Top Seeds Move on to Semifinals

2012 Horizon League Women’s Basketball Tournament
Quarterfinals – Wednesday, March 7
(1) Green Bay 77, (9) Valparaiso 53
(2) Detroit 79, (7) Cleveland State 43
(3) Wright State 91, (6) Loyola 67
(4) UIC 66, (5) Butler 53

Wednesday night was not a good night to be the underdog in the Horizon League Women’s Basketball Tournament as the top four seeds all prevailed to advance to the semifinals.

The semifinals will be played Friday at the Kress Center in Green Bay, Wis. The first game between second-seed Detroit and third-seed Wright State will begin at 6 p.m. ET. The second semifinal will pit host and top-seed Green Bay against fourth-seed UIC. Game time for the second game is 8:30 p.m. ET.

Green Bay advanced by outlasting an undermanned Valparaiso squad, 77-53. The Crusaders kept the game close through the first 25 minutes, but the 10^th-ranked Phoenix were too deep and made too many plays, eventually pulling away from Valparaiso. Horizon League Player of the Year, Julie Wojta, led the Phoenix with team-highs in points (17), rebounds (5) and steals (6). The six steals gives her 105 for the season as she now owns the program’s single season record. Valparaiso’s Tabitha Gerardot led three Crusaders in double figures with a game-high 19 points.

UIC opened its contest against Butler by forcing the Bulldogs to miss their first 10 shots as the Flames raced out to a 13-0 lead. Butler would never get closer than eight points the rest of the way as UIC won 66-53. The Flames had four players in double figures led by Kiara Strickland with 17. Jasmine Bailey had a game-high 13 rebounds to go over 1,000 for her career. She is just the second player in UIC history to have 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career. Butler’s Devin Brierly and Mandy McDivitt led the Bulldogs with 15 points each.

Second-seeded Detroit forced Cleveland State into 18 turnovers and held the Vikings to 23.6 percent shooting in winning 79-43. While CSU was misfiring, Detroit was knocking down everything in shooting 54.5 percent from the field, 50 percent from three-point range and 86.7 percent from the foul line. Five Titans scored in double figures led by Co-Newcomer of the Year Shareta Brown with 19 points making 6-of-7 shots from the field and all seven of her free throws. Cleveland State’s Shalonda Winton , an All-League First Team selection, had 17 points to lead the Vikings.

Third-seeded Wright State broke away from Loyola late in the first half and never looked back in defeating the Ramblers, 91-67. Wright State was leading by just three, 31-28, when the Raiders went on a 37-11 run to break open the game. Co-Newcomer of the Year Kim Demmings led WSU with 30 points, her third 30+-point game of the season. Demmings also had 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. Monica Albano led three Ramblers in double figures with 18 points.