media guide - UWGB Phoenix Athletics

Green Bay Takes Horizon League Title, NCAA BerthBy: Scott Venci, GreenBayPressGazette.comMarch 17, 2013The University of Wisconsin-Green Baywomen’s basketball team is back in afamiliar spot.The Phoenix clinched an automatic bid tothe NCAA tournament with a 54-38 winover Loyola in the Horizon League titlegame in front of 2,367 at the Kress EventsCenter on Sunday afternoon.Green Bay will play in the NCAAs for thefifth straight season and the 14th overall.Kevin Borseth’s goal when he returnedto coach Green Bay this season was tonot screw up the success he helped buildbefore he left for Michigan and continuedwhen Matt Bollant roamed the sidelinehere for five years.He didn’t.Green Bay will enter the tournament witha 29-2 record and riding a 24-game winningstreak. It also is considered one ofthe best teams in the country, with a No.20 ranking in The Associated Press Top 25poll.“It’s good to be along for the ride, I’ll tellyou that,” Borseth said. “It’s a specialgroup of kids.”Green Bay likely would have earned anat-large bid to the tournament even witha loss to the Ramblers, but it took nochances.The Phoenix pulled away from Loyola inthe first half, going on a 17-4 run that gaveit a 21-8 lead with 7 minutes, 45 secondsremaining in the half.The run was sparked by senior guardAdrian Ritchie, who scored 10 of her 15points during that span. It included two3-pointers, the first of which gave her theschool record for most career 3s made.Ritchie, who has hit 195 3-pointers, alsowas named the tournament MVP.Green Bay led 34-17 at the half, and thatwas a good thing since it struggled offensivelyfor the final 20 minutes.Midway through the second half, GreenBay had more air balls (three) than fieldgoals (two). It started the half 2-for-23from the field, but its strong defense keptLoyola from mounting any sort of seriouscomeback.The Ramblers never got closer than 11points.“It’s the same thing we have been sayingthe four years we have been here,” saidsenior forward Sarah Eichler, who finishedwith a game-high 16 points. “It’s all aboutdefense. It’s always been about defense.It’s two ways, you play offense and youplay defense. If you aren’t putting the ballin the basket, you better make sure theyare not either.“We played really good defense in thesecond half, even though our shotsweren’t falling.”The Phoenix was 8-for-34 (23.5 percent)in the second half and just 1-for-14 from3-point range. It finished 23-for-64 (35.9percent) overall and 5-for-28 (17.9 percent)from long range.Loyola was worse.The Ramblers were 14-for-47 (29.8 percent)and 2-for-18 (11.1) on 3s. Their topscoring options, Monica Albano, SimoneLaw and Taylor Johnson, only scored acombined 26 points and shot 10-for-35. Law also grabbed a career-high 14rebounds.“We have experience, especially whenthere are four seniors in there,” Ritchiesaid. “Obviously, we want to hit thoseshots and we haven’t found our flow yet.You don’t want to get lulled asleep justbecause we are up 15 or whatever it wasat the half.“Loyola is a good team, they can make arun just like that. We can always fall backon our defense. Our shots are eventuallygoing to fall. If they can’t score, we aregoing to be fine.”Now the fun starts.Green Bay will find out during thewomen’s selection show on Monday nightwhich team it is playing and where whenthe tournament starts this week.Nobody appeared too concerned with theseed the Phoenix will earn, instead justletting the process play out.Green Bay has learned anything is possibleover the last few years. It earnedan at-large bid in 2010 when many feltit would be left out of the NCAAs, andit earned a No. 7 seed last season whenmany thought it would be higher.“People were upset last year, and therewas a stir that kind of went with it,”Eichler said. “But, I was happy to be inthe NCAA tournament. I was happy to bewearing that blue dot on my jersey.“That is something we don’t take forgranted, whether we are a seven seed, ora 12 seed or a 15 seed. We are just happyto keep playing.”