Oakland Falls to Green Bay Despite Strong Late Push

The Oakland Golden Grizzlies women’s basketball team was dealt a loss by the Green Bay Phoenix from inside the OU Credit Union O’Rena on Thursday, January 8, with the Phoenix coming away on top 78-63.

The loss shifts Oakland’s record to 4-12 on the season, and 1-5 in Horizon League play, leaving the Golden Grizzlies as one of the bottom two teams in the Horizon League standings. 

Angie Smith led the Golden Grizzlies in scoring, supplying 14 points while dealing out five assists. Lianna Baxter had a solid showing for Oakland as well, finishing with 13 points while leading the team in rebounding with seven. 

Green Bay was led in scoring by Maddy Skorupski, who put up an efficient 21 points while also dishing out a team-high eight assists. Next to Skorupski was Jenna Guyer, who nearly finished the game with a double-double, scoring 20 points while securing nine rebounds.

Notably, this game marks Skorupski’s first return to the OU Credit Union O’Rena. Skorupski played her previous two seasons for the Golden Grizzlies and was a huge part of the team the previous season, earning All-Horizon League Second Team honors.

Both teams were rather competitive to start this matchup. The Golden Grizzlies and the Phoenix both traded baskets in the paint as both teams remained tied, 4-4, through the game’s first two minutes of play.

Despite the solid start for the Golden Grizzlies, the Phoenix began to show why they currently stand atop the Horizon League standings. After Skorupski notched her first points of the game with a short jumper, it kick-started a 12-3 Green Bay run, putting the Phoenix ahead 16-7 as the first quarter dwindled.

In the final three minutes of the quarter, the Golden Grizzlies showed more discipline on defense, deterring many of the Phoenix’s looks in the paint. Although Oakland’s improvements were apparent, Green Bay finished the quarter ahead, 21-9.

With the second quarter underway, the Golden Grizzlies and the Phoenix both traded baskets, which primarily came from the paint to start. However, as the second continued, Green Bay saw more opportunities from three-point range, which the team took advantage of to further bolster its score.

Green Bay’s three-point barrage didn’t deter the Golden Grizzlies, who hung with the Phoenix down the stretch of the second. In the final minute of the half, Smith knocked down a midrange jumper before Baxter converted both her looks at the charity stripe to cut the Green Bay lead to 38-27 heading into the break.

At the half, Oakland shot at a 32.3% (10-for-31) rate from the field. In comparison, the Phoenix knocked down 51.7% (15-for-29) of their looks. From deep, the Golden Grizzlies made 20% (2-for-10) of their looks while Green Bay made 40% (4-for-10) of their attempts from beyond the arc.

At the start of the third quarter, Green Bay got back to business, taking advantage of Oakland’s interior defense as the Phoenix opened the third with three consecutive layups. Layla Gold responded with a three on Oakland’s next possession; however, Green Bay continued to roll, taking a 20-point lead midway through the quarter.

By the end of the third, the Golden Grizzlies started to keep the pace offensively with the Phoenix, but they were unable to make any serious dents in the Green Bay lead, as the Phoenix led 59-40 entering the final quarter of play.

In the fourth quarter, Oakland showed a ton of fight, as the Golden Grizzlies cut a once 22-point Green Bay lead down to as little as 13. Still, the large lead the Phoenix had built up throughout the game was enough cushion to shut the door on an Oakland comeback, as Green Bay ultimately won 78-63.

Up next, the Golden Grizzlies will host the Milwaukee Panthers at the OU Credit Union O’Rena on Saturday, January 10, marking the end of a two-game homestand for Oakland. With a tip-off set for 2 p.m. EST, the Golden Grizzlies will look to get back into the win column.

Takeaways

Although this game isn’t the result any Oakland fan wanted, the Golden Grizzlies looked like an entirely different team on the floor tonight compared to their performance against the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons the previous week.

With Fillippa Goula making her return to the lineup, the Oakland offense ran much more smoothly. Against the Mastodons, the Golden Grizzlies had multiple possessions that resulted in highly contested shots being forced up at the end of the shot clock.

While the Golden Grizzlies still had a couple of those same possessions against the Phoenix tonight, they didn’t have nearly as many thanks to the return of Goula and a mix of Mackenzie Luehring and Jasmine Dupree-Hubert stepping up as ball-handlers.

Another thing of note from this game was how hard Oakland fought down the stretch, despite the deficit on the scoreboard. It was apparent that the Golden Grizzlies put in maximum effort in every possession in the fourth quarter.

On a possession where the team was down double digits with just seconds left to go in the game, Oakland showed the kind of urgency that a team down a single possession would show, which is the type of trait you want to see out of a team as the rest of the in-conference schedule unfolds.