Women's Basketball Weekly Release #6

Dec. 11, 2006

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Player of the Week

Nicole Soulis, UW-Green Bay
Senior * Forward * Green Bay, Wis.
In two big home wins last week, Soulis led all scorers as the Phoenix avenged a pair of big losses from last season. Against Iowa Dec. 7, Soulis' 17 points led all scorers as UW-Green Bay topped the Hawkeyes 67-43. Then, versus Indiana State Dec. 9, Soulis was on fire, converting on her first six field goals and finishing 11-of-14 on the day for a game-best 23 points. Soulis also added a season-high three assists in the victory over the Sycamores. With the 40 points scored last week, Soulis now stands in eighth place on the Horizon League's all-time scoring chart with 1,516 points.

Other Top Performances from the Week Ending Dec. 10

Lade Akande, Butler
Sophomore * Center * Robinson, Ill.
Akande was one of Butler's strongest performers last week, averaging 12.5 points per game and 3.5 rebounds. She began the week with 17 points, five rebounds and three blocks against Evansville. She followed that performance by registering eight points with two boards and a block against No. 10 Purdue.

Sierra Crayton, Wright State
Junior * Forward * Cahokia, Ill.
Crayton averaged 14 points and five rebounds in two contests last week. The junior forward had 11 points and four rebounds at Canisius then followed that with a career-high 17 points on six-of-eight shooting against Eastern Michigan with six rebounds.

Traci Edwards, UW-Milwaukee
Sophomore * Center * Menasha, Wis.
Edwards led the Panthers to a 1-1 mark last week by averaging 16.5 points and 11 rebounds per game. She finished with four blocks, five assists and two steals, while shooting 68.2% from the field. Against Air Force on Thursday, she posted her fourth double-double of the season with 19 points and 13 rebounds. She also tied her career-high with four blocks. Edwards then added 14 points, nine rebounds and two steals at North Dakota State on Sunday.

Kandace Evans, Detroit
Junior * Guard * Southfield, Mich.
Evans scored in double digits both games, tying for team lead with 13 points against Eastern Michigan. She added a career high nine rebounds against EMU, then handed out five assists as Titan offense got back on track scoring 75 against Northern Iowa.

Monique Godfrey, Youngstown State
Sophomore * Guard * East Cleveland, Ohio
In the only game of the week, Godfrey tied a career-high with 18 points on six-of-16 shooting from the field, including a career-high five three-pointers. She also dished out four assists in the 69-56 loss to Indiana State.

Krystal Hugelier, UIC
Senior * Guard * Elmhurst, Ill.
Hugelier averaged 10 points and 3.5 rebounds per game for the Flames last week. The senior shot 53.8 percent from the field (seven-of-13) and 44.4 percent from three-point land (four-of-nine). Hugelier drained two-of-three from the free throw line with four assists and three steals in two games.

Jenna Real, Loyola
Senior * Forward * Elgin, Ill.
Real narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists while drilling 8-of-10 from the floor as Loyola earned its first win of the season in its only game of the week, knocking off Dayton 74-69 on Wednesday night in Dayton. Real came up big in the second half, connecting on all six of her shots after halftime.

Stephanie Youdath, Cleveland State
Sophomore * Center * Mentor, Ohio
After opening the week with a quiet four-point effort against St. Bonaventure, Youdath made the most of her first career two starts. On Thursday at Western Michigan, she tallied her first double-double with career-highs of 14 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. She capped off her week with a new career-high of 16 points while adding three more blocks.

Horizon League Notes

UW-Green Bay (5-3; 0-0 HL)
The Phoenix hit its stride last week with big home victories over Iowa (67-43) and Indiana State (84-66).

Against the Hawkeyes, UW-Green Bay started the game on fire, shooting .533 in the first half to take a 36-13 lead into the intermission. The second half the team's shooting touch cooled off a bit, but the Phoenix had no problem shutting the door on its second victory over a Big Ten squad this season. Offensively, senior Nicole Soulis led the way with 17 points (eight-of-11 shooting) and four rebounds in just 19 minutes of action, while sophomore Rachel Porath drained five-of-six shots, including all four from beyond the arc, for 14 points on the evening.

The offense was back at it again on Saturday afternoon, shooting at a .542 clip for the game. UW-Green Bay did most of its damage in the first half as the team led 42-25 after the first stanza. Soulis led the way with a season-best 23 points, while junior Kayla Groh (17 points), Porath (14) and senior Natalie Berglin (12) all joined her in double-figures.

With the 40 points scored last week, Soulis now stands in eighth place on the Horizon League's all-time scoring chart with 1,516 points. Next on the list is Xavier's Lynn Bihn (1991-95) with 1,607 points.

As a team the Phoenix lead the conference in scoring offense (73.9), scoring defense (64.6), scoring margin (+9.2), field-goal percentage (.455), three-point field-goal percentage (.384) and assists (16.50). Individually, Soulis paces all League players in scoring (18.0) and free-throw percentage (.800), while Berglin leads everyone in assists per game (5.38) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.58).

The RPI has shown the Phoenix some credit with their tough early-season schedule. UWGB ranks 15th in the latest RPI release and are fourth in strength of schedule with only Stanford, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Tennessee having tougher schedules to date.

UW-Green Bay wraps up its four-game homestand with Wisconsin on Wednesday evening at the Resch Center, then the team takes to the road to face Chicago State on Saturday. UWGB looks to post a 3-0 record for the first time ever against Big Ten opposition with a win against the Badgers.

UIC (4-5; 0-0 HL)
UIC split a pair of games last week, dropping a 75-53 decision at Wisconsin before slipping past Air Force, 58-57, on Saturday.

In the loss against UW, senior LaShonda Grant picked up a season-high 20 points, while classmate Krystal Hugelier dropped in 11 points on three-of-five shooting from three-point territory.

Returning home after three-straight road contests, the Flames pulled off a come-from-behind victory against Air Force. Senior Jacquay Holmes scored a game-high 17 points, while freshman Cassie Johnson pitched in 13 second-half points to go with her career-best eight rebounds and four blocks.

UIC leads the loop in team steals with 10.78 takeaways per game. Grant has had a big hand, tying for the League-lead with 2.0 thefts per outing.

The Flames welcome Bradley (Friday) and crosstown foe DePaul (Sunday) to the UIC Pavilion this week.

UW-Milwaukee (4-7; 0-0 HL)
The Panthers played to a 1-1 week with a victory over Air Force (65-53) on Thursday before falling 63-53 at North Dakota on Sunday afternoon.

Milwaukee got it done defensively in the first half against the Falcons, holding them to 13 points on 16.7 percent shooting. Sophomore Traci Edwards notched her fourth double-double of the season in the contest with 19 points and 13 rebounds. She shot eight-of-11 from the floor while also adding four blocks to her stat line. On the night, the team swatted eight shots, which is the fourth-highest mark in school history and the most since they blocked a school-record 11 against Marquette in 1997. UWM didn't have any other player in double figures, but six different players had at least five points in the win.

Sunday's affair with NDSU saw UW-Milwaukee take a 25-21 advantage after the first half, but a North Dakota State scored 41 points on .500 shooting in the second half to come away with the victory. Edwards once again led the charge for UWM with 14 points and nine rebounds. Senior Aubrey Hampton also scored in double digits with 10 points, going three-of-five from long range.

With the 22 rebounds last week, Edwards took over the top spot on the circuit's rebounding charts (8.6 rpg.). She also is second in scoring (16.6), field-goal percentage (.581), free-throw percentage (.796) and blocked shots (1.30).

This week the Panthers play just once as Chicago State visits the Klotsche Center on Wednesday evening.

Butler (2-7; 0-0 HL)
Butler went 0-2 last week, dropping a road contest to Evansville (80-68) and a home date with Purdue (81-38).

Junior Cassie Freeman had a career night against the Purple Aces with 21 points on six-of-eight shooting from the floor while converting five-of-seven from three-point land. Freshman Mel Thornton had a career-best four blocks in just 12 minutes of action and sophomore Lade Akande had 17 points, five rebounds and three blocks of her own in the defeat.

No. 10 Purdue visited Hinkle Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon and proved to be too much for the Bulldogs. Limiting BU to just 27.7 percent shooting for the contest, the Boilermakers shot 53.3 percent from the field and had two players top the 20-point plateau. The 38 points scored is the lowest point total for BU since UW-Green Bay held the team to 36 in the 2002-03 season. Senior Ellen Hamilton was the only player in double figures with 12 points in the contest.

Senior Jackie Closser continued her three-pointers made streak last week, hitting a triple in both games to push the streak to 37 consecutive contests. She also is closing in on the 1,000-point milestone as she needs just 12 points. Hamilton is also closing in on the 1,000-point mark as she needs 23 points for the accomplishment.

Butler has a clean slate this week as the team remains idle until the team begins a five-game road trip on Dec. 18 at Louisville.

Cleveland State (2-9; 0-0 HL)
The Vikings had a busy week, but were unable to find the win column as the team went 0-3 in games against St. Bonaventure (56-43), Western Michigan (93-79) and Akron (61-59).

After coming out of halftime tied with the Bonnies on Monday, CSU shot just 19.2 percent and scored 17 points in the second stanza. Junior Brittany Korth was the only Viking in double figures with 13 points on the evening.

Thursday's contest at Western Michigan was the opposite story as the team fell behind 51-31 after the first period. CSU did battle back in the second to score 48 points in the second half, but WMU kept pace for the victory. Two Vikings had career games as sophomore Stephanie Youdath picked up 14 points and 15 rebounds (both career-highs) and freshman Kailey Klein had a career-mark of 26 points in the contest.

After falling behind 11-2, Cleveland State quickly closed the gap and played neck-and-neck with Akron the remainder of the 40 minutes on Sunday. A layup by sophomore Dominique Butler tied the game up with 12 seconds on the clock, but the Zips were able to find Sarah Tokodi just 10 seconds later for the game-winning shot.

Last Monday, the Vikings set the NCAA record for consecutive games with a three-point field goal. CSU has now made a three-pointer in 397 straight contests -- besting Louisville's run of 394 games that came to an end during the 2004-05 campaign.

Cleveland State goes to Virginia on Saturday for its only game this week.

Youngstown State (1-6; 0-0 HL)
The Penguins dropped a 69-56 decision to Indiana State in their only game last week.

YSU struggled from the field, shooting just 33.9 percent in Wednesday's loss. Sophomore guard Monique Godfrey went for a career-high-tying 18 points against the Sycamores, while freshman Anjalia Lyons set a career mark with 11 points on four-of-five shooting in the contest.

YSU will welcome its upcoming schedule of five-consecutive home games as the team has struggled to score on the road this season, averaging just 50.0 points compared to 78.0 points per game at the Beeghly Center. Akron is first on the home tour with a 2:05 p.m. game on Saturday.

Detroit (1-7; 0-0 HL)
Detroit had its losing streak pushed to six games with setbacks against Eastern Michigan, 71-55, on Wednesday and Northern Iowa, 90-75, on Saturday last week.

The Titans were out-rebounded 49-33 at EMU and allowed 18 offensive boards. Junior Kandace Evans and freshman Chanica Hall both had 13 points to lead the UDM scorers.

The Detroit offense came back on Saturday and broke a streak of four-straight games of 60 or fewer points. The team set season-highs of 75 points, .466 shooting percentage and 15 assists against UNI. Four Titans scored in double figures for the first time all season with Joyce Massey's 16 points and nine rebounds leading the way. Freshman Brigid Mulroy provided a impressive stat line as she poured in 14 points on five-of-five shooting (four-of-four three-pointers) in just five minutes.

DePaul makes the trip to Calihan Hall for a Friday game against the Titans in their lone contest of the week. The Blue Demons will be the third ranked opponent Detroit has faced in its first nine games of 2006-07.

Wright State (1-7; 0-0 HL)
WSU fell twice last week with Canisius picking up a 66-46 victory on Tuesday and Eastern Michigan coming away from the Nutter Center with a 76-59 win on Saturday.

Junior Sierra Crayton and freshman Kanisha Ward were the only Raiders to post double figures against Canisius with 11 and 10 points, respectively. As a team, Wright State shot only 34.7 percent compared to 51.0 percent by Canisius.

Despite the loss to Eastern Michigan on Saturday, three Raiders either tied or set new career scoring highs. Senior Steph Comisar hit four-of-six three-pointers in scoring 19, Crayton hit six-of-eight shots in scoring 17 and Ward tied her season-best with 10.

This week WSU hosts ACC-member Wake Forest on Thursday for the schools first ever meeting.

Loyola (1-7; 0-0 HL)
Loyola got into the win column on Wednesday with a 73-69 decision at Dayton.

The victory snapped several streaks, including the 23-game road losing streak against non-League competition dating back to Dec. 23, 2004 and the first win in 54 contests after trailing at halftime.

Senior Jenna Real paced the Ramblers with 17 points and nine rebounds, while classmate Emily Ponder and freshman Maggie McCloskey each chipped in 12 points. For the game, LU shot a season best 50.0 percent from the floor.

Loyola is idle this week and doesn't play again until the team travels to San Juan, P.R., for the San Juan Shootout on Dec. 19.