DETROIT, Mich. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - As expected, it was a tough-fought battle as the No. 15/12 Green Bay (29-1, 18-0 HL) women's basketball team wrapped up Horizon League play with a perfect 18-0 record thanks to its 68-48 win over Detroit (12-17, 6-12 HL) at Calihan Hall Saturday, March 5.

In the first meeting between these two teams on December 31, there were 10 lead changes throughout the entire game while in Saturday's contest there were eight throughout the first 16 minutes of play. Green Bay finished league play with an unblemished 18-0 record for the second time in three years as its 29 wins throughout 30 games is the most in program history during a season.

"The tradition at Green Bay is amazing and what we're able to accomplish says a lot about our players and our staff," said head coach Matt Bollant. "It was definitely a hard-fought game, Detroit plays us really well and when they play hard they're a really good basketball team."

Sophomore Adrian Ritchie (De Pere, Wis.) sparked the Phoenix scoring 11 points throughout 11 minutes of play in the first half before finishing the game with 15 points, including a career-high four three pointers. Kayla Tetschlag (Sheboygan, Wis.) posted her eighth double-double of the season scoring a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds while Celeste Hoewisch (Hortonville, Wis.) chipped in 10 in the Phoenix win.

Following an early four-point lead by the Phoenix at the 17:11 mark, neither team led by more than three points until 4:14 remaining in the first half when Tetschlag sank a pair of free throws to boost Green Bay's lead back to four (24-20).

Detroit's largest lead of the game came with 7:47 to play in the first half when Yar Shayok hit a jump shot, giving the Titans the 20-17 advantage. Ritchie answered by draining her third-consecutive three for the Phoenix to knot it up 20-20.

"It was really good to have Adrian back playing with confidence," said Bollant. "She can really give our team confidence as a whole, with her shooting; she really gave us a lift today."

With 2:34 remaining in the first half, Hoewisch found Sarah Eichler (Grafton, Wis.) on a back-door cut for her lone bucket of the half and the eight-point (28-20) Phoenix advantage, it's largest of the half.

Detroit's Britney Murphy scored four of her first-half six points in the final minute. Murphy hit a jump shot to cut Green Bay's lead to five with 39 second to play and then sank another jumper down low to close the gap to two at the break.

Green Bay shot 35 percent from the field and 40 percent from three-point range en route to its 31-28 halftime lead. In addition to Ritchie's 13 first-half points, Tetschlag chipped in nine while leading all players with six rebounds. 

It was a back and forth battle throughout the opening minutes of the second half before Murphy drained a three to give Detroit its second and final lead of the contest (40-37) with 14:48 remaining.

Green Bay picked up momentum and opened up an 11-0 run with a long jump shot from the right corner by Julie Wojta (Mishicot, Wis.) to cut the Titans lead to one (40-39). The Phoenix took the one-point advantage with a beautiful drive and dish from Hoewisch to Tetschlag for the bucket.

"I thought our maturity showed today, last year we were down three and we panicked a little bit but this time we stayed with our game plan," Bollant said.

The Phoenix capped off its run with a drive from Tetschlag who scored the basket, drew the foul and converted the three-point play to extend the lead to 48-40. During Green Bay's run, the Phoenix held Detroit scoreless for over seven-and-a-half minutes before Demeisha Fambro scored a bucket down low to cut Green Bay's lead to six (48-42) with 8:28 to play.

"We just kept feeding the ball inside. Julie made some great passes down low to Kayla who kept scoring," said Bollant. "Those two (Julie and Kayla) really led us in the second half along with Adrian's defensive play."

Green Bay charged back, sinking consecutive three pointers from Hoewisch and Eichler to boost Green Bay's lead to 12 with 7:46 remaining. The Phoenix continued its stride from beyond the arc as Wojta sank a three from the top of the key, boosting the Phoenix lead to 59-44 at the 4:23 mark.

The Titans scored just eight points against Green Bay's defense throughout the final 14:48 of the game while shooting 23 percent from the field.

The Phoenix capped off a perfect conference season with a 68-48 win, shooting 42 percent from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc while scoring 24 points in the paint. There were five ties and a total of 10 lead changes throughout the game. For the third time in seven games, Wojta finished with a career-high eight assists while grabbing nine rebounds and chipping in nine points.

Green Bay will begin postseason play Wednesday, March 9 as it hosts its quarterfinal game of the Horizon League tournament at 7 p.m. at the Kress Events Center. Green Bay will play the winner of Monday's first round game featuring No. 8 seed Loyola (11-18, 5-13 HL) and No. 9 seed Youngstown State (6-23, 4-14 HL). To order tickets for Wednesday's game featuring the Phoenix, click here.