By: Jill Wunrow
GreenBayPhoenix.com
GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Despite a slow start, the No. 23/17 Green Bay (6-0) women's basketball team
closed the game with a 19-5 run to beat Marquette (4-4) 66-50 Friday in front
of a crowd of 2,911 fans at the Kress Events Center. Adrian Ritchie (De Pere,
Wis.) scored 10 points in the second half to lead all scorers with 15 in the
contest while Julie Wojta (Francis Creek, Wis.) and Lydia Bauer (Lake Zurich,
Ill.) each turned in double double performances in the win.
"Marquette's length bothered us a little bit in the first half," said
head coach Matt Bollant. "At halftime we talked about sticking with what we do
and made adjustments defensively to keep them off the foul line."
Neither team was able to get into an offensive rhythm in the first half
as 13 Green Bay fouls were called and nine against Marquette, six against the
Golden Eagles in the final 3:48 of the half. Marquette shot 12-for-16 from the
free throw line in the first half while the Phoenix sank 5-of-10 attempts from
the charity stripe.
"The game was called a little bit tighter than we've seen and we had to
make an adjustment," Bollant said. "I thought we did a poor job in the first
half of keeping them off the foul line. We were trying to be aggressive and fly
around but we didn't do a good job of keeping our hands off and being
disciplined from that aspect."
Offensively Green Bay turned the ball over 5 times in the first 5
minutes of play before finishing the first half with 15 turnovers, the team's
second highest of the season in a first half of play. Marquette took its first
lead of the contest (12-11) at the 11:14 mark after a Phoenix miscue and
capitalized with a layup from Katherine Plouffe.
With Green Bay trailing 15-13 at the 9:56 mark, Wojta found Ritchie on a
cut to the rim for the 15-15 tie before Bauer sank one of her three three
pointers of the game to give the Phoenix the 18-15 lead. Marquette responded
with a 7-0 run as there were two lead changes and four ties in the final four
minutes of the first half.
Green Bay had a one point (29-28) advantage on the Golden Eagles at the
half, shooting 47 percent from the field and 44 percent from three-point range.
Meanwhile Marquette shot 38 percent from the field and 75 percent from the
charity stripe, sinking 12-of-16 attempts.
"Marquette is an aggressive team and we just needed to adjust and slow
things down a bit because we were rushing things offensively," Wojta said of
Green Bay's first half performance. "We have a good offense but were not always
making the easy pass and running things like we usually do and that's something
we discussed at halftime."
"The first thing I told our team at halftime was that it wasn't the
officiating that kept us from getting the lead, it was us turning the ball over
15 times," said Bollant. "We needed to control what we can control."
The Phoenix opened the second half with a 6-0 run sparked by a layup
from Ritchie followed by a three from Bauer to take the seven-point advantage
in the early going. Green Bay's nine-point lead was cut to three (43-40) with
11:15 to play after an 8-2 run by the Golden Eagles.
With three Phoenix starters playing with four personal fouls, Marquette
came within two twice in the second half with the final time being at the 9:21
mark off a jumper from Arlesia Morse.
The Phoenix never wavered as it finished the game on a 19-5 run which
included six points from Megan Lukan (Barrie, Ontario).
"I thought Megan was a warrior for us tonight coming off the bench,"
Bollant said. "She certainly doesn't play like a freshman. Her ability to
pressure the ball and make good decisions made me really proud of the way she
played."
Green Bay also won the battle on the boards, outrebounding Marquette
37-31 with Wojta and Bauer grabbing 12 and 10 boards respectively.
"It was great to see Lydia step up and chip in and grab rebounds,"
Bollant said. "For us to get 14 offensive rebounds against a big, long team says
a lot about our effort."
The Phoenix shot 43 percent in the second half while scoring 15 points
off 11 Marquette turnovers. Meanwhile Green Bay turned the ball over only four
times in the second half, a season low in second half play.
"We really calmed down in the second half which I don't felt we did in
the first half. We did a better job moving the ball and were just more
disciplined with what we were doing in the second half."
STEADY STREAK... Green Bay's win is its 26th consecutive in regular season play. The last
time the Phoenix lost in regular season action was Dec. 12, 2010 at Marquette.
CAREER NIGHT... Bauer posted her first career double double performance with 12 points
and 10 rebounds while Lukan scored a career high 12 points in the contest.
RANGER SPARK... Sophomore Breannah Ranger (Skokie, Ill.) entered the game with 1:22 to
play in the first half and scored a bucket to tie the contest 26-26.
ON DECK... Green Bay will face its third and final opponent that appeared in the
2010 NCAA Tournament Sunday, Dec. 4 when it hosts Northern Iowa (5-1) at 12 p.m. at the Kress Events Center.
ON THE
INJURY FRONT... Junior Jenny Gilbertson
(Wabasha, Minn.) will miss at least two weeks of action due to a bone bruise.
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