The quarterfinals of the 2012 Horizon League Women’s Basketball Tournament begin Wednesday with all eight remaining teams in action. First round winners Cleveland State and Valparaiso are joined by the six teams who received byes into the quarterfinals in action on campus sites.
Top-seeded Green Bay begins its quest for its second consecutive championship when it hosts Valparaiso. The Crusaders are coming off a first round win which saw them hold Milwaukee to just 39 points in a 47-39 victory. Valparaiso has the second-ranked scoring defense in the conference, but they run into the conference’s top scoring offense and top scoring defense in Green Bay on Wednesday. The Phoenix won both games between the two teams in the regular season with Green Bay holding Valparaiso below 40 points in both contests.
In the other game on the top half of the bracket, fourth-seeded UIC hosts fifth-seeded Butler. The two teams split their two regular season games with both teams claiming victory on their own home floor. UIC is led by All-League members Jasmine Bailey (First Team) and Shamiea Green (Second Team). Butler will be without All-League Second Team member Sarah Hamm, who is out for the remaining of the season because of a knee injury, is paced by its backcourt of Devin Brierly and Jenna Cobb. Cobb was a member of the League’s All-Defensive team, while Brierly leads the Bulldogs in scoring, averaging 10.8 ppg.
On the bottom half of the bracket, second-seeded Detroit, coming off its best conference mark since the 1996-97 season, hosts seventh-seed Cleveland State. The Titans are led by Conference Co-Newcomer of the Year Shareta Brown. Brown averaged 17.1 points per game and 9.0 rebounds per game, while leading the conference in field goal percentage in her rookie campaign. Cleveland State is led by All-League First Team member Shalonda Winton who averaged 22.3 points per game in League games to lead the conference. Detroit won both regular season meetings.
The final quarterfinal game is sixth-seeded Loyola playing at third-seed Wright State. The two teams split their regular season contests with both teams winning on the others home court. Wright State has been led this season by freshman Kim Demmings who shared Co-Newcomer of the Year honors with Brown. Demmings averaged 17.9 points per game this season, ranking as the top scoring freshman in all of Division I women’s college basketball. Loyola was led by All-Newcomer members Simone Law and Patrice King this season. Law averaged 13.9 ppg., and 7.2 rpg., to rank in the top-10 in the conference in both categories.
The four winners from tonight’s games advance to the conference semifinals that will be played on the home court of the highest remaining seed. Game times for Friday’s semifinals are 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. ET. Both games will be shown live on the Horizon League Network.
