Women's Basketball 12/31/2020 10:06:00 AM

Green Bay Set for New Year Pairings at Oakland Friday, Saturday

GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) --- The Green Bay women's basketball team is set to return to the court for the first time in nearly three weeks as the Phoenix prepares for back-to-back matchups at Oakland.

GAME INFORMATION - Friday
at Oakland // January 1, 2021
O'Rena // Tipoff at 2PM
Streamed on ESPN3

GAME INFORMATION - Saturday
at Oakland // January 2, 2021
O'Rena // Tipoff at 12PM
Streamed on ESPN3

RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR
The Phoenix has taken the floor two times on New Year's Day in the history of the program, both times occurred in the past decade. GB won those contests and will look to move to 3-0 while ringing in the New Year. GB also owns a margin of victory of 22.0 PPG on New Year's Day.

FOSTER(ING) TALENT
Green Bay freshman Ellie Foster stepped up for the Phoenix in her first league contests, scoring 19 points in two games with Milwaukee. The guard is also tied for the team lead in steals with seniors Caitlyn Hibner and Megan Pingel, as each member of the trio has 10 apiece.

LEVY LEAVING THE BENCH
Transfer Sydney Levy is now immediately eligible after the NCAA Division I Council voted Wednesday to grant a blanket waiver allowing all Division-I transfers to play immediately this year. Levy is a transfer from Milwaukee.

MID-MAJOR POLL MATCHUPS
The Phoenix won its first pairing with a team in the mid-major poll, defeating Drake, 69-61, who currently ranks 9th. Most recently, Green Bay fell in back-to-back games with league-foe Milwaukee, who ranks 14th.

STEALING THE ROCK
Although it came in a losing effort, the Green Bay women's basketball team tallied a season-high 17 steals and forced 25 Bison turnovers in game one at North Dakota State. Meghan Pingel led the way with four steals, followed closely by freshmen Jasmine Kondrakiewicz and Ellie Foster who tallied three apiece.

FRESH PHOENIX FACES
The Green Bay women's basketball team welcomes five new faces to the roster this season, four freshmen (Caelan Givens, Ellie Foster, Kendall Renard and Jasmine Kondrakiewicz) and one transfer, Sydney Levy. A total of six members of the squad are seeing the floor for the first time at the collegiate level as Cassie Schiltz, Julia Hartwig and Brooklyn Blackburn are seeing minutes after redshirting last season.

LEAGUE LEADERS
Caitlyn Hibner is tied for second in the Horizon League in scoring with 19.3 PPG. First is UIC's Jaida McCloud and locked in second with Hibner is reigning HL Player of the Year, Macee Williams.

FANTASTIC FRESHMAN
Kondrakiewicz made her first career start for Green Bay to open the season vs Drake, marking the first time since the 2013-14 season a true freshman graced the starting lineup for the Phoenix. Kondrakiewicz took advantage of the opportunity and scored 15 points in 20 minutes while shooting 50% (5-10) from the field. She also pulled down two rebounds, dished out one assist, logged one steal and recorded a block in her debut.

PRESEASON PICKS
The Green Bay women's basketball team is slated to finish second in the Horizon League, as defending champion IUPUI was dubbed preseason favorite with all 12 first-place votes. It marks the first time in over a decade the Phoenix women were not selected by the conference as preseason favorites. The last time Green Bay wasn't favored to win the league was in the 2007-08 season, when the team finished 17-1 in conference play and 26-6 overall.

HIBNER HEATING UP
Hibner has logged the fifth double-double of her career and secured three-straight games of double-digit scoring to start the season. She has surpassed 20 points twice and led the Phoenix in scoring in all three games.

HL HONORS SWEEP
The first Horizon League women's basketball player of the week awards of the 2020-21 season went to Green Bay. Caitlyn Hibner and Jasmine Kondrakiewicz swept the first installment of the weekly awards, with Hibner earning player of the week and Kondrakiewicz taking home freshman of the week.

HIBNER HOPS ON SECOND TEAM
Caitlyn Hibner is the lone honoree for Green Bay ahead of the 2020-21 campaign, earning a second-team nod from the conference. Hibner finished as a third-team member a season ago after averaging 9.6 PPG and collecting 7.4 RPG.

WINNING TRADITION
Green Bay secured its 43rd-consecutive winning season last year and trails only Tennessee (46) for the longest active streak in the nation. During that span, GB also pieced together a stretch of 20-straight conference titles and made 18 NCAA tournament appearances. The Phoenix also secured its 20th-consecutive 20-plus win season in 2018- 19, a streak dating back to 1999-00.

WINNING....SINCE THE BEGINNING
The Green Bay women's basketball team is one of three division I women's basketball programs that has had a winning record every year since the NCAA took over administration of women's college athletics in the fall of 1981. Essentially, the Phoenix has never had a losing record in the NCAA era. The only two other programs to accomplish the same feat are Tennessee and Georgia.

WELCOME TO THE LEAGUE
The Horizon League added two institutions to the conference beginning this season in RMU and Purdue Fort Wayne. The colonials are coming off a NEC regular season title and are led by head coach Charlie Buscaglia. Head coach Niecee Nelson is at the helm for the mastodons.

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