by By: Stephen Wagner
WATCH HORIZON LEAGUE & GREEN BAY’S MEDIA EVENT
GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – For the eighth consecutive season, the Green Bay women’s basketball team will enter the season as the Horizon League preseason favorite, as announced by the league office during its media day event on Wednesday. Receiving individual recognition for the Phoenix was junior Tesha Buck (First-Team All-Horizon League/Mdewakanton Sioux), junior Mehryn Kraker (First-Team All-Horizon League) and senior newcomer Ashley Luke (Second-Team All-Horizon League).
Green Bay has been tabbed as the league favorite for eight-straight seasons in the Horizon League preseason poll, making them no stranger to the high expectations for the program. Head coach Kevin Borseth’s Green Bay team received 25 of the 31 first-place votes in the poll, accumulating 302 points to lead the nearest school by more than 50 points.
The Phoenix recently garnered its 17th-straight regular season conference championship after going 28-5 and 15-1 in league play, and if the preseason poll is any indication of things to come, Green Bay is poised to make it 18 straight.
After receiving no players on the First-Team All-Horizon League preseason poll last season, Green Bay has placed two players on first team this season. Buck, a member of Second-Team All-Horizon League and the Horizon League tournament MVP last year, averaged 11.6 points and 4.8 rebounds for the Phoenix last season. Kraker, also a member of the Second-Team All-Horizon League in 2014-15, was the leading scorer for Green Bay last year and averaged 12.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
With the voting being conducted last week, Ashley Luke has been selected to the Second-Team All-Horizon League. Luke, a transfer from Western Illinois, was voted the 2014-15 Summit League Player of the Year and landed on the First Team All-Summit League in her last two seasons. Unfortunately, the women’s basketball program announced yesterday that Luke suffered a season-ending injury and will miss the 2015-16 season.
The Phoenix opened up its exhibition season with an 80-25 victory over Minnesota-Duluth last Saturday and will play its final tune-up game this Thursday (Nov. 5) at home against St. Norbert at 7 p.m.
Team Rankings
Rank Team Points (1st)
1 Green Bay 302 (25)
2 Wright State 250 (4)
3 UIC 210 (1)
4 Youngstown State 181
5 Oakland 162
6 Cleveland State 161 (1)
7 Detroit 157
8 Northern Kentucky 134
9 Milwaukee 71
10 Valparaiso 70
All-League First Team
Player School Year
Ruvanna Campbell UIC Senior (Preseason Player of the Year)
Kim Demmings Wright State Senior
Mehryn Kraker Green Bay Junior
Rosanna Reynolds Detroit Junior
Tesha Buck Green Bay Junior
All-League Second Team
Player School Year
Dani Franklin Valparaiso Sophomore
Olivia Nash Oakland Senior
Terri Bender UIC Senior
Ashley Luke Green Bay Senior
Elena Popkey Oakland Senior
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