GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com)– After trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half— its largest deficit this season — the top-seeded Green Bay women's basketball team outscored No. 5-seeded Northern Kentucky by 11 points over the final 20 minutes, and Mehryn Kraker poured in 27 of her career-high 32 points in the second half to propel the Phoenix past the Norse in double-overtime of the 2016 Horizon League Tournament semifinal, 80-78.  

With the win, Green Bay (27-4) advances to Sunday's Championship Game, where it will face the No. 2 seed Milwaukee in the final for the first time since 2008-09. The Panthers downed No. 3 Wright State in the nightcap, 68-60. Tip from the Kress Events Center is scheduled for noon, as the Phoenix will be making its sixth-consecutive Horizon League Title appearance.

Northern Kentucky jumped out to a 25-9 in the contest, and held the Phoenix to a season-low 14 points on just 20.0 percent (6-of-30) in the opening half. However, Green Bay used a 21-4 rally in the second half, taking its first lead of the game, 30-29, after a pair of Sam Terry free-throws with 2:29 remaining in the third quarter.

Both teams battled back-and-forth the rest of the way, in a game that featured a total of seven lead changes and six ties, all coming in the second half. Although both teams hit an array of clutch shots, two of the biggest were by the Norse's Shar'Rae Davis and the Phoenix's Kaili Lukan, who hit game-tying triples in the waning second of regulation and the first overtime to keep their respective teams alive.

Ultimately, though, it was Green Bay who would hit the biggest in the final seconds of the second extra-session, as Jen Wellnitz tipped in a miss with 0.6 seconds remaining to seal the win.

The meeting was the third all-time between the programs, with the Phoenix winning twice in the regular season.

It marked Green Bay's first double-overtime game since it downed Purdue, 81-78, on the road on Nov. 19 last season. Kraker's 32 points was two points shy of tying Lavesa Glover's Kress Center record of 34 set on March 6, 2008, against Wright State.

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