GREEN BAY, Wis. - They're back! The Green Bay (17-2, 6-2) women's basketball team got back on the winning track after holding off Butler (12-7, 5-3) in the second half to secure a 73-62 victory.

After losing two consecutive conference games for the first time in 13 years, the Phoenix shot a season best in a first half (75 percent) taking a 20-point (43-23) lead into the locker room at the break. 

A week of practice working on defense paid off as Green Bay forced Butler to turn the ball over 13 times in the first half and capitalized by scoring 17 points off their miscues, "I think our offense was fueled by our defense which helped us get off to a good start," said Celeste Hoewisch (Hortonville, Wis.) who finished with 14 for the Phoenix.

Julie Wojta (Mishicot, Wis.) led all scorers with 23 points, scoring 16 in the first half. Meanwhile Hannah Quilling (Eau Claire, Wis.) was a perfect 3-3 from three-point range in the first half before finishing the night with 10.

In the second half the Phoenix led by as many as 24 before Butler cut its lead to eight and was held without a field goal in the final 7:50, "That's a hard battle when you have a lead and you try to maintain your aggressiveness; we stayed aggressive but we just lost our poise a little bit," said head coach Matt Bollant.

With Green Bay's win, they finish the night tied with Detroit for first place in the Horizon League. Saturday Detroit hosts Cleveland State at 12:30 while Green Bay will host Valparaiso (6-12, 3-4) at 2 p.m.

---www.GreenBayPhoenix.com---