The Green Bay Phoenix women’s basketball team keeps rolling, remaining perfect in league play after sweeping their annual trip through the greater Motor City area over the weekend. The trip started with Maddy Skorupski’s dominant return to Oakland on Thursday, and was capped by a team effort to take down the Detroit Mercy Titans on Saturday.
In the opening game of the road trip, Green Bay and Oakland traded buckets, feeling each other out in the early going. As the first media break approached though, it was the Phoenix who would grab command of the game, going on an 8 to 0 run to build a sizeable lead, getting buckets from Jenna Guyer, Carley Duffney, and Skorupski before the Golden Grizzlies could respond. Angie Smith made a bucket to end the Green Bay scoring streak, but the Phoenix closed the opening period with the advantage, as Meghan Schultz made a layup and Guyer hit a deep ball to build the lead to 21 to 9 after ten minutes. Green Bay kept its foot on the proverbial pedal, with Skorupski and Duffney scoring in the paint in the early part of the second period. Oakland did manage to keep pace for a bit, answering each make with a bucket of their own. The Phoenix punched back with made threes from Kamy Peppler and Gracie Grzesk before the Golden Grizzlies tightened up defensively. Oakland managed to outscore Green Bay in the second by a single point, and went into the locker room trailing 38 to 27.
The Phoenix came out of the break red hot, including six straight points to open the half, with Schultz scoring on back-to-back possessions and Skorupski continuing her hot shooting game. Layla Gold got Oakland back in the scoring column with a made three-pointer, which was promptly answered on the Green Bay end by Duffney. After the hot start, the two teams were relatively evenly matched throughout the remainder of the third, with the Phoenix holding a 59 to 40 advantage with just one quarter to play. Skorupski led the Phoenix into the fourth quarter with a made three to start the period, as Green Bay rolled to victory. Her 21 points led all scorers, with Guyer adding in 20 points, while Duffney tallied 17 points in a 78 to 63 win for the Phoenix.
Green Bay then looked to start a huge Wisconsin sports Saturday with a win, playing in a matinee against Detroit Mercy. The Phoenix opened up on a 7 to 0 run, as Skorupski continued the offensive onslaught, assisting the opening basket, and scoring on two straight possessions to continue the run. The Titans finally got on the board, but continued trailing 17 to 8 after the opening quarter. Grzesk splashed a deep triple to start the second, and put Green Bay up by double digits, and team’s lead would never again be smaller than that over the remainder of the contest. Guyer was fantastic from behind the arc, stepping out to hit a pair of triples in the quarter, part of 13-point first half for her. Skorupski wasn’t far behind, as she closed the period with five straight points, putting herself into double digits as well, as Green Bay led 37 to 20 at the break.
The Titans hit a pair of threes coming out of halftime, trimming the lead down to 11, but that push was answered by a Skorupski bucket and a Grzesk long ball to build Green Bay’s advantage back out. Skorupski and Schultz added on ahead of the media break, as the lead ballooned to 18. The Phoenix broke the 20-point lead threshold after the break when Schultz made a layup, and kept the lead over 20 for the rest of the period. Green Bay would eventually flirt with a 30-point lead, building the gap to as high as 27, as an 8 to 0 run spanned the end of the third quarter and into the fourth. With the game well in hand, coach Kayla Karius was able to get into the Phoenix bench, resulting in a Madison Hoffmann bucket in the final minute. Guyer led all scorers with 21 points in the contest, aided by double digit efforts from Skorupski, Grzesk, and Schultz.
Green Bay returns to Wisconsin for four straight games, with three of the four being at home. The Phoenix will host Purdue Fort Wayne for a Horizon League contender battle at the Kress Center on Wednesday, ahead of a game at in state rival Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon. Tip off on Wednesday is 6:00 PM CT.
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