Coming into tonight, only Oakland and Cleveland State had beaten the Green Bay Phoenix women’s basketball team in Horizon League play. Thursday night, the Phoenix insured it would not be swept by the Golden Grizzlies, flying past Oakland, 74-45.
Green Bay’s typical stifling defense was on full display early on. In the opening quarter, the Phoenix held Oakland to just one made field goal from the floor, with the Golden Grizzlies shooting 1-18 from the field. The Phoenix led after 10 minutes, 18-5, and continued the dominant effort into the 2nd quarter. Oakland only made two more field goals to end the half, going 3-27 from the floor. Green Bay continued to pull away, and spread out scoring, led by Jenna Guyer off the bench with 9 first half points. The Phoenix would go into the half with a 33-14 lead.
Oakland did fare better from the field in the third quarter, doubling its point total and making 8 shots in the period. Despite the better effort for Oakland, Green Bay kept the foot on the gas pedal, out scoring the Grizzlies 22-18 for the period, increasing the lead to 55-32 going into the final period. The fourth quarter remained a formality for the Phoenix, outscoring Oakland in each period.
Only Maddy Schreiber reached double digit scoring for the Phoenix, with a game high 15 points. Callie Genke, Guyer, and Cassie Schiltz all had 9 points in the ball game. Schreiber recorded another double-double with the 15 points mentioned above, also grabbing 10 rebounds. Bailey Butler added a double-double of her own, albeit a bit unconventional with 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the game, setting career highs in both areas. Every single member of Green Bay’s active roster scored in the ball game, with Caelan Givens and Kendall Renard contributing in the scoring column in limited minutes.
After the game, Butler and associate head coach Megan Vogel both talked about the importance of building towards the Horizon League Tournament. Butler said she feels that the team is close to playing its best ball, with Vogel echoing the sentiment saying they may have played 36 minutes of complete basketball, adding that there’s always things to build towards. One important note Vogel added, was the key minutes for freshman guard Maren Westin, especially against a defense that likes to press and hound the ball as much as Oakland does.
Green Bay will play host to the other half of the Detroit metro area teams on Saturday afternoon, when it faces the Detroit Mercy Titans as part of “Krash the Kress”, a four-day weekend of Green Bay basketball on campus at the Kress Center between the women’s and men’s team. Tipoff on Saturday is set for 1pm CT.
