A 39-9 run to close the game gave the Phoenix women its third straight win, as Horizon League play resumed, as Green Bay rallied past Northern Kentucky for a 78-59 win.
Green Bay needed every bit of the second half rally, after getting behind early to the Norse. While the Phoenix opened the game leading 6-3, Northern Kentucky answered to grab the lead after Mya Meredith’s second made three. The Norse were able to keep a lead, only for Green Bay to tie but never grab a lead over the remaining part of the quarter. Northern Kentucky came out of the first quarter with a 16-14 lead.
Natalie McNeal made the first basket of the second quarter which tied the game back up at 16-16. Each time Green Bay made a run to tie though, Northern Kentucky was able build the lead back up, leading by 6 for most of the 2nd quarter. Halle Idowu scored eight in the period, including 4 in a row, as the Norse closed the half on a 10-2 run to hold a 42-34 advantage into the locker room.
Idowu scored the opening bucket of the second half, getting the lead into double digits at 44-34. Macey Blevins scooped a layup to get the lead up to 12, before Green Bay started a big rally. Cassie Schiltz hit a 3, and Jenna Guyer made a layup, cutting the lead to 48-39. Idowu made one more layup, to get the lead back to 50-39 before Green Bay rattled of a 17-0 run to grab the lead back at 56-50 as shots finally started falling. Northern Kentucky made a pair of free throws to close scoring for the quarter, with Green Bay holding a 56-52 lead to enter the fourth.
Karius schemed up a play at the quarter break that saw Schiltz drain another 3 to pad the lead for Phoenix. She would hit two more, building the lead into double digits very briefly until Macey Blevins made a layup to cut the lead back down to nine. This would end up being the last points the Norse would score in the contest. Bailey Butler though would respond with another made 3 to put the lead back into double figures, fully completing the comeback and icing the game.
Jenna Guyer came off the bench to lead all scorers with 22 points in the win, a new career high, toppling the previous high of 18, which she set in Green Bay’s previous game, which was a win over UW-Parkside. Natalie McNeal dropped 17, Schiltz finished with 15, doing all her damage from behind the arc, and got 10 from Callie Genke who was in the starting lineup due to an injury from Maddy Schreiber, to round out double digit scoring for the Phoenix. As a team, Green Bay struggled from deep in the 1st half from deep, shooting 4-15 from behind the arc but was able to finish shooting 15-36 in the comeback.
Karius touched on the discrepancy in her postgame press conference, saying that they were getting the looks they wanted, especially against the Northern Kentucky zone defense, the shots just weren’t falling early on. Karius also heaped on plenty of praise for her squad’s resilience and praised the veteran leadership for their effort in the comeback, especially Guyer, who joined her in the media room. You can see the full press conference below.
Green Bay is back in action on Saturday, January 4th, hosting the Wright State Raiders at the Kress Center. Tipoff is slated for 1pm.
