by By: Joey Daniels (@GBPhoenixWBB)
GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – Without much resistance throughout the night, the Green Bay women’s basketball team throttled visiting Valparaiso 87-45 on Thursday night at the Kress Center as head coach Kevin Borseth registered his 600th career coaching victory.
Borseth becomes just the 51st coach in the history of NCAA women’s basketball to reach the 600 win milestone. The Horizon League’s all-time winningest coach can also enjoy the fact that his Phoenix is now just one win away from clinching its 17th-straight Horizon League regular season championship.
Green Bay (21-4, 11-1 HL) enjoyed its biggest win of the season, at least in terms of victory margin. The 42-point thrashing is the largest the Phoenix has won any game this season, while the 45 points it scored in the first half was also a season high.
Led by Tesha Buck’s (Mdewakanton Sioux) 16 points, five total players reached double figures for Green Bay, with four of those players coming off the bench. Ellen Edison tied her season-high with 14 points, while Jessica Lindstrom enjoyed a 12 point showing and tallied a career-high four steals.
Lexi Weitzer and Allie LeClaire were the other two players to finish in double figures, totaling 10 and 11 points respectively. Mariah Monke notched nine points and the team’s leading scorer Mehryn Kraker totaled six points as did Kaili Lukan.
It was a four point game with just over 13 minutes left in the first half, but that’s when the Phoenix went on its longest run of the season by scoring 23 straight points and keeping Valparaiso (6-18, 2-9 HL) off the scoreboard for over 10 minutes. Green Bay turned a close 13-9 game into a 36-9 blowout before the half, leading to its largest halftime lead of the season at 45-15.
The Crusaders finished just 4-for-22 (18.2 percent) from 3-point land but was 0-for-13 in the first half from long range. Green Bay on the other hand went 12-for-25 (48 percent) from beyond the arc and scored 35 points off of turnovers, its second-highest total this season.
Green Bay’s bench finished with 50 points, outscoring Valparaiso’s entire team on the night. The Phoenix did lead by as many as 47 points at one time, by far its largest lead of the season (previous was 33 at home versus Duquesne).
The Phoenix will look to secure yet another Horizon League Championship and home court throughout the league tournament when it hosts UIC on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Kress Center. That contest will serve as the program’s annual PinkZone game, with jersey auctions, raffles and various promotions and activities scheduled to raise money and awareness for breast cancer and Ribbon of Hope.
