-0 run to get within one, 55-54, with 6:15 remaining.
Kentucky made another push to take a 61-56 lead with 4:11 left in the game, but Green Bay’s Lydia Bauer knocked a three-pointer down on the Phoenix’s ensuing possession to get back within two. After two empty possessions by Kentucky, Julie Wojta had a baseline jumper to tie the game at 61 with 3:05 remaining.
Megan Lukan gave Green Bay its first lead of the game, 62-61, with a free throw with 1:57 remaining, and the score remained that way until Kentucky’s Keyla Snowden rattled in a jumper with :16 seconds remaining to give Kentucky the lead back. The Phoenix had two attempts to re-take the lead on their next possession, but both shots missed. Snowden made two free throws on the other end to give Kentucky a 65-62 lead.
Adrian Ritchie got one final look at a three-pointer with a second remaining, but her attempt was no good.
The Phoenix forced 34 Kentucky turnovers in the game, including 20 during the second half comeback. Green Bay was credited with 21 steals, a new program NCAA Tournament record, two days after recording 20 in its victory over Iowa State.
For the game, the Phoenix shot 35 percent from the field and just 29.4 percent from three-point line. They also turned the ball over 24 times.
Wojta, playing in her final collegiate game, finished two rebounds short of a triple-double after scoring 16 points, recording 10 steals and grabbing eight rebounds. Sarah Eichler tied Wojta for team-high honors with 16 points. Ritchie had eight points and eight rebounds for the Phoenix.
Hannah Quilling, also playing in her final game for Green Bay, gave the Phoenix a spark off-the-bench making all three of her shots to finish with nine points.
Kentucky took control of the game in the first half with a 16-2 run that extended a 6-5 UK lead to 21-6. The Wildcats limited the Phoenix to just two points from the 17:38 mark to 11:01 as the Wildcats forced four Green Bay turnovers during that span and Green Bay shot just 1-of-11 from the field to allow Kentucky to grab a double-digit lead.
The Wildcats were up 30-14 with 6:57 remaining in the half when Green Bay went on an 11-5 run to cut the lead to 10 points, 35-25, with 2:02 left in the opening half. The Wildcats, though, would score the final seven points of the half to take their biggest lead of the whole half, 42-25, into the break.
Green Bay shot just 26.7 percent (8-of-30) from the field in the first half and turned the ball over 12 times. In Saturday’s first round win over Iowa State, the Phoenix were 9-of-18 from three-point range in the first half, but hit just 1-of-7 in the opening half against the Wildcats.
The Phoenix finish the season with a 31-2 mark. During the regular season, the Green Bay was ranked a program-high ninth in both polls. The Phoenix will lose Wojta, the 2011-12 Horizon League Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, but return four starters and five of their top seven returnees next season.
