Very few teams in college basketball have a winning record against the Green Bay Phoenix women’s basketball team. Even fewer are in Division III. Yet, the UW-Stevens Point Pointers were able to claim an 11-8 record prior to Monday night’s renewal of the in state battle. Green Bay and Stevens Point hadn’t played since 1986, when the Phoenix won that contest. Nearly 40 years later, Green Bay is a mid major powerhouse, and were able to close the gap in an 85-37 win in its season opener.
Prior to the game, Green Bay hung its banners from last season for the NCAA Tournament appearance, the conference titles, and for being the National Champions in team GPA. The team also received their conference title rings from last season, with the full roster from the 2024-25 season able to appear one more time in front of the Kress faithful. Once the festivities wrapped up, Green Bay’s starting 5 was announced, and for what could be the first time in program history, the Phoenix had all five players making their first career start for Green Bay.
The only Phoenix starter who was on last year’s team was center Meghan Schultz. In her redshirt freshman season, Schultz was often a late game sub, but was thrust into the lineup due to Jenna Guyer being out with a lower body injury. Schultz made an early impact, scoring the game’s first 4 points of the game. Newcomers Gracie Grzesk, Maddy Skorupski, and Carley Duffney all got on the board early on, but Schultz was the star of the early portion of the game. As Green Bay wrapped up the first quarter with a 21-5 lead, Schultz surpassed her previous career high of six points, with an eight point opening period.
The Phoenix got buckets from Kamy Peppler and Duffney to open the 2nd quarter, before Stevens Point got on the board in the period. Once the Pointers finally did get on the board, Schultz once again had an answer as she scored on back to back possessions to increase the lead to 20 points. Stevens Point did manage a couple baskets on back to back possessions, cutting the Green Bay advantage to 30-15, until Kristina Ouimette scored her first career points on a 3 ball which was answered by Karissa Smith on the other end. The Phoenix took that 33-18 lead into halftime, shooting 12 for 28 from the field and just 2 for 8 from behind the arc.
Green Bay came out of the break red hot, forcing a shot clock violation on UWSP to begin the half, and them made its first four field goals to expand the lead. Despite an empty possession with 2 misses the next time down, the Phoenix run continued as Julianna Ouimette and Duffney both hit shots. UWSP broke up the run on a make by Rachel Hagen, ending a 14-0 run by the Phoenix to open the 3rd. Once again though, Julianna Ouimette and Schultz would spark a new run, with Schultz scoring on back to back possessions. Lily Hansford splashed a corner three, as Green Bay outscored Stevens Point 25-3 in the 3rd, with Green Bay’s lead up to 58-21.
The Phoenix continued to pour things on in the 4th, getting six straight points from the combo of Skorupski, Duffney, and Schultz. Kamy Peppler splashed a triple to prompt a Pointers timeout, bringing the media break. Out of the break Skorupski tallied her 7th assist, finding Grzesk for another bucket. After the Grzesk score, Green Bay started an Ouimette run, where sisters Julianna and Kristina combined to score the next seven points for the Phoenix. Ellie Buzzelle broke the scoring streak for the Phoenix, as she split a trip to the free throw line, before Kristina hit another three ball and Julianna hit another free throw. Steven’s Point did manage some scoring to keep up with the Phoenix in the late minutes of the contest, before Hansford closed Green Bay’s scoring at 85 points.
Schultz led all scorers with a career high 20 points, with Duffney adding 12, and both Ouimette sisters chipping in 10 points apiece off the bench to wrap up the double digit scoring efforts for Green Bay. Hagen led Stevens Point with 6 points. The Phoenix recorded assists on 27 of Green Bay’s 31 made field goals, with Kamy Peppler and Skorupski each tallying seven helpers.
After the game, Coach Karius spoke to us, which you can see below, and among other comments, said she was proud of the team finding their chemistry with so many new players, and the 27 assists was a key metric.
Green Bay is back in action on Thursday, traveling to former Horizon League for Loyola Chicago, who edged out Milwaukee 59-55 in their opening contest. Tip is slated for 5pm CT.
