VALPARAISO, Ind. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - The No. 22/16 Green Bay (19-1, 8-0 HL) women's basketball team will wrap up the first half of its league play facing Valpo (4-16, 1-7 HL) Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at the Athletics-Recreation Center. The Phoenix enters the contest with a 10-game winning streak, its longest of the season.

Green Bay is on a five-game winning streak against the Crusaders, owning an overall record of 20-4 and 10-2 at Valparaiso. The Crusaders are one of three (Cleveland St. and Detroit) Horizon League opponents that have won against Green Bay under Head Coach Matt Bollant. Valpo's last win over the Phoenix was an overtime battle Jan. 19, 2008 in which the Crusaders edged the Phoenix 90-88 at Valparaiso.

With a win over Valpo, Green Bay would improve to 9-0 in Horizon League play. In doing so, it would be the best start in conference play since going 18-0 against conference opponents during the 2008-09 season. In addition, Green Bay is currently on a 16-game, regular-season winning streak in Horizon League play.

The Crusaders are being led by junior Betsy Adams who is averaging 14.2 points per game, which is tenth best in the league. Meanwhile freshman Tabitha Gerardot leads the way on the boards grabbing 6.8 rebounds per contest.

After posting her team-leading fourth 20-point game of the season against Butler, Julie Wojta (Mishicot, Wis.) leads the Phoenix in scoring, averaging 13.6 points per game. Wojta is second in rebounding pulling down an average of 6.5 boards per game while Kayla Tetschlag (Sheboygan, Wis.) leads the way averaging 7.4 per contest. Sinking a team-high 85 percent from the free-throw line, Celeste Hoewisch (Hortonville, Wis.) enters Saturday's game after pouring in 19 points in the second half against Butler before finishing with a team-high 23 throughout 30 minutes of play.

Bench Production... With the Phoenix still without sophomore starting guard Adrian Ritchie (De Pere, Wis.), Green Bay's bench to continues to improve and play more minutes. In league games this season the Phoenix bench has outscored its opponents' bench 103-67. Sophomore Lydia Bauer (Lake Zurich, Ill.) came off the bench to lead the Phoenix with a game-high 20 points against Milwaukee on Jan. 22 while Stepahanie Sension (Hopkins, Minn.) was the lone bench scorer at Butler. Sension scored two points, took a charge and grabbed one rebound in eight minutes of play against the Bulldogs Jan. 27.

Weird Rankings... After receiving its highest ranking of the season in both Top 25 polls last week and beating in-state rival Milwaukee by 48 points, Green Bay slipped one spot in both national polls. The Phoenix enters play against the Crusaders ranked No. 22 in the AP Top 25 Poll and No. 16 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

Live Game Action... Phoenix fans can watch Saturday's game live online here. Saturday's game against the Crusaders is part of a double-header for Valpo. The men's team hosts Butler in a 1 p.m. sellout at the Athletics-Recreation Center.

Joy of the Journey...The newest blog to GreenBayPhoenix.com takes you along and inside the Green Bay women's basketball 2010-11 season as the team works toward a second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and 13th consecutive regular season Horizon League championship. Fans can check out the women's basketball blog here for updates throughout the season.