Women's Basketball Championship - Semifinals

March 5, 2006

UW-Milwaukee 58, Butler 57
Milwaukee, Wis. - Molly O'Brien grabbed a rebound, dribbled the length of the court and scored on a lay-up with 4.8 seconds remaining to give the UW-Milwaukee a thrilling 58-57 win over Butler Sunday in the semifinals of the Horizon League Women's Basketball Tournament.

The basket capped a comeback that saw the Panthers overcome an 11-point deficit in the final 7:26 of the game.

UWM (21-8) advances to the championship game of the tournament, set for Monday at 3 p.m. at the Klotsche Center. The Panthers will face UIC in the championship as the Flames pulled off an upset-victory over second-seed UW-Green Bay Sunday afternoon.

O'Brien led a balanced Milwaukee attack with 14 points, while Meredith Onson and Nichole Drummond scored 12 points apiece.

Lade Akande scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Butler (15-14), which had beaten Milwaukee in overtime at the Klotsche Center in late December.

Similarly to that contest, in which UWM overcame an 18-point second-half deficit to force the extra period, the Panthers made a crucial run down the stretch. A three-pointer by Jackie Closser gave Butler a 53-42 lead with 7:26 remaining and the Panthers did not retake the lead until O'Brien's lay-up. Butler then turned the ball over as the buzzer sounded.

The Panthers looked like they might be able to pull away in the first half, building a quick 15-8 lead. And, after the Bulldogs scored eight-straight to regain the lead, Milwaukee responded with a 10-2 run of its own to reclaim a 25-18 advantage. But, as the Panthers went scoreless over the final 3:40 of the half, the Bulldogs rattled off eight-straight to take a 26-25 lead into the locker room.

The two teams then traded the lead early in the second half before the Bulldogs made what appeared to be a decisive run. Butler turned a 37-34 UWM lead into a 53-42 edge of its own with just 7:26 to play.

Milwaukee's comeback then started with an Onson basket, which was followed by a lay-up by O'Brien and a three-point play by Drummond. Butler still led, 57-51, after two Closser free throws with 4:01 to play, but the Bulldogs would not score again. A three-point play by Traci Edwards and a pair of free throws by Kim Wypiszynski pulled the Panthers to within one at 57-56, setting up O'Brien's heroics.

After UWM turned the ball over in its first chance to take the lead in the final minute, the Panthers got a stop and the rebound bounced out to O'Brien. She raced down the court and made a move to the basket, laying the ball in to give Milwaukee the lead. Butler called a timeout to set up a final play, but Closser threw the ball away looking for Akande under the basket as time expired.

Monday's game will mark UWM's second-ever appearance in the League title game. The Panthers are looking for their second NCAA Tournament appearance, having advanced to the 2001 NCAA Tourney by winning their only post-season League title.

Box Score

UIC 74, UW-Green Bay 62
Milwaukee, Wis. - A second half surge helped UIC to its first-ever trip to the Horizon League Tournament championship game and its first win over UW-Green Bay since Feb. 24, 2000. Paced by junior LaShonda Grant with 30 points, the third-seeded Flames rolled past the second-seeded Phoenix, 74-62, in semifinal action at the Klotsche Center on Sunday afternoon.

UIC (16-13) will now battle host UW-Milwaukee (21-8) on Monday at 4:00 p.m. (ET) with eyes on its first NCAA bid and League tournament crown.Along with Grant's 30 points, UIC senior Chrissy Dizon chipped in 13 points, four assists, five steals and seven rebounds. Sophomore Nicole Rinaldi led the Flames, pulling down eight boards and Jacquay Holmes added ten points in the win.

UW-Green Bay junior Nicole Soulis paced the Phoenix with 17 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Kati Harty pitched in 12 points and Amanda Popp added four buckets, totaling ten points.

Holding the Phoenix early in the game, the Flames led by as many as seven points until the 4:32 mark when UW-Green Bay's Kati Harty hit a pair of free throws and drained a three pointer on its next possession.

Down by four points, UIC answered with a trey from Grant. With less than a minute left in the first half, Kayla Groh nailed a three to help UW-Green Bay to a 31-27 advantage heading into halftime.

UW-Green Bay hit five straight points to extend its lead to nine (36-27) to start the second half. The Flames sparked a 7-0 run with 16:40 remaining to tie it up at 40-40 on a lay-up by junior Kelly True.

Up by one and 11:03 on the clock, UIC took control of the game, knocking down nine consecutive points to lead 52-42.

The Flames continued to sink their shots and slowly pulled away from the Phoenix, ending UW-Green Bay's season and advancing to the finals, 74-62.

UIC shot 41.5 percent from the field and forced UW-Green Bay to 20 turnovers and outrebounded the Phoenix 38-30.

Box Score

Notes & Quotes

Milwaukee head coach Sandy Botham

On the game:


"I give a lot of credit to Butler. Who knows, if there was another minute left on the clock it could have gone the other way. It was that kind of a game."

On coming back:


"I am very proud of what our team withstood. We never gave up and that's the lesson - don't ever give up. Things weren't going as we would have liked. I thought Butler's defense really kept us off rhythm, but we found the rhythm when we needed to down the stretch and were able to pull it out."

On playing at home:


"I thought our crowd was fantastic. There's the advantage of working hard in the regular season and having the opportunity to host the tournament at the end of the season, and the crowd made the difference."

On playing for the championship Monday:


"It's not about me, it's about us. I am so happy for these players, because I am the only one in this program who has been to a championship. I'm the only one in our program who has made it to the NCAA. To see these guys get to that next step and come that much closer to our goal is awesome. That's why we as coaches are in it - to see the young athletes hard work start to pay off. We are so excited."

Butler coach Beth Couture

On the game:


"I thought it was a great basketball game. It was really a game of runs, they would go up, we would go up. I'm really proud of my kids. I thought we handled a situation we weren't used to being in - a really tough crowd. We are disappointed, we wanted to come in here and win a basketball game."

On Milwaukee's game-winning basket:


"Everyone was working very hard. O'Brien got a long rebound, the ball just bounced that way. If it had bounced any other way, Sandy would have had to set up a play, but the ball came right out to her on the last line. I thought (Candyce) Brown did a good job, she turned her and O'Brien had to make a big play. I thought we were right there in her face, it was just transition defense. I think we did all that we could with the way the ball bounced of the rim."

UIC head coach Lisa Ryckbosch

On the game:
"We are just thrilled to see our team come out and come together and do the things we needed to do to win a basketball game. We had moments of that throughout the year and this is the time that you really want to put it together and make it happen. I'm so proud of them for continuing to believe in each other and coming back after getting down, we were down but never out. It was a great team effort."

On keys to the game:
"There were two things we needed to do in order to stay in this game, one was to take care of the basketball and not give them baskets off of our turnovers and the other was to take away their transition play. I think this game was a turning point for our basketball team."

On her team's approach in the League tournament:
"It's been our goal since we got here to bring everything to every game. In this tournament its one and done, it's everything to gain and nothing to lose."

On beating UWM for the first time this season:
"I think what was different this time out, we had the confidence, I didn't have to spend a minute convincing my team that we could beat them, it was more of a matter what we had to do to beat them."

UW-Green Bay coach Kevin Borseth

On the game:
"I wish I could tell you something that I understood, we hit a wall. I don't know why we hit a wall, I don't know if it as something I did, I don't know if I ground those kids too much in the year and when it came to this time they had no legs left, don't know if we ate too late last night, don't know if they didn't get enough sleep, we just didn't have any energy."

On UIC's advantage:
"I don't want to take anything away from UIC, they just outplayed us, they were quicker than we were, they were more aggressive than we were, we couldn't stand up and fight, it was the most pathetic game I've coached in 25 years, the worst game I've ever seen, we just hit a wall."

Butler freshman Lade Akande

On limiting UWM's Traci Edwards to just six points:


"I think the last two times we played Milwaukee, I've left the game knowing I could have done a better job on Edwards defensively. So I really wanted to make a point tonight of doing that. I knew this was it, there was no tomorrow. We have to go out and do everything we can to win this game. I felt it all week I was ready to go."

Milwaukee senior Molly O'Brien

On her game-winning basket:


"I knew I had enough time to get a shot off, but I saw a player coming up on my side so I did a spin move and just layed it up. After the game Nicole (Drummond) and I were so happy, we said we can't stop now, we are so excited. We didn't want to go out like we have the past three years."

UW-Milwaukee / Butler Notes

- The Panthers are in the League title game for just the second time in school history. Their other appearance came in 2001.

- UWM has won 11-straight games, adding to a school record. The Panthers have also won 16 of their last 17 games overall.

- Milwaukee has 21 wins on the season, another school record.

- UWM holds a 15-12 series edge on Butler.

- The Panthers are 7-12 all-time in League tournament games.

- Milwaukee tallied 18 assists in the game and has 487 on the season. That sets a new single-season school record.

- Traci Edwards tallied just six points, her lowest output since scoring just two in the season opener at Oklahoma. But, she set a new career high with six assists. She did see a streak of 11-straight double-figure point efforts snapped.

- UWM shot just seven free throws, the first time this season the Panthers have attempted less than 10 in a game.

Butler Notes

- Lade Akande scored a game-high 23 points, the 12th-straight time she has reached double figures. She finishes her freshman season with 470 points.

- Jackie Closser, who is already Butler's all-time three-point leader, made four 3-point shots in the game, giving her 186 in her career.

- Butler also finishes the year with 223 three-pointers, a new school record.

- The Bulldogs have now hit at least one three-pointer in 153-straight games.

- Closser played all 40 minutes in the game, the 10th time this season she has done that. She also played all 40 minutes in Butler's quarterfinal win over Detroit Wednesday.

2006 Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship Page