Phoenix women look to rise to next level
Time is often a flat circle in Green Bay sports, the faces may change, but the story remains the same. While many in Titletown associate this line of thinking with the football team across town, and its quarterbacks, the Green Bay Phoenix women’s basketball team has a chance to mirror history this season. After returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2017-18 season, long-time coach Kevin Borseth announced that he would be retiring from coaching before the start of the 2024 season. As many already know, Green Bay would hire Kayla Karius (formerly Tetschlag) a former Phoenix player who was coaching at South Dakota.
It is a familiar spot to be in for Karius, although she was on the other end of it as a player. As a high school player in nearby Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Karius was recruited by Borseth, but would never go on to play for him, as he left for the University of Michigan that spring. At the time, Borseth said that he felt that the Green Bay program needed a fresh set of eyes and fresh hands to take the team to the next level. Karius ended up staying with her commitment to Green Bay, and finished off her career as the 2011 Horizon League Player of the Year, helping lead the Phoenix to an appearance in the Sweet Sixteen that season.
At Horizon League Media Day, Karius was asked how her style of coaching will compare to what Coach Borseth was doing with this squad. Karius responded indicating that much of the culture will remain the same, “We’ve talked a lot about ‘The Green Bay Way’ is what we call it, for us it’s the upperclassmen leading the underclassmen, and not just that but its peer to peer and having accountability.”
Karius went on to say, as a head coach, she is excited to blend things from the various stops she had been at along the way, as a player and coach, “A lot of it in the half court will look similar but I think there are certain things that in transition that we want to get out and push it a little more, we want to look to potentially shoot more three’s because they’re a great three point shooting team, and defensively we’re going to continue being the sound man to man defense that we have been.”
She rounds out her staff with plenty of names that Green Bay fans and those across the Horizon League alike should recognize. Sarah Bronk, a longtime assistant at Green Bay, was retained on staff. Allie Alexander (formerly LeClaire) returns back home after her playing days in Green Bay and coaching stints with Division 3 St. Norbert in De Pere, WI and serving as assistant under former Green Bay head coach Matt Bollant.
Longtime Cleveland State head coach Kate Peterson Abiad, who had been working as an Assistant Director of the WIAA, Wisconsin’s high school sports governing board, is back in the coaching game as well. Wisconsin native, and former Director of Operations at South Dakota follows Karius to Green Bay. Green Bay wraps up its staff with Shay Frederick, who played high school basketball in Hortonville, WI under Celeste Ratka, who was also on the 2011 Sweet Sixteen team with the Phoenix. Frederick went onto play for former Horizon League teams Valparaiso and Butler before joining Coach Karius as a Graduate Assistant at South Dakota.
On the court, Green Bay returns its top seven scorers from a season ago. They will be led by Natalie McNeal, the reigning Most Outstanding Player of the Horizon League Tournament, and was 2024 Horizon League, First Team All-League. McNeal led the team with 13.2 points per game, highlighted by 32 points in the Horizon League Tournament Championship game.
McNeal had the chance to reflect on that championship game and returning to the Indiana Farmers Coliseum at Horizon League Media Day, saying she had plenty of good memories in the building, “Obviously, that day in March was one of the best days of my life, and a lot of my teammates would agree. You play college basketball to reach that moment, to be able to compete for a championship like that. So it is exciting, it brings back all the memories from March, and kind of gets you excited, with official practices starting in the next couple weeks and being able to get back in the swing of things.”
With the returning depth, expectations are going to be high on this team, but McNeal says there are still things the veteran laden team can improve on, “A big part of it now, is that we’re veteran players, so little details matter even more, and it’s not just about who is working harder, its about who is fine tuning the details, who is working on the little things, what teams are making the adjustments day to day, and stacking good practices on top of each other in order to be successful.”
The Phoenix return its other top six leading scorers from last season, in Maddy Schreiber, Cassie Schiltz, Jasmine Kondrakiewicz, Bailey Butler, Callie Genke, and Jenna Guyer. Schreiber’s efforts scoring 12.1 points per game and shooting 42.3% friom behind the arc, was good enough to earn Second Team All-League honors last season, and Bailey Butler earned All-Defensive Team and Third Team All-League nods. Callie Genke came off the bench through the season and made immediate impact whenever she was on the floor, earning the Horizon League Sixth Player of the Year award a year ago. Schiltz and Kondrakiewicz also earned Horizon League Player of the Week honors throughout the season at various points.
For a program that hasn’t really gone too deep into the transfer portal in years past, Green Bay was active in adding a couple pieces this offseason. Miah Meyer, a 5-8 guard followed assistant coach Allie Alexander from Eastern Illinois. Meyer was Second Team All-Ohio Valley Conference in 2023-2024, having led the conference in assists with 169 on the season, good for a league leading 5.1 per game. Meyer can score as well, averaging 11.2 points per game, and had a season high 27 against her now Horizon League foe in Wright State.
Ellie Buzzelle also comes in from Eastern Illinois, having averaged 9.8 points per game, and a team high, near school record breaking 70 made three pointers. Buzzelle was a two time Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week award winner and dropped 20 points on 2 occasions.
Julianna Ouimette, a native of Minocqua, WI, transfers back home from Lehigh, after appearing in only 5 games as a freshman. Ouimette was a standout high school player in Wisconsin, having scored over 2,000 career points and was First Team All State as both a junior and senior.
Outlook
The Phoenix looks to contend for both the regular season and tournament title, as is the expectation in Green Bay. With so much talent returning, and another daunting non-conference schedule that features Kansas State, Northern Iowa, Virginia, DePaul, Drake, and Creighton, Green Bay may be able to grab an at large bid, should they not be the league’s automatic qualifier.
To be the league’s automatic bid, the Phoenix will have to fend off an improving Purdue Fort Wayne, and another loaded Cleveland State Vikings team, that seems destined for three matchups once again this season. Green Bay is a special place for women’s basketball. While most of the country is finally getting up to speed on women’s hoops, Green Bay and the Kress Center faithful have been ahead of the curve. McNeal says about the Phoenix fans ““They want to be involved in your life outside of basketball. They want to help you succeed once you take the shoes off and you’re done on the court.”
