DETROIT, Mich. - Green
Bay (18-3, 7-3) and Detroit (10-11, 8-2) entered tonight's game tied for first
place in the Horizon League standings and at the end of the night the Phoenix
found itself in unfamiliar territory looking up at the Titans who sit alone in
first place after a 71-55 upset over Green Bay.
Green Bay was handed its third consecutive road loss for the
first time since the 2001-02 season, "we got off to a great start but got
caught on our heels a little bit defensively," said head coach Matt Bollant.
The Phoenix had a hot start from the three-point line with
consecutive three-pointers from Sarah Eichler (Grafton, Wis.) and Kayla Tetschlag (Sheboygan, Wis.) helping the Phoenix jump out to an early 12-1 lead.
With 4:10 to play in the first half Detroit's Demeisha
Fambro drained a three-pointer from the left corner giving the Titans their
first lead of the game (33-31). The Phoenix went on a 7-0 run to close out the
half taking a five-point lead into the locker room.
"We were letting them drive too much (in the first half) and
we talked about defending Brigid Mulroy better in the second half," said
Celeste Hoewisch (Hortonville, Wis.).
Green Bay's defense broke down in the second half as Detroit
made over 60 percent of their shots while Green Bay shot a season low 25
percent in the half finishing with a season low 36.4 percent in the game, "when
things start getting tough we just tighten up; we didn't take care of the ball
and didn't get stops when we needed to," said Hoewisch.
Brigid Mulroy is the third best three-point field-goal
shooter in the nation for a reason as she led all scorers with 20 points (4-7
from three-point range) while Yar Shayok had a double-double and Jalesa Jones
added 12 points in Detroit's seventh consecutive win on their home court.
The Phoenix suffered its worst regular-season defeat since
Dec. 11 2007 at Wisconsin (58-81) and for the first time all season had only
one player, Tetschlag (18) finish in double-figure scoring.
It's clear to anyone watching that this young Green Bay
squad is not the same team we saw the first 16 games of the season, "we're not
the most aggressive team on the floor and we haven't put together a full game.
We will continue to get everyone's best shot and we can't tighten up when that
happens," said Hoewisch.
Green Bay will travel to Dayton, Ohio where they will take
on Wright State Saturday at 5 p.m.
---www.GreenBayPhoenix.com---
