Women's Basketball Championship Preview

March 6, 2006

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2006 Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship Page

Top Performances from the 2006 Tournament

Molly O'Brien, UW-Milwaukee
Senior Forward * Columbus, Wis.
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 UWM a thrilling 58-57 win over Butler in the semifinals. The senior finished the game with a team-high 14 points, while grabbing seven rebounds and handing out three assists.

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. In the Panthers' second game, the Newcomer of the Year had six points, six rebounds and six assists.

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.

LaShonda Grant, UIC
Junior Guard * Chicago, Ill.
Grant notched 30 points on eight-of-14 shooting to pace the Flames in their semifinal win over UW-Green Bay. She also connected on 11 of her 15 free-throw attempts.

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. In the semifinals, the junior picked up 17 points on seven-of-15 shooting, while grabbing eight boards.

Lade Akande, Butler
Freshman Forward/Center * Robinson, Ill.
Akande led the Bulldogs with 24 points on nine-of-16 shooting in the quarterfinals before pouring in 23 points along with 11 rebounds and four blocks in the Bulldogs' semifinal loss. On the season, Akande paced the Bulldogs in points per game (16.2), rebounds per game (8.0), blocked shots (41) and steals (38).

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 Ramblers' quarterfinal loss.

TOURNEY RECAP:

The 2006 Horizon League Women's Basketball Tournament has reached the final game as (#1 seed) University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee takes on (#3 seed) University of Illinois at Chicago on Monday afternoon. The championship game will take place at 4 p.m. (ET) at the Klotsche Center and can be seen on ESPNU.

The semifinal round was played on Sunday as the teams met in Milwaukee, Wis. In the semifinals, (#1 seed) UW-Milwaukee needed a last-second lay-up to down (#4 seed) Butler University and (#3 seed) UIC used a 30-point performance by LaShonda Grant to send home (#2 seed) University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

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. The Ramblers were led by junior Jenna Real's 31 points, the highest point total in the League this year.

Quarterfinal play began Wednesday with Butler knocking off (#5 seed) University of Detroit Mercy, 58-45. The other three quarterfinal 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.

Tournament Tidbits
(Things you might not know about the Horizon League Championship)

UIC has advanced to the final game of the Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship for the first time in team history.

With UW-Green Bay's loss on Sunday, the Phoenix failed to reach the final game of the tournament for the first time since 1995. UWGB had captured the title in seven of the prior ten seasons (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005).

UIC's LaShonda Grant needs 18 points to set the tournament record for points (Chari Nordgaard - 66 points in 1999).

The top seed has won 10 of the 17 League Championships, including seven of the last nine.

The #2 seed has won six times, last by UW-Milwaukee in 2001. The #4 seed is the lowest and only other seed that has emerged victorious in League summits with Northern Illinois capturing the title in 1995.

A #7 seed has reached the finals on two different occasions (Cleveland State in 2000 and Detroit in 2003).

UW-Milwaukee's Jessica Wilhite holds the tournament single-game scoring record with 36 points versus UW-Green Bay in 2001.

UW-Green Bay's 28 tournament victories are the most by any school, followed by Detroit with 17 and Butler with 15.

Cleveland State, Wright State, Youngstown State, UIC and Loyola are all looking for their first League Championship.

In League tournament history, only one game has gone more than one overtime session. Cleveland State needed two extra periods to defeat Wright State 72-68 in the semifinals in 2000.

The top two teams have met in the finals nine times (1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2001) in 17 seasons overall.

Only Notre Dame's Krissi Davis (1989 and 1991) has won tournament Most Valuable Player honors more than once.

Tournament anniversaries:
Five-year (2001) -- UW-Milwaukee 77, UW-Green Bay 62
Ten-year (1996) -- Butler 56, UW-Green Bay 53
15-year (1991) -- Notre Dame 62, Butler 52