After Saturday’s win over Robert Morris, the Green Bay Phoenix women’s basketball team social media pages posted their score graphic with the caption “Took care of business in Moon Township.” In some ways, it’s a cliche and should be viewed as such. Yet in other ways, it is very representative of how the program has continued to be one of the premier programs in the league, over all these years, and the expectations surrounding this program.
After Saturday’s game, I asked head coach Kayla Karius about that mentality, that despite the coaching change, how it feels to be able to continue with the high expectations that come with this program. She responded, “It’s really about the players. I’m really happy for them every time we perform at a high level because we have talented individuals who are leaving their legacy on this program. As an alumni, it’s even more important to me that this program is carried forward in the right direction. With the group I’m fortunate to coach this year, I can say they are making our whole alumni base proud because of their great effort on the court, classroom, and community. What they’re doing despite a coaching change is pretty remarkable.”
Green Bay started the eastern most road trip in the conference with a win over Youngstown State, taking down the Penguins 58-50. The Phoenix led this one wire to wire, as Jasmine Kondrakiewicz scored on the opening possession and Green Bay never looked back. Moments later, on Youngstown State’s open possession, Bailey Butler grabbed an errant pass and found Callie Genke in transition for a wide open three, stretching the early lead and setting the pace for the evenings contest. The Phoenix were able to gradually build the lead up to 10, which was the advantage that Green Bay held after the 1st quarter at 19-9.
It took Green Bay until nearly the halfway point of the quarter to get on the board in the 2nd, but luckily for the Phoenix, the defense did its job, holding the Penguins scoreless in that timeframe as well. Despite the slow start to the half, Genke, Jenna Guyer, and Miah Meyer, were all able to get shots to fall to build the lead up to 14, which would be the largest lead of the ball game. Youngstown State did have a bit of a run in them as well, closing the half on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 8 at halftime, at 30-22.
The second half was very evenly matched. Green Bay was able to build the lead back up to 10 with the opening bucket of the half, coming off the hand of Bailey Butler, which Xoe Rosalez matched with a made 3 to cut back to 7. Throughout the quarter, Green Bay did reach a double digit lead at a couple different points, including Genke’s made layup to close the 3rd with a 46-36 lead.
Once again, it took a few minutes of game action for the scoring to pick up after the quarter timeout, until Natalie McNeal scored 4 straight points to balloon the lead back to 14. The Penguins were able to cut the lead to as close as 6 in the final period, but that would be as close as things got.
McNeal led all scorers with 17, and was aided by an 11 point effort from Genke.
Green Bay went further east on Saturday, to the greater Pittsburgh area to take on Robert Morris. Once again, the Phoenix scored on its first possession to grab the initial lead. Unlike Thursday however, the Colonials did answer back, tying the game and actually taking a brief lead. McNeal scored Green Bay’s first 7 points and had 9 of her season high 22 in the opening 10 minutes of the game. Schiltz was huge in the opening quarter as well, as she would also score 7 in a row for the Phoenix, scoring the baskets that would give Green Bay the lead for good with 4:25 left in the 1st. While a 10-0 run built the lead up to 19-10, a Jennica Suggs triple in the final minute of the period cut the lead to 6 to close the period.
Ellie Buzzelle, playing in her most minutes this season against a Division I team since transferring into the program, opened scoring in the 2nd with a made 3 pointer. Green Bay would extend the lead into double digits in the 2nd, going into the half with a 35-22 lead.
Things really opened up in the 3rd quarter for the Phoenix, as Green Bay more than doubled up the Colonials, by a 24-11 margin. Cassie Schiltz hit three 3’s in the 3rd quarter, and Miah Meyer hit a 3 and an old fashioned 3 point play in succession as part of the offensive onslaught.
Schiltz and McNeal kept scoring throughout the final half of playing, helping Green Bay build the lead to 20, then 30, and eventually building things up to a game high 39. Karius did go deeper into the bench, as Buzzelle and Meghan Schultz registered double digits minutes totals. Robert Morris was able to make a small dent into the large lead, cutting the deficit down to 28, but make no mistake about it, things were all Green Bay.
McNeal built her case for Horizon League Player of the Week, with a season-high 22 points, with the reigning title holder, Schiltz also put up a season high 20 points. Buzzelle scored a season-high 10 points, to join the double digit scoring effort.
Green Bay returns home for the Detroit Metro teams, first hosting Detroit Mercy on Thursday, January 16th. Tipoff is slated for 6pm.
