AMES, Iowa. - Before
No. 12 seed Green Bay (28-4) headed out of its locker room to face No. 5 seed
Virginia (21-10) in the first round of the NCAA tournament, head coach Matt Bollant reminded them of all the "firsts" this year's team has accomplished.
The Phoenix can add to its list of beating the highest seed
they've ever faced in the NCAA tournament as Green Bay upset Virginia 69-67 to
advance to Tuesday's second round.
"I'm just absolutely thrilled for our team
and our players. There are so many hands that touch and make a difference in
our program. For the committee to step up and honor a mid-major was awesome,"
said head coach Matt Bollant.
As the youngest squad in Green Bay history to play in the
NCAA tournament, it was fearless.
Junior Kayla Tetschlag (Sheboygan, Wis.) got into early foul
trouble committing two in the first four minutes of play. Green Bay didn't skip
a beat as freshman Adrian Ritchie (De Pere, Wis.) showed no fear coming off the
bench putting up 11 points in the first half.
"I've been in big games before and I just looked at it like
that. Going into this game I feel I've prepared the best I have all season and
just felt so confident," said Ritchie who finished with 14 points, tying her
career high.
Green Bay cut Virginia's lead to one in the first half with
5:47 to play when Julie Wojta (Mishicot, Wis.) drove the lane for a jump shot
making it 23-22 in favor of Virginia. On the defensive end Wojta had a steal which
drew a Virginia foul sending Tetschlag to the free-throw line to give Green Bay
the one-point advantage for good.
Despite shooting 33 percent from the field in the first half
and turning the ball over 11 times, Green Bay's 94 percent shooting from the charity
stripe carried the team to build its largest lead of the half, 34-27, at
the break.
Not going unnoticed in the first half was the performance by
Celeste Hoewisch (Hortonville, Wis.) who went 3-for-4 from the field and 7-for-8 from the
free-throw line leading the Phoenix with 13 points and four rebounds. "I think
our team was the most aggressive team and our aggressiveness just carried us
through the first half," said Hoewisch.
After scoring all four of her first half points from the free-throw
line, Tetschlag came out in the second half scoring six of Green Bay's eight
points to start the half. The Phoenix built its lead to as many as 16 with
16:01 to play but Virginia chipped away making for a nail-biter finish.
With 1:25 to play, Green Bay was leading 64-58 when Hoewisch
fouled out. Green Bay was holding to a four-point lead under a minute to play when
Tetschlag fouled out with 0:37.6 left on the clock.
"Celeste and I just started
praying sitting on the bench as we were losing our poise and turning the ball
over. It was definitely nerve wrecking but it all worked out," said Tetschlag.
With both teams in the bonus situation, Wojta made four of
her six key free throws down the stretch to hold off the Cavaliers. Despite
every effort by Virgnia and its star player Monica Wright, who scored a game-high 34 points, Green Bay advanced to the second round for the third time in
program history. Green Bay did not score a field goal in the final 12:17 of the
game.
Hoewisch broke Green Bay's individual record for free throws
made in an NCAA tournament game (13-for-15) as the Phoenix committed a season-high
30 turnovers while Virginia recorded a season-high 22 steals in the game.
Green Bay is the lowest seeded team to beat Virginia in its
NCAA tournament history and lowest seed to advance in the 2010 tournament. The Phoenix will now prepare to play host school and
No. 4 seed Iowa State (24-7) on Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. (CT).
---www.GreenBayPhoenix.com---
