Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship - Quarterfinals Preview
March 11, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The quarterfinals of the 2008 Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship begin on Wednesday. The match-ups will feature No. 1 seed Green Bay vs. No. 9 seed Loyola, No. 2 seed Wright State vs. No. 7 seed Youngstown State, No. 3 seed Milwaukee vs. No. 6 seed Valparaiso and No. 4 seed Cleveland State vs. No. 5 seed Butler. The higher seed in each game will serve as the host institution.
The Horizon League at a Glance
Penguins and Ramblers advance to quarterfinals
No. 7 seed Youngstown State defeated No. 8 seed Detroit 65-54 and No. 9 seed Loyola beat No. 8 seed UIC 73-69 in overtime to advance to the quarterfinal round of the Horizon League Championship. YSU's victory over UDM marked its first tournament win since joining the League in 2001.
Horizon League announces postseason awards
Milwaukee junior center Traci Edwards was selected as the Player of the Year, while Green Bay head coach Matt Bollant and Wright State head coach Bridgett Williams earned Co-Coach of the Year recognition. WSU freshman guard Shey Peddy and senior forward Sierra Crayton also took home individual honors as they received the League's respective Newcomer and Sixth Player of the Year awards. Cleveland State University junior guard Dominique Butler took home the circuit's top Defensive honor.
ESPNU to broadcast title game
Sunday's 2008 Horizon League Championship title game will be broadcast on ESPNU. Dan McLaughlin will be the play-by-play announcer, while Sarah Kustok will handle color commentary.
Green Bay sets League record for wins in a season
The Phoenix set the Horizon League win record with 17 victories in 2007-08. Last season Green Bay tied the previous best of 16 victories with an unblemished 16-0 record.
Phoenix claim 2007-08 regular-season title
With its 52-51 victory over Loyola on Feb. 23, Green Bay captured the 2007-08 regular-season title outright. The Phoenix have won or shared the regular-season crown every year dating back to the 1998-99 campaign.
Butler and Green Bay post 20 win seasons
For the second time in three years, the Horizon League has two teams with 20 or more wins in a season as Butler owns a 20-9 record, while Green Bay starts Championship play with a 25-4 mark.
UWM's Botham sets League record
Against Valparaiso on Feb. 16, Milwaukee head coach Sandy Botham broke the Horizon League record with her 126th career loop coaching victory.
Three League players reach the 1,000-point plateau this season
Senior guard Kayla Groh recorded her 1,000th career point on Feb. 21 against UIC. Groh's achievement joined her with Butler junior center Lade Akande and Wright State senior forward Whitney Lewis, both of whom reached the 1,000 point plateau earlier this season. Milwaukee junior center Traci Edwards entered the 2007-08 campaign with 1,115 career points.
News from around the League
Butler
The Bulldogs (20-9 overall, 10-8 Horizon League) defeated Valparaiso at home 66-58 in their only game last week.
The Bulldogs wrapped up the regular season tied for fourth in the final standings. Butler will enter the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Championship as the No. 5 seed and take on host No. 4 seed Cleveland State on Wednesday.
Butler's victory over Valparaiso gives the Bulldogs their 20th win of the season, the most for the team since the 1997-98 campaign (25-6) and the most during head coach Beth Couture's six-year tenure.
The Bulldogs' defense has been a huge factor in how the team fares in the win-loss column. In its 20 wins this season, Butler has allowed opponents just 57.3 points per game at 38.1 percent shooting from the field. The nine losses, meanwhile, have the Bulldogs' foes have scoring 70.6 points at 51.7 percent shooting.
Butler has rediscovered its long-range shooting touch in the last two games, scoring 10 three pointers against both Cleveland State (March 1) and Valparaiso (March 8). The Bulldogs have hit 10 threes in a single game three times this season, including a 10-for-22 effort against Indiana State on Dec. 1.
With just 15.1 turnovers per game, the Bulldogs not only lead the Horizon League with the fewest per contest but rank among the top 30 in the nation.
Cleveland State
The Vikings (16-13 overall, 10-8 Horizon League) split a pair of games on the road this past week as they fell to UIC (93-80) on Thursday, but rebounded against Loyola (86-70) on Saturday.
CSU's victory over Loyola on Saturday secured the Vikings the No. 4 seed in the Horizon League Championship. On Wednesday, the Vikings will play host to No. 5 seed Butler in the quarterfinals.
Sophomore Kailey Klein set a single game school-record by hitting 17 free throws at UIC on Thursday. She also tied a school-record with her 21 free throw attempts.
The Vikings finished the season with a school-record 10 League wins, breaking the old mark of nine set in 2003-04. In addition, the 16 overall wins are tied for the third most in school-history.
Klein enters the championship with 574 points, which is the second most in a single season at CSU. She is 61 points shy of breaking the record and needs to score 26 more points to become just the second player to score 600 points in a season.
The Vikings combined to go 43-of-49 (.878) at the free throw line in two games last weekend to raise the season free throw percentage to .805. That is the best percentage in school-history and is currently ahead of the League record of .801 set by Green Bay last season.
Detroit
The Titans (6-24 overall, 3-15 Horizon League) fell in the first round of the Horizon League Championship on the road to Youngstown State to end their 2007-08 season.
Junior guard Zemora Davis led the Titans with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Junior guard Sandi Brown also scored in double-figures as she tallied 11 points.Detroit struggled from the three-point range against the Penguins as it went just 2-of-13 from beyond the arc.
Detroit ended its regular season with two losses on the road as the Titans dropped a 59-50 decision at Milwaukee on Thursday and then were defeated by Green Bay on Saturday, 71-51
Brown collected her fourth career double-double at Milwaukee with a team-high 17 points and a career-best 12 rebounds. In addition, sophomore Chanica Hall chipped in with 10 points and dished out a game-high four assists against the Panthers. Brown went on to score in her 15th double figure game this season in the regular season finale against Green Bay with a team-high 15 points.
Green Bay
The Phoenix (25-4 overall, 17-1 Horizon League) went 2-0 this past week as it defeated Wright State (78-73) in overtime on Thursday and Detroit (71-51) on Saturday.
Green Bay holds the No. 1 seed in the Horizon Championship and will meet No. 9 seed Loyola on Wednesday in the Quarterfinals. In the two teams' last meeting on Feb. 23, Loyola took the Phoenix down to the wire, but Green Bay escaped with a 52-51 victory on the road, which clinched the outright Horizon League regular-season title.
Phoenix guard Kayla Groh led all scorers with 23 points against Detroit. Groh, Green Bay's lone senior, shot 10-of-13 from the field to collect her fourth 20-point game of the season.
Junior center Lavesa Glover added 19 points, including 10 of Green Bay's first 17 points of the contest, as she was the only other player for Green Bay in double figures.
Green Bay improved to 10-8 all-time in overtime games with its win over Wright State on Thursday. It was the first overtime game in the history of the Kress Center.
Junior guard Rachel Porath set a career high with seven steals versus WSU. The Phoenix tallied a season-tying high of 20 steals in forcing 31 Wright State turnovers. Kati Harty also was in the taking mood with five thefts in the contest.
Loyola
The Ramblers (8-22 overall, 5-13 Horizon League) advanced to the Quarterfinals of the Horizon League Championship on Tuesday following a 73-69 overtime victory against UIC on the road.
All five starters scored in double figures for the Ramblers. Sophomore guard Keisha Collins led the way for Loyola as she scored 17 points on 4-of-9 shooting.
As a team, the Ramblers outrebounded the Flames 55-50. Sophomore center Shannon Finnegan paced LU with 10 boards.
With the win, Loyola will travel to No. 1 seed Green Bay on Wednesday. During the regular season, Loyola lost to the Phoenix twice, however the second loss at home on Feb. 23 was by just one point.
The Ramblers finished the final week of the regular season with a win over Youngstown State (86-70) on Thursday and a loss to Cleveland State (75-62) on Saturday.
Freshman forward Brittany Boeke led LU with 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting against Youngstown State. Boeke's scoring output against the Penguins, marked the first time this season she had scored over 20 points in a game.
On Saturday against CSU, sophomore guard Jessica Hylton scored a career and team-high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field.
Milwaukee
The Panthers (16-13 overall, 11-7 Horizon League) closed out League play with a pair of victories as they defeated Detroit (59-50) on Thursday and Wright State (67-54) on Saturday.
The Panthers closed out the League schedule by winning four of their last six games and finished in a second-place tie with Wright State. UWM enters the Horizon League Championship as the No. 3 seed and will take on No. 6 seed Valparaiso on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.
Against Detroit on Thursday, junior center Traci Edwards collected her 16th double-double of the season as she paced the team with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
As a team, UWM shot 52.6 percent from the field in the second half and held the Titans to just a 31.7 shooting clip for the game.
The Panthers closed out the week by shooting a school-record 64.3 percent from the field against Wright State on Saturday, which topped the record of 61.5 percent set against the Raiders on Feb. 27, 2003.
Edwards scored a team-high 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting against WSU. UWM freshman center Jenilee Klomstad also scored in double-figures as she tallied 15 points connecting on a perfect 7-of-7 from the field.
UIC
The Flames (10-20 overall, 6-12 Horizon League) were eliminated from the Horizon League Championship following a 73-69 overtime loss to Loyola on Monday.
UIC trailed by eight with 8:18 to go in the second half, but UIC drained eight straight points to cut the deficit to one. The Flames tied the game with 18 seconds remaining, but in the overtime session UIC was outscored 14-10.
Sophomore guard Jessie Miller posted game highs of 22 points and 14 rebounds to record her second double-double of the season. Miller also had a game-high seven steals.
As a team, the Flames forced the Ramblers into 20 turnovers. UIC also had 12 blocks, five of which came from Cassie Johnson.
The Flames split their final two regular-season games of the season with a win over Cleveland State (93-80) on Thursday and a loss to Youngstown State (71-62) on Saturday.
Valparaiso
The Crusaders (14-15 overall, 9-9 Horizon League) closed out regular-season play with a 66-58 setback at Butler on Saturday.
Valparaiso heads into its first Horizon League Championship as the No. 6 seed and will faceoff against No. 3 seed Milwaukee on the road. Against Milwaukee this Valparaiso went 0-2.
Valpo heads into the Championship with a 13-2 record when shooting better than its opponent and a 1-13 mark being outshot.
Valparaiso went into the locker room tied with the Bulldogs at 35. In the second half, Valpo went just 8-of-26 from the field and was outscored 31-23 in the final frame.
Valpo junior forward Aimee Litka scored a game-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting. In 2007-08, Litka has scored in double figures in 26 of 29 games this season.
Junior guard Agnieszka Kulaga added 11 points and finished the year with 427 points, which ranks eighth on Valpo's single season list.
Sophomore guard Whitney Farris also scored in double-figures as scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
Wright State
The Raiders (14-15 overall, 11-7 Horizon League) dropped a pair of games this past week in Wisconsin to close out the 2007-08 regular-season slate. On Thursday the Raiders fell 78-73 to Green Bay and then lost 67-54 to Milwaukee on Saturday.
Despite its losses, the Raiders still managed to hold on to the No. 2 seed in the Championship. WSU will take on No. 7 seed Youngstown State on Wednesday in the Quarterfinals. YSU defeated Wright State twice during the regular season.
Wright State will host its first Horizon League Tournament game since falling to Green Bay in the 2005 championship game.
The Raiders have never won in Green Bay in 19 tries and has won just once in Milwaukee (in 1996).
Wright State led by seven with 5:20 to go in regulation against Green Bay on Thursday, but the Phoenix rallied to force the game into overtime.
The Raiders were 11-of-19 from three-point range, including 8-of-10 in the second half. The 11 threes tied a school record as WSU also hit 11 at Loyola on February 28, 1996.
Freshman guard Shey Peddy led the Raiders with 24 points, 15 coming in the second half, while senior forward Whitney Lewis added 20 as she hit went 6-of-7 from three point range.
Wright State then trailed by just four at the half on Saturday against Milwaukee, but it could not overcome a 64 percent shooting day by Milwaukee as the Panthers defeated the Raiders in the regular-season finale for both teams at the Klotsche Center.
Peddy led all scorers with 18 for the Raiders and added seven steals, five rebounds and four assists.
Youngstown State
The Penguins (14-16 overall, 8-10 Horizon League) collected its first Horizon League Championship victory in school history with a 65-54 triumph over Detroit.
Senior guard Heather Karner set the Youngstown State single-season three-point record after she hit five. The YSU guard finished the game with 18 points.
Karner, who has made 83 three-pointers this season, also grabbed five rebounds and dished out two assists to pace the Penguins. Junior forward Tiara Scott also reached double figures with 11 points.
Senior Lauren Branson ranks fifth on the YSU all-time assist chart with 484.
YSU finished the regular season with a loss at Loyola (86-70) on Thursday and a win on the road against UIC (71-62).
The Penguins' victory over UIC marked its eighth League win and matched its highest total since joining the Horizon League in 2001-02.
