'It just didn't fall': UWGB women go cold, lose to Cleveland State in Horizon League title game
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball team finished the Horizon League title game on an absolute tear, making seven straight shots and eight of 10 overall.
If only the first 62 attempts had gone as well.
UWGB lost 73-61 to Cleveland State on Tuesday at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis, falling one win short of an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament in a quest to make the Big Dance for the first time since 2018.
The Phoenix dealt almost flawlessly with the misfortune it endured this season in winning the league’s regular-season championship for the first time in five years.
It didn’t flinch after the departure of leading scorer Hailey Oskey just seven games into the campaign. It kept winning even after losing both sophomore guard-forward Maddy Schreiber and sophomore forward Julia Hartwig to season-ending injuries.
“For us to make it this far with all the adversity we faced, I think it was probably one of our toughest seasons yet,” said sophomore forward Jasmine Kondrakiewicz, who fought back tears. “Most love for our team.”
Nothing slowed the Phoenix down while it piled up 27 wins and featured an offense that showed another gear after struggling at times in previous seasons.
Until the title game.
UWGB can't recover from ice-cold third quarter
UWGB (27-5) shook off a slow start and an 11-point deficit in a semifinal against Purdue Fort Wayne on Monday, but it couldn’t recover when it when cold against the Vikings one day later.
CSU broke a 20-all tie with 6 minutes, 59 seconds remaining in the first half and never trailed the rest of the way.
The Phoenix was down only six points at the break despite shooting 12-for-37 overall while the Vikings shot 8-for-16 from beyond the arc.
But the second half started, and so did all the misses for UWGB, at least after senior guard Sydney Levy opened things up with a 3 that cut the deficit to just three points.
The Phoenix couldn’t hit much of anything, from anywhere, while going up against CSU’s 2-3 zone defense.
It went 3-for-18 in the third quarter, including 1-for-13 in the final 6:49, while watching the Vikings build a double-figure lead.
Things didn’t get any better to start the final quarter.
CSU (30-4) scored the first 11 points and forced UWGB to miss its first seven attempts to take a commanding 60-39 advantage with 5:09 remaining.
It was a good thing for the Vikings, considering they didn’t hit another shot the rest of the way while the Phoenix did its best to whittle away an insurmountable deficit.
UWGB went from cold to hot in an instant, making seven straight shots that included 3s from Levy and senior guard Tatum Koenig that pulled the Phoenix to within 66-55 with 1:32 left.
But it would get no closer. CSU made seven free throws in the final 1:17 to seal the win and earn its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2010.
The Vikings hit 13 3-pointers and shot 48.1% from long range against UWGB.
“They shot well. They played a perfect game, in my opinion,” UWGB coach Kevin Borseth said. “We didn’t do anything in the third quarter very well, and they were (almost 50%) from the arc.
“I thought our kids gutted it out. It just didn’t fall into our hands today, that’s all.”
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CSU guard Gabriella Smith did the most damage, scoring a game-high 19 points and going 5-for-7 from 3 as one of four Vikings to finish in double figures.
UWGB junior guard Natalie McNeal led the way off the bench for the Phoenix with 18 points and 13 rebounds, including 12 points in the fourth quarter.
She was the only UWGB player to finish in double figures.
While the Phoenix has dominated the Vikings in the all-time series — it has won 70 of the 80 meetings — there is little question CSU has become its kryptonite on the big stage.
This is the third straight season it has ended UWGB’s conference tournament run. It eliminated the Phoenix in the quarterfinals in 2021 and the semifinals in 2022.
UWGB will play in WNIT
While UWGB’s dream of making the NCAAs is over, the season is not done.
It earned an automatic bid to the WNIT by finishing at the top of the conference standings and will learn its opening-round opponent Monday.
UWGB hosted Minnesota in a WNIT first-round game last season, and there is a solid chance it will host a game again this year.
“This is as good of a team as we have had here in terms of fight,” Borseth said. “I don’t want to say we are the best team we have had for fight, but they are as good as any team we have had. They battled. They went through adversity. They never gave up. They played together. They played hard, they played smart. They did all the things you would want your team to do.
“They were a very fun team to coach. That’s our culture. That’s what Green Bay basketball is all about, and it’s not going away any time soon.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB women's basketball falls to Cleveland State in Horizon title game
