Phoenix women set program record

The Green Bay women's basketball team remained perfect and earned its 36th consecutive regular season victory with a 75-50 victory over the Youngstown State Penguins Jan. 19 at the Kress Events Center. With the win, Green Bay goes to 16-0 and 6-0 in Horizon League play while Youngstown State falls to 8-9 overall and 2-4 in conference play.

It did not take Green Bay long to dent the scoreboard as junior forward Lydia Bauer made a 3-pointer from the left wing just 11 seconds into the game to give the Phoenix a 3-0 lead, a lead they would never relinquish. Green Bay started the game on a 7-1 run on the strength of five points from Bauer.

Bauer scored 19 points to lead the Phoenix as three players for Green Bay scored in double figures. Bauer shot 6-11 from the field, including going 2-4 from behind the 3-point line. She also added four rebounds and three steals.

"I think we have more weapons this year," said Matt Bollant, head coach. "With seven juniors and seniors, it is a different team. We have more players that are better. Last year, Kayla, Celeste and Julie were so good, but the sophomores are all better this year as juniors."

With Green Bay leading 13-8, the Phoenix put the game away as it scored the next eight points to move ahead by 13 points. The run was highlighted by a 3-pointer by senior guard Hannah Quilling and a 3-point play by senior forward Julie Wojta. Green Bay held a 32-16 lead with just over six minutes to play in the first half, but just scored two points in that stretch before Quilling made a pair of free throws to end the half with Green Bay leading 36-20.

Junior guard Adrian Ritchie led all scorers in the first half with 11 points. Bauer and Wojta added nine points each for the Phoenix. Green Bay shot 47.8 percent as a team in the first half, compared with 36.4 percent for Youngstown State.

Wojta scored just three points in the second half for the Phoenix, as she was held to 12 points, which tied a season low. She did add 11 rebounds, though, for another double-double as well as dishing out a game-high four assists and added three steals as well, which tied Bauer and Quilling for the most on the team.

"The second we start watching Julie, we are going to struggle," Ritchie said. "Because the big teams may be able to stop Julie, so we need to be able to balance it out. We need to be a balanced team and that is why Green Bay is always so successful."

The cold stretch for Green Bay continued into the second half as all it could produce was a buzzer-beating Ritchie 3-pointer just as the shot clock expired with over two and a half minutes gone by in the second half as Youngstown State cut the lead down to 39-28. But the Phoenix thwarted any chance of a comeback with a 12-4 run to push the lead back up to 19 points. Bauer had five points in that run to lead Green Bay.

"We always say our defense generates our offense," Bauer said. "I think our defense to start the second half wasn't as in sync as we wanted it to be, and I think that affected our offense."

Ritchie was second on the team in scoring with 17 points and also shot the same 6-11 Bauer did. Ritchie went 3-7 from behind the arc and added five rebounds and two assists.

"I think the 3-pointer Adrian hit when the shot clock was down took the momentum back for us since they had a little momentum," Bollant said.

The lead was reached as high as 30 points for the Phoenix on a 3-pointer with 3:10 left by sophomore guard Sam Zastrow before the Penguins made a few late buckets to make the final score 75-50.

Both teams shot the ball well in the second half as Green Bay shot 50 percent and Youngstown State shot 55 percent. For the game, Green Bay shot 49 percent to Youngstown State's 45.2 percent. The Phoenix shot the ball better from behind the 3-point line as well, as Green Bay shot 44.4 percent compared with 33.3 percent for the Penguins. Green Bay also forced 28 Youngstown State turnovers and turned those into 33 points.

A bright spot for Youngstown State was the fact they did not get beat by 59 points like last year as the Phoenix scored the first 26 points en route to an 84-25 victory last season in Green Bay.

Junior forward Brandi Brown, the third leading scorer in the Horizon League, scored a game-high 21 points on 9-12 shooting for Youngstown State. She also added 10 rebounds to get the double-double. She was the only player in double figures for the Penguins and helped the Penguins out-rebound the Phoenix 28-27. Freshman guard Kelsea Fickiesen scored nine points for the Penguins, but also turned the ball over nine times.

Next up for the Phoenix women is a trip to Indianapolis to take on the Butler Bulldogs Jan. 26, followed by another road game at Valparaiso Jan. 28. Green Bay's next home game is Feb. 4 against the Milwaukee Panthers.