By: Jill Wunrow
GreenBayPhoenix.com
GREEN BAY, Wis.
(GreenBayPhoenix.com) - The No. 9/9 Green Bay (20-1, 20-1 HL) women's basketball team was unable
to overcome a 14-point deficit as it fell 70-58 to Detroit (13-11, 9-3 HL)
Thursday at the Kress Events Center, suffering its first loss on its home court
in 28 games and first regular season loss in 41 games.
"Give Detroit credit, the most aggressive team gets to the
foul line, gets more rebounds and shoots a better percentage and they certainly
did those three things," said fifth year head coach Matt Bollant who is 9-2
against the Titans. "For them to come into our place with our crowd and do that
is really disappointing but it's a part of life."
The Phoenix was without its best on-the-ball defender in
junior Sarah Eichler (Grafton, Wis.) who suffered a sprained ankle during
practice on Tuesday. Green Bay's defense, which is ranked second in the country
in turnover margin, forced a season-low 18 turnovers while converting 10 points
off the Detroit miscues.
"To have Sarah not play was probably not the right game for
that to happen, but good teams find a way and other kids have to step up and
make plays," Bollant said. "Injuries are part of college basketball, everybody
goes through them and we certainly can't make an excuse."
"Having a player out definitely shakes things up a bit but I think
it says a lot about our team that we can try to move past that," said senior
captain Hannah Quilling (Eau Claire, Wis.). "We're eager to get Sarah back but
we need to be able to step up and finish a game like this with the people we
have on the floor, it's no excuse in our minds."
Detroit jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Wojta sank a three
from the right wing to put the Phoenix on the board. On the next possession, Quilling
sank a three in the left corner to give Green Bay the 6-4 advantage. Wojta gave
the Phoenix its largest lead of the game at the 15:49 mark with a jumper to
make it 8-5.
The Titans then went on a 17-0 run with scoring from six
different players as Green Bay missed 12 straight shots throughout the
six-and-a-half minute stretch. The Phoenix trailed by as many as 14 with 9:07
remaining, its largest deficit of the season.
Freshman Megan Lukan (Barrie, Ontario) broke the scoring
drought with one of her three three pointers from the top of the key with 8:57
to play in the first half, cutting Detroit's lead to 11 (22-11). Green Bay then
turned on its Buzz defense and forced the Titans four consecutive turnovers
while converting on each possession to cut the Titans lead to eight.
Quilling drained one of her game-high four three pointers
with 5:40 to play, sparking a 10-4 scoring advantage to close the first half.
Green Bay's defense held strong as it allowed Detroit just seven points in the final
eight minutes of the opening half.
Green Bay shot a season-low 22.6 percent going 7-for-31 from
the field in the first half of play and 5-of-18 from three-point range. Julie
Wojta (Francis Creek, Wis.) led all players in the first half with 10 points as
the Phoenix was unable to score a basket in the paint.
Detroit opened the second half with an 8-2 run before the
Phoenix responded with an 8-0 run of its own which included consecutive three
pointers from Quilling and Adrian Ritchie (De Pere, Wis.) to cut the Titans'
lead to three (37-34) at the 14:39 mark.
Green Bay later closed the gap to two (41-39) when Quilling
found Lukan for a three on the right wing with 13 minutes remaining. The game
remained a back and forth battle for the next three minutes before Wojta found
Lukan for a three to tie the contest 47-47 with 8:55 remaining.
On its next possession, following a missed free throw by the
Titans, Green Bay took its second lead of the contest off a Ritchie three
pointer to make it 50-47 with 8:13 to play. The Phoenix held the lead for the
next three-and-a-half minutes as Wojta, Lukan and Bauer were all playing with
four fouls.
Bauer fouled out with 5:46 remaining as Detroit's Shareta
Brown gave the Titans the lead for good, following a pair of free throws. Green
Bay came as close as one after a layup by Stephanie Sension (Hopkins, Minn.)
with 3:59 to play, making it 53-52 in favor of Detroit.
Trailing by five and forced to foul, the Titans converted all
13 of its free throw attempts in the final 1:26 of play, sealing Detroit's
third win over a ranked opponent under fourth year head coach Autumn
Rademacher.
Green Bay finished the contest shooting a season-low 29
percent, going 20-of-67 from the field while shooting 12-of-38 from three point
range.
"That's probably the most frustrating thing for me right now
is the amount of threes we put up," Bollant said. "We've been on our players
about being more disciplined and getting the ball inside, driving and getting
to the line. We can't keep relying on the three, it's just frustrating."
Detroit's Shareta Brown led all players with a game-high 24
points while Senee Shearer chipped in 23. Wojta led the Phoenix with 16 while
Quilling chipped in 13 and Ritchie and Lukan each had 11.
"We know that this loss doesn't define our season, it's not
the end of a great season, we have a long way to go and this isn't the point of
the season we're really worried about," said Quilling who finished with a
game-high five assists and four steals.
STREAKS STOPPED... With its loss, Green Bay's regular-season
winning streak against Horizon League opponents ends at 36 games in addition to
its 40-game regular season winning streak, the longest in program history.
ON DECK... Green Bay wraps up its three-game
homestand Saturday, Feb. 11 as it hosts Wright State (16-8, 9-3 HL) at 2 p.m.
Saturday is also alumni day in which all alumni in attendance will be
recognized at halftime. The annual alumni game will be held at 11 a.m. at the
Kress Events Center and is open free to the public.
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information, please visit GreenBayPhoenix.com/tickets.
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