GREEN BAY, Wis. - Those
that saw the Green Bay (21-3, 10-3) women's basketball team win 64-45 over UIC
(11-14, 8-6) witnessed how bad and how good the Phoenix can play all in a span
of 40 minutes.
"We told them after the game that's how we expect them to
play, the way they played in the second half, our team was night and day from
the last time we played them," said head coach Matt Bollant.
For the second time this season Green Bay trailed at the
half (20-24) scoring the fewest points in a first half all season. The Phoenix
shot 29 percent in the first half turning the ball over 11 times compared to
UIC's five.
"We knew at half when coach told us that they had 10
offensive boards and we had 11 turnovers, that was the name of the game for us
and we had to protect the ball better," said Kayla Tetschlag (Sheboygan, Wis.)
who tied a career-high leading all scorers with 25 points.
With just over six minutes left to play in the first half it
was final that Butler had beaten Detroit 72-62, UIC was quickly chipping away
at Green Bay's lead and the top of the Horizon League standings became a lot
more congested.
"We knew the Butler/Detroit score at halftime and you could
just see the look on our team's face was the look of them lacking confidence so
I told them 'hey Butler beat Detroit, we can do this, let's go out and get
first place,'" said Bollant.
In the start of the second half UIC doubled their lead
before Green Bay turned on their aggressiveness and went on a 22-3 run that
spanned over five and a half minutes. During that time Celeste Hoewisch
(Hortonville, Wis.) scored 12 of her 17 points after going scoreless playing
only eight minutes in the first half.
"I felt like I really let my team down for not being able to
play in the first half. I really wanted to make my presence known in the second
half not necessarily scoring but just help my team win," said Hoewisch.
Hoewisch finished with 17 points on the night while Sarah Eichler (Grafton, Wis.) chipped in 10. Julie Wojta (Mishicot, Wis.) led the
Phoenix with 10 rebounds while Tetschlag was one board shy (9) of her third
double-double of the season.
Jasmine Bailey who led all scorers with 24 points during the
last meeting led UIC with eight tonight while Jessie Miller who had 20 last
time against the Phoenix was held to just seven as no UIC player scored in
double figures.
Green Bay will take their final road trip next week as they
head to Valparaiso Thursday, Feb. 25 before taking on Butler Saturday, Feb. 27.
Green Bay and Butler are tied for second place in the Horizon League standings
with 10-3 records.
---www.GreenBayPhoenix.com---
