GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The dynamic duo that led the Green Bay women's basketball team to its greatest season in program history has signed professional contracts. Kayla Tetschlag (Sheboygan, Wis.) and Celeste Hoewisch (Hortonville, Wis.) will remain teammates as they have both inked one-year deals with the Belgium team Waregem.
"When we found out I got a text from Celeste that read, 'this is everything we have worked for,' and I just stared at it and told myself how right she was," said Tetschlag.
Tetschlag and Hoewisch have been working with their agent, Jean McNulty, who has been working hard to find opportunities for them to play on the same team. Throughout the search to land a professional deal, at times it appeared the two would not be able to play together but quickly changed.
"I talked to a lot of Division I coaches this summer and they told me they would be shocked if they would get to go together," said Green Bay head coach Matt Bollant.
"It's so unique and rare for us to be able to go play for the same team professionally and I'm appreciative that the team took us together," Tetschlag said of her new team Waregem. "It will certainly help with the transition."
Hoewisch was given the news while shopping with her mom for her upcoming August wedding.
"I knew it would happen. The waiting game is what was the hard part, especially given my situation and the fact I'm getting married and didn't know where I was going to live," said Hoewisch.
Hoewisch and Tetschlag will join their team, which won its division last season, at the end of August.
"We've worked for this moment to play professionally and it's really surreal," said Hoewisch, the Horizon League Co-Defensive Player of the Year. "Green Bay has prepared me to play the game as a team and win championships and I know Kayla and I can do our part in Belgium together."
Tetschlag and Hoewisch were named the Co-Horizon League Players of the Year while leading the Phoenix to the program's first Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Both finished their collegiate careers in the top 10 in scoring and were named to the Division I-AAA Athletic Director's Association Scholar Athlete team with Tetschlag being named the Player of the Year.
"I told their agent that their new team will not have a harder working couple of girls," Bollant said. "I'm so thrilled for them as they start this new chapter in their lives and continue to represent Green Bay."
Hoewisch and Tetschlag are the first pair of players from Green Bay to play for the same professional team overseas at the same time and the 10th and 11th players from the Phoenix to play professionally.
(Courtesy GreenBayPhoenix.com)
Tags: Green Bay - Women's Basketball
