By: Jill Wunrow
GreenBayPhoenix.com
GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) -
For the fifth consecutive season, the Green Bay women's
basketball team opens its season with a 2-0 record after a 75-48 win over
Central Michigan (1-2) Saturday, Nov. 17 at the Kress Events Center. Senior
Adrian Ritchie (De Pere, Wis.) recorded her first career double double
performance with a game-high 25 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Phoenix.
"It was a nice margin of victory and definitely hard fought," said head
coach Kevin Borseth who coached his first regular season game at the Kress
Events Center. "We had to spend every ounce of energy we had and our top five
kids played a lot of minutes in the process because Central Michigan is a very good
team."
Neither team led by more than three points in the opening half until
Ritchie hit her first three of the contest from the right wing to give Green
Bay the four-point advantage (12-8) with 9:03 left.
With 5:14 to play in the first half, Central Michigan cut the Phoenix
lead to 16-14 with a jumper from Crystal Bradford. Two minutes later Sarah Eichler (Grafton, Wis.)drained her lone three of the half from left wing to
give Green Bay the 19-14 advantage.
"In the beginning of the game, we didn't find our rhythm like we have
been working on in practice," Ritchie said of the team's slow start. "We had
open threes but they just weren't going in because it's hard to make those
shots when it's a second thought. Once we got in our rhythm, the shots started
to fall and we all contributed."
Shooting 7-for-25 from the field with 3:22 to play, Ritchie added a three
to make it 22-14 while Lydia Bauer (Lake Zurich, Ill.) dialed in from long
range with one of her game-high four threes in the final 2:18 of the half,
giving the Phoenix the 25-16 lead. Bauer's three with 24 seconds remaining gave
Green Bay its largest lead of the half (32-18).
The Phoenix 16-4 run in the final five minutes of the half featured four
three pointers to lead 32-20 at the break, shooting 37 percent from the field
and 26 percent from three-point range. Ritchie poured in 12 points and grabbed
seven rebounds in first half action while sophomore Megan Lukan (Barrie,
Ontario) dished out five assists.
Central Michigan opened the first 1:15 in the second half with two three
pointers to cut Green Bay's lead to eight (34-26), but that's as close as the
Chippewas would come to the Phoenix. Ritchie answered with her third three of
the contest to put the Phoenix lead back into a double digit advantage (37-26).
With 10:23 to play in the game, Ritchie sparked an 11-0 run for Green
Bay with a layup in the paint to give the Phoenix the 52-37 lead. Moments later
as she was falling to the ground, Ritchie threw up an underhand layup for her
25th point of the game and career-high 11th field goal.
"Green Bay is one of those programs where any player can step up at any
time and it's about getting who is ever open the ball," said Ritchie. "Overall
this is a really good team win for us and on the other side of the ball our
defense is looking good and we have a long way to go but it's going to be
positive for sure."
The Chippewas sank a pair of free throws with 6:12 to play to end their four
minute scoring drought and cut the Phoenix lead to 22 (61-39) and came as close
as 17 (62-45) after a jump shot from Bradford with 3:21 remaining.
Senior Stephanie Sension (Hopkins, Minn.) tied her career-high seven
rebounds grabbing a defensive board with 2:22 to play and added 14 points in the
contest. It was the first time in Sension's career the forward scored in double
digits in consecutive games.
Freshman Brionna Barnett (Elkhart, Ind.) scored all of her six points of
the contest in the final 1:26 of the game, including her first collegiate
career three pointer.
In addition to Ritchie's, Sension's and Barnett's career days, Lukan
dished out a career-high eight assists. Eichler and Bauer each added 12 points
in the win with Bauer sinking four three pointers and grabbing six rebounds. As
a team, Green Bay shot 46 percent from the field and 33 percent from
three-point range while out rebounding Central Michigan 42-36.
UP NEXT: For the third consecutive season Green Bay will once again compete in a
regular season tournament over the Thanksgiving holiday as it travels to
Cancun, Mexico Nov. 22-24 for the Cancun Challenge, competing in three games in
three days. The Phoenix will battle James Madison (Nov. 22) before facing SEC
opponent Missouri (Nov. 23) and wrapping up the tournament with Richmond (Nov.
24).
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Season tickets, Pick 5 packages and single-game
tickets for both men's and women's basketball programs are currently on sale
with the Green Bay ticket office. For more information, please visit GreenBayPhoenix.com/tickets.
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