Women's Basketball Championship - Semifinal Preview

March 4, 2006

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Top Performances from the First Round and Quarterfinals

Lade Akande, Butler
Freshman Forward/Center * Robinson, Ill.
Akande led the Bulldogs with 24 points on nine-of-16 shooting as fourth-seeded Butler advanced to the semifinals on Wednesday. She added five rebounds. On the season, Akande paces the Bulldogs in points per game (16.0), rebounds per game (7.9), blocked shots (37) and steals (38).

Chrissy Dizon, UIC
Senior Guard * Chicago, Ill.
Dizon's lay-up with 28 seconds left in overtime gave UIC an 80-78 victory over Wright State in the quarterfinals. Dizon did it all in the game, notching eight rebounds and seven assists in addition to her 16 points.

Traci Edwards, UW-Milwaukee
Freshman Center * Menasha, Wis.
Edwards scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the UW-Milwaukee to a 76-56 win over Loyola in the quarterfinals. It was Edwards 15th double-double of the year and her 10th game with 20 or more points.

Nicole Soulis, UW-Green Bay
Junior Forward * Green Bay, Wis.
Soulis, the Horizon League Player of the Year, contributed a solid all-around game for the Phoenix in its quarterfinal match-up with Youngstown State, totaling 13 points, nine rebounds, five blocked shots and four steals. Soulis hit six-of-12 shots in the contest.

Whitney Lewis, Wright State
Sophomore Forward * Lynchburg, Ohio
Lewis posted a solid all-around performance with 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. She made five-of-eight shots from the floor and went a perfect nine-of-nine from the free-throw line.

Jessica Schloemp, Youngstown State
Sophomore Forward * Findlay, Ohio
Schloemp scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the Penguins' quarterfinal loss. She went six-of-six from the free-throw stripe and three-of-five from the floor.

Jenna Real, Loyola
Junior Forward * Elgin, Ill.
Loyola junior Jenna Real scored 31 points to lead the Ramblers to an 85-82 overtime victory over Cleveland State in the first round. Real, who hit 13-of-23 shots, set the Horizon League's top point total for the `05-06 season. The six-foot, junior poured in 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the Rambler's quarterfinal loss.

Dominique Butler, Cleveland State
Freshman Guard * Milwaukee, Wis.
Butler pitched in 21 points, eight rebounds and five steals in the Vikings' first-round loss. The All-Newcomer team selection went 10-of-18 from the field in 29 minutes.

Horizon League News and Notes

THIS WEEK IN THE HORIZON LEAGUE:
The 2006 Horizon League Women's Basketball Tournament now enters the semifinal round on Sunday as the teams meet in Milwaukee, Wis. for the final two rounds. In the first match-up, (#1 seed) University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee takes on (#4 seed) Butler University. In the day's second game, (#2 seed) University of Wisconsin-Green Bay goes up against (#3 seed) University of Illinois at Chicago. The championship game will take place on Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. (ET) and can be seen on ESPNU.

The tournament got underway on Tuesday night with (#8 seed) Loyola University Chicago picking up an 85-82 overtime victory over (#9 seed) Cleveland State University on Tuesday night. The Ramblers were led by junior Jenna Real's 31 points, the highest point total in the League this year.

Semifinal play began Wednesday with Butler knocking off (#5 seed) University of Detroit Mercy, 58-45. The other three semifinal games took place on Thursday evening: UW-Milwaukee used a strong second half to down Loyola, 76-56; UW-Green Bay held off (#7 seed) Youngstown State University, 63-53; and UIC needed an extra session to top (#6 seed) Wright State University, 80-78.

UW-Milwaukee claimed the top seed for this year's summit after edging regular-season co-champion UW-Green Bay with a sweep of the regular-season series.

2006 Women's Basketball Championship Page