A big fourth quarter helped the Green Bay women’s basketball team notch its first win of the season, the first of the Kayla Karius era, as the Phoenix snuck past former Horizon League foe, the UIC Flames, by a score of 74-71.
Green Bay got ahead early, starting the game on an 8-0 lead, before UIC climbed back in and answered with a 13-2 run midway through the opening quarter of play. The Flames held a five-point advantage through much of the first quarter before going into the second with a 26-18 lead after Sandra Frau-Garcia got a steal from Bailey Butler and dished to Aaron Freeman in the closing seconds of the quarter.
The Phoenix were able to tie the game at 29-29 near the midway point of the second quarter before UIC made a three on each side of the media timeout, part of a 11-1 run that gave UIC a double digit lead late in the 2nd quarter. Jasmine Kondrakiewicz and Jenna Guyer each made a jumper to cut the lead to 6, going into halftime trailing 43-37.
Green Bay continued the 5-0 run coming out of the half as Natalie McNeal scored on back to back possessions, narrowing the lead to 43-41 early in the third. Every time the Phoenix clawed back though, the Flames had an answer, and entered the final 10 minutes with a 59-52 lead.
The Flames extended the lead to 10 points before Green Bay started an incredible comeback with three minutes remaining. Maddy Schreiber made back to back threes followed by a Jenna Guyer And-1 with 1:45 left in regulation to narrow the gap to 66-65. On the next Phoenix possession, McNeal gave the Phoenix its first lead since the 5 minute mark in the 1st quarter with an old school 3pt play of her own. Schreiber extended the lead with 0:30 left in regulation with another made 3 before Green Bay was able to stave off the UIC comeback attempt by making 4 of their 6 free throws.
Schreiber scored a team-high 25 points in the win, a career high for her. McNeal chipped in 15, Jenna Guyer added in 11, and Kondrakiewicz scored 10 to round out the double digit scoring for the Phoenix. Makiyah Williams led UIC with 25 points as well.
The Phoenix women remain on the road, traveling to Grand Forks, for a matchup with the North Dakota Fighting Hawks on Sunday afternoon for a 2pm CT tipoff.
