Two Horizon League women's basketball games to appear on ESPNU in 2007-08

Oct. 22, 2007

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Horizon League Commissioner Jonathan B. LeCrone announced Monday (Oct. 22) that two Horizon League women's basketball games, including the tournament championship, will be telecast on ESPNU during the upcoming season.


The regular-season tilt will be a re-match of last season's League championship game as defending champion University of Wisconsin-Green Bay plays host to Butler University on Feb. 16 in the new $33 million, 4,000-seat Kress Events Center. Tip-off will be 4 p.m. ET (3 p.m. CT).


The Horizon League championship game will be played at the site of the highest remaining seed entering the semifinals on March 16, one day prior to the NCAA women's tournament's "Selection Monday." Tip-off will be 1 p.m. ET (12 p.m. CT).


Last March, Green Bay won its eighth Horizon League title in ten years with a 91-64 victory over Butler in its last game at the Phoenix Sports Center, where the Phoenix posted an all-time record of 303-64 in 31 years.


Green Bay went on to defeat the University of New Mexico in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before being eliminated by perennial national power University of Connecticut. The Phoenix completed the season with a League-record 29 wins (29-4) and became the first team since the University of Notre Dame in the 1989-90 season to go undefeated (16-0) in conference play.


Under the direction of head coach Beth Couture, Butler made its first championship game appearance since 1998 and enters the coming season in search of its first League crown since 1996. The Bulldogs' 16 wins a year ago (16-15) were the program's most since posting a 17-11 record during the 1998-99 season.


The Butler-Green Bay matchup will feature two members of the All-League Preseason First Team in Bulldogs junior Lade Akande and Phoenix junior Rachel Porath. Akande, a 6-foot-1 center, was named to the All-League Second Team last season after averaging 14.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Porath, a 5-foot-10 guard, averaged 9.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per outing while leading the League in three-point shooting (.438).


Green Bay, which enters its first season under new head coach Matt Bollant, was picked second in the Horizon League's preseason poll, while Butler was third in the voting.


The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, led by 6-foot-2 junior center and Preseason Player of the Year Traci Edwards, is the preseason favorite with 13 of 28 first-place votes after finishing fourth in the regular-season standings and advancing to the tournament semifinals a year ago.


Additional Horizon League basketball games on ESPNU will be announced in the near future.