GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - The dynamic duo that led the Green
Bay women's basketball team to its greatest season in program history has
signed professional contracts. Kayla Tetschlag (Sheboygan, Wis.) and Celeste
Hoewisch (Hortonville, Wis.) will remain teammates as they have both inked
one-year deals with the Belgium team Waregem.
"When we found out I got a text from
Celeste that read, 'this is everything we have worked for,' and I just stared
at it and told myself how right she was," said Tetschlag.
Tetschlag and Hoewisch have been
working with their agent, Jean McNulty, who has been working hard to find
opportunities for them to play on the same team. Throughout the search to land
a professional deal, at times it appeared the two would not be able to play
together but quickly changed.
"I talked to a lot of Division I
coaches this summer and they told me they would be shocked if they would get to
go together," said Green Bay head coach Matt Bollant.
"It's so unique and rare for us to be
able to go play for the same team professionally and I'm appreciative that the
team took us together," Tetschlag said of her new team Waregem. "It will
certainly help with the transition."
Hoewisch was given the news while
shopping with her mom for her upcoming August wedding.
"I knew it would happen. The waiting
game is what was the hard part, especially given my situation and the fact I'm
getting married and didn't know where I was going to live," said Hoewisch.
Hoewisch and Tetschlag will join
their team, which won its division last season, at the end of August.
"We've worked for this moment to play
professionally and it's really surreal," said Hoewisch, the Horizon League
Co-Defensive Player of the Year. "Green Bay has prepared me to play the game as
a team and win championships and I know Kayla and I can do our part in Belgium
together."
Tetschlag and Hoewisch were named the
Co-Horizon League Players of the Year while leading the Phoenix to the
program's first Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Both finished their
collegiate careers in the top 10 in scoring and were named to the Division
I-AAA Athletic Director's Association Scholar Athlete team with Tetschlag being
named the Player of the Year.
"I told their agent that their new
team will not have a harder working couple of girls," Bollant said. "I'm so
thrilled for them as they start this new chapter in their lives and continue to
represent Green Bay."
Hoewisch and
Tetschlag are the first pair of players from Green Bay to play for the same
professional team overseas at the same time and the 10th and 11th players from
the Phoenix to play professionally.