Dominant Dozen: Phoenix soar past IU Indy 

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Photo courtesy of Green Bay Athletics

The Green Bay Phoenix women’s winning streak reached 12 games on Sunday as Green Bay downed IU Indy 76-54 to keep pace at the top of the Horizon League.  

Green Bay got rolling early as Bailey Butler scored the game’s opening bucket on Green Bay’s opening possession. Alexa Hocevar was able to briefly tie the game with a pair of made free throws. The tie remained as each team exchanged an empty possession before Natalie McNeal picked up where she left off on Thursday, hitting a jumper.

The next time down, Jasmine Kondrakiewicz extended the lead to 6-2 made a bucket in the paint.  IU Indy would battle back to tie things back up at 6-6 but couldn’t grab the lead, as Cassie Schiltz and Jenna Guyer each got on the board to give Green Bay the lead back.  McNeal tacked on a pair of free throws, before Guyer added 2 more buckets in a row.  The Jaguars kept pace with Green Bay through much of the quarter, until Schiltz hit a three to close the scoring for the quarter with the Phoenix holding a 19-11 lead.  

Faith Stinson converted a three point play to open the quarter, cutting the lead to 19-14 before the Phoenix offense exploded. Miah Meyer hit a layup to start the run, followed by a couple of Callie Genke threes and a McNeal layup, extending the Green Bay lead out to 15 points. While the Jaguars were able to end the Phoenix run briefly, Green Bay wasn’t done with the offensive outburst.

Schiltz drained back to back three-pointers, and Jenna Guyer was able to add on as well, as the Phoenix lead reached 20 points, leading 41-21.  Neveah Foster did hit a three to cut into the lead, which followed by an Alexa Hocevar layup. Meyer did answer back with a bucket of her own, but IU Indy would close out the scoring for the half on a Shania Nichols-Vincent jumper to cut the Green Bay lead to 43-28 as both teams went back to the locker room. 

As she often does, McNeal had a takeover quarter to put the game out of reach. She started the third by earning and converting an And-1. She would total 9 of her co-game high 15 in the 3rd, but she wasn’t alone.  Meyer and Maddy Schreiber were able to score on back to back possessions throughout the period. Green Bay would extend the lead to a 23 point advantage, as McNeal closed the quarter with a bucket in the waning seconds, giving the Phoenix a 65-42 lead with just 10 minutes left to play.  

Kondrakiewicz kept the Phoenix foot on the gas, as she scored 5 points in a row, including an And-1, as Green Bay got out to what would be its largest lead of the game, at a 28-point advantage.  The Phoenix were able to give some big minutes to its deeper bench players. Meghan Schultz was able to get in the scoring column for a 2nd straight game. While the game was never in doubt, the Jaguars were able to outscore Green Bay 12-11 in the fourth. 

After a big game Thursday, McNeal bolstered her case for another Horizon League Player of the Week Award, dropping 15 points and 6 rebounds. Genke was able to mirror McNeal’s stat line with a 15 points and 6 boards of her own. Guyer also reached double figures with 10 points off the bench. Schreiber was able to register 22 minutes in her second game, coming off the bench and scoring 8 points. 

Green Bay will return home after the one game road trip on Thursday to host Youngstown State.  The Phoenix took down the Penguins just under a month ago, winning 58-50 out in Youngstown, Ohio.  Tipoff is set for 6pm from the Kress Center.  

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