Green Bay, one of only two undefeated teams in women’s college basketball, continued its winning ways on Saturday afternoon and has started to get some separation from the pack in Horizon League women’s basketball, but after the Phoenix things are very tight in the standings.
Detroit, courtesy of its victory over Wright State Saturday, currently sits in second place, two games back of Green Bay, but the Titans are only two games ahead of Butler and Cleveland State who are tied for sixth place in the league standings four weeks into conference play.
Butler 60, Loyola 57
Down by as many as 17, the Butler women's basketball team (7-11, 3-4) exploded for 42 points in the second half to defeat Loyola (9-10, 4-4) 60-57 Saturday evening at the Gentile Center. The victory was BU's first road win of the season.
Sophomore Sarah Hamm led the Bulldogs with 18 points and eight rebounds. Senior Devin Brierly scored 13 points and freshman Hannah Douglas added 11. Loyola's Simone Law led the Ramblers with 24 points, while Monica Albano and Abby Skupe both contributed 11 points.
Loyola led 29-12 late in the first half and was up 31-18 at halftime. Butler coach Beth Couture made some adjustments on both ends of the floor.
Butler out-scored Loyola 42-26 in the second half and held the Ramblers without a field goal for the final 9:17 of the game.
After halftime, Butler played perhaps its best 20 minutes of basketball this season. A 3-pointer by Brierly at the 16:40 mark pulled BU to within 35-30. Loyola answered and built its lead to 16 before the Bulldogs methodically chipped away at the deficit. A 9-0 Butler run would cut the lead to 53-52 with 4:30 left in the game.
Loyola led 56-54 when a baseline floater by Douglas tied the game with 2:20 remaining. Douglas scored again at the 1:26 mark to give Butler a 58-56 lead. Two free throws by Brierly with 12 seconds left iced the game.
The Bulldogs only committed one turnover in the second half as they made their comeback.
Butler will host #12/11 Green Bay Thursday, Jan. 26. Loyola is back in action Saturday, Jan. 28 when it hosts Chicago rival UIC.
Detroit 75, Wright State 64
On the strength of a 25-6 run midway through the game, the Detroit women's basketball team surged past Wright State and into second place in the Horizon League with a 75-64 victory over the Raiders on Saturday afternoon on Homecoming at Dick Vitale Court in Calihan Hall.
The win moved Detroit to 9-10 on the year and 5-2 in the Horizon League, where it is now in second place due to the midseason tiebreaker. Wright State fell to 12-7, 5-2 in the conference.
Sophomore Megan Hatter led five Titans in double figures by tying her career-high with 16 points, while also pulling down a career-best eight rebounds. Hatter was 6-of-12 from the field with another career-high netting three 3-pointers.
Freshman Shareta Brown had 13 points and nine rebounds despite playing limited minutes due to foul trouble, while junior Demeisha Fambro provided a spark off the bench with 13 points, her second-straight game in double figures.
Detroit was down 27-23 with under five minutes left in the first half when the red, white and blue took the lead for good on an 11-0 run in front of its Homecoming crowd. Fambro led the charge coming off the bench to score eight-straight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers. Junior Yar Shayok added a basket and Jalesa Jones split a pair of free throws as the red, white and blue went into the half up, 34-31.
Detroit stayed hot offensively coming out of the locker room and going on another 11-0 run to extend its advantage to 14, 45-31. Junior Chanahl Putnam got the charge going with a trey and that was followed with a 3-pointer from Hatter. After a technical foul was issued to WSU, two free throws by Jones ensued and then sophomore Senee Shearer would later hit from long range.
After a Raiders' basket, Shearer found the bottom of the net from three-point range again and Detroit had its largest lead of the contest, 48-33, at the 15:56 mark.
All told, the Titans turned the once four-point 27-23 deficit to a 15-point lead with a 25-6 spurt covering nearly nine minute of play. Detroit held the Raiders to 1-of-12 shooting in that span with four turnovers, while UDM was 8-of-12 from the field, including five 3-pointers.
Detroit never trailed the rest of the way, but a Wright State 17-6 run cut the Titans' lead to four, 54-50, with 7:47 remaining. That is when the Titans stayed composed with Hatter knocking down a three to stop that WSU drive. The Raiders would then trim the margin to six, 59-53, but baskets by Brown and Jones pushed it back to 10 with 4:42 left.
Wright State got back within single digits, but UDM hit eight of its 10 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
Shearer ended the game with 14 points, while Jones added 12 points and five assists playing all 40 minutes. Shayok finished with four points and three boards and some good defensive work inside, while Putnam tied her season high with four assists.
The Titan defense saw WSU shoot just 33.8% from the field hitting 24-of-71. Detroit's defense also did a good job on Wright State's leading scorer Kim Demmings, holding the rookie to 16 points on 6-of-25 shooting, including 1-of-8 from three.
Detroit nailed a season-high 10 trifectas and shot nearly 44% from the field, hitting 25 of its 57 attempts.
It was a close game throughout the first half as neither team led by more than five points. The Titans tallied the first five of the game and led 8-5 until WSU scored six straight for its first lead of the contest at the 14:20 mark.
Neither team could put much of a distance from each other after that as the game was tied five times in the next eight minutes when the Raiders jumped on top by four, 27-23, with 4:53 left in the first.
Detroit will hit the road for a pair of games next week starting with Youngstown State on Thursday night. Wright State will also be in Northeast Ohio next weekend as the Raiders play at Cleveland State on Thursday night.
Green Bay 80, Cleveland State 58
The No. 12/11 Green Bay (17-0, 7-0) women’s basketball team started the season 17-0 for the first time in program history with an 80-58 victory over Cleveland State (8-10, 3-4).
The win was also Green Bay’s 37th consecutive regular season victory, the longest winning streak in program history. The Phoenix has also won its last 33 regular season contests against Horizon League opponents.
For the fourth time this season, five players scored in double figures with Lydia Bauer, Sarah Eichler, Julie Wojta and Stephanie Sension all pouring in 12 while Hannah Quilling chipped in 10. Freshman Megan Lukan led the Phoenix on the boards grabbing seven rebounds, six on the defensive end.
Neither team led by more than three in the first three-and-a-half minutes as Wojta scored on the opening possession before Ritchie scored her lone three of the game following a Cleveland State bucket. Green Bay improved upon its last performance in defending the dribble as Bauer stole the ball at the 15:58 mark, sparking a 14-4 run by the Phoenix.
Green Bay’s defense forced the Vikings five turnovers in the six minute stretch which featured scoring from seven different Phoenix players. Offensively Green Bay did not turn the ball over until 4:41 remaining in the first half.
After a three pointer from Cleveland State’s Honesty King to cut the Phoenix lead to 12 with 8:21 to play, Eichler scored Green Bay’s next six points before Quilling sank two free throws and Lukan hit a layup to boost the lead to 19 (37-18) with 5:32 to play in the opening half.
Eichler scored her 10 first half points in the first 14 minutes of play. Wojta chipped in eight points in 11 minutes of play while grabbing three rebounds. Cleveland State’s King led all players with 11 points at the break while Imani Gordon led the battle on the boards with five.
Green Bay finished the first half shooting 47 percent from the field and for the fourth time this season finished the half shooting 100 percent (10-10) from the charity stripe while turning the ball over just twice.
With a comfortable 43-23 lead at the half, the Phoenix never slowed down in the second half as it opened with a 9-4 run which was sparked again by Bauer, only this time it was on the offensive end as the junior sank one of her two three pointers.
Cleveland State scored six consecutive points to cut the Phoenix lead to 20 with 13:32 remaining. Green Bay’s balanced scoring, which featured every player contributing at least four points, is a good sign the Phoenix continues to improve each and every game.
Green Bay led by as many as 31 after Sension hit a layup to boost the lead to 74-43 as the Phoenix cruised to victory. Green Bay shot a Kress Center Record 94 percent (18-19) from the charity stripe, its second highest percentage of the season after going 13-for-13 in the season opener at North Dakota State. The Phoenix also turned the ball over a season-low eight times.
King led CSU with 19 points, while Shalonda Winton contributed a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Green Bay is back in action Thursday night when it travels to Indianapolis to face Butler. Cleveland State returns home after being on the road this weekend and hosts Wright State on Thursday.
Milwaukee 76, Youngstown State 68
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team shot a season-high 56.3 percent and never trailed in handing Youngstown State University a 76-68 loss Saturday afternoon at the Klotsche Center.
Junior Sami Tucker led four players in double-figures with a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Angela Rodriguez added 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range, sophomore Courtney Lindfors also had 15 and freshman Ashley Green rounded out the list with 14 points.
Kenya Middlebrookspaced the visitors with 19 points, including five three-pointers.
The Panthers (5-12, 1-6) led by as many as 16 points in the first half, only to see the Penguins (8-10, 2-5) close the gap to as few as three with just over 10 minutes left. UWM used a quick 7-2 run at that point to take back control and led comfortably the rest of the way to improve its winning streak over YSU to 14 games in front of a spirited crowd of 757.
Lindfors added seven rebounds to go with her 15 points in just 17 minutes of action. Green just missed a double-double of her own with nine rebounds. In addition, freshman Kiki Wilson handed out a season-high eight assists.
The Panthers held Brandi Brown to 14 points and eight rebounds, as the Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year was hampered by first-half foul trouble.
The Panthers led, 47-34, on a three-pointer by senior Alex Klawitter at the 15:39 mark. But YSU responded, putting together a 15-6 run to eventually get within three at 55-52 with just over 10 minutes to play. UWM put a stop to it there, with Rodriguez answering with a three as part of a 7-2 spurt that gave it back control. The Penguins would get no closer than six the rest of the way.
The Panthers played well in the first half and were in full command up until Youngstown State finally responded in the final minutes. In fact, Milwaukee built a lead of 25-9 after freshman Janna Swopshire converted a free throw for a three-point play at the 7:39 mark.
The Penguins then made a dent in the deficit, scoring 18 of the final 27 points of the half, including an 8-0 run in the final 1:37 of the half to make it a 34-27 game at intermission.
After suffering through some slow starts in recent games, it was UWM that was quick out of the gates today. A trio of three-pointers - two by Rodriguez - helped it to a 9-1 lead. The Panthers would build that to 15-7 and a 10-0 scoring run would push the lead to its largest at 25-9.
Tucker had 11 in the first half alone, as Milwaukee made 50 percent (12-of-24) shots in the first 20 minutes. YSU was at just 33.3 percent (10-of-30), including 25 percent (3-for-12) on three-pointers.
Overall, Milwaukee shot 56.3 percent for the game, including an impressive 62.5 percent (15-of-24) in the second half. The team also won the rebound battle, 40-28, and limited YSU to 39.3 percent (24-of-61) shooting on the day.
Up next, the Panthers close out January with a two-game road trip, getting things underway Thursday at Valparaiso. Youngstown State returns home next week and beings the home stand by hosting Detroit.
UIC 54, Valparaiso 43
The UIC women’s basketball team picked up its third straight win in a 54-43 victory over Valparaiso on Saturday night inside the UIC Pavilion. The Flames improve to 12-7 overall and 5-3 in the Horizon League, while the Crusaders drop to 5-13, 1-6.
Senior Jasmine Bailey recorded a game-high 19 points and 13 rebounds, while seniors Kiara Strickland and Shamiea Green dropped in 16 and 14, respectively.
The Flames began the contest with a 7-0 run on balanced scoring from three separate players. Valparaiso had offensive troubles in the opening minutes and finally put up its first points at the 16:48 mark.
UIC held a comfortable lead throughout most of the first half, however the Crusaders pulled within four points with 5:35 on the clock as part of a 5-0 Valpo spurt.
The Flames ultimately extended their lead out to 25-15 with 3:30 left in the first period as Strickland swished a 10-footer from the left baseline. After three scoreless minutes, Taylor Foulks drilled her lone three of the game, giving UIC the 28-15 edge at the break.
At the half, Bailey led all scorers with 10 points, while Strickland and Green added eight and seven, respectively. The Crusaders were paced by Ashley Timmerman with eight tallies.
Both teams struggled to find the hoop in the opening 20 minutes as UIC shot 37.9 percent from the field, while Valparaiso totaled 25 percent.
UIC reached its first 20-point lead on the wings of a 10-0 run at the 14:25 mark of the second half.
Valpo cut the Flame’s lead down to 15 with 8:57 left in the game on jumper from senior Ashley Varner, but Bailey quickly retaliated with a three ball on the next possession.
Refusing to go away quietly, the Crusaders sliced into UIC’s advantage at the 4:50 mark, making the score 48-35 on a Timmerman trey.
UIC set the throttle on cruise control for the rest of the contest as Valpo was able to cut the Flame’s lead down to 54-43 with 17 seconds on the clock, which proved to be the final count.
The Flames return to action on Saturday, Jan. 28 as they travel to cross-town rival Loyola. Valparaiso is home on Thursday
Tags: Butler - Women's Basketball · Detroit Mercy - Women's Basketball · Green Bay - Women's Basketball · Milwaukee - Women's Basketball · UIC - Women's Basketball
