BY Greg Bates
SPORTS EDITOR
GREEN BAY – During an 11-game winning streak, the Green Bay women’s basketball team was on its A
game.
It was hitting critical shots, moving the ball well, keeping turnovers low and outscoring its opponents on
average by 22.6 points per game.
On Friday night, the Phoenix had a rough start against Youngstown State. Down 11 after one quarter,
Green Bay fought back. The two teams ended up tied on seven occasions.
But a combination of Green Bay missing shots and turning the ball over in key situations down the
stretch and Youngstown State hitting its shots, the Penguins came away with a 63-60 in a pivotal
Horizon League game at the Kress Events Center.
The Penguins came up big in the first and fourth quarters, outscoring the Phoenix 34-21 in those two 10-
minute stretches.
“You’ve got to make shots; they made shots and we didn’t, give them credit,” Green Bay coach Kevin
Borseth said. “They made the shots when they had to. We had a wide open 3, we passed it. We had an
open 2, we passed it. And a layup, we missed it, then we missed a couple free throws. … Kids battled.
We’ve just got to make sure we rebound and don’t let one (possession) become two, that’s the big thing
for us.”
Green Bay and Youngstown State are now tied for second place in conference, one game back of
Cleveland State (8-1 Horizon).
In a tight game late, Green Bay (14-4, 7-2 Horizon) got a 3-pointer from Jasmine Kondrakiewicz to give
her team a 59-58 lead with 2:33 remaining. Youngstown State (13-5, 7-2) answered with a 3 of its own.
Phoenix guard Callie Genke went to the free throw line with 1:52 remaining and converted on one of
two shots.
Still down one, Green Bay had the ball with 15.1 seconds left. Bailey Butler missed a runner in the lane,
but the Phoenix tracked down the loose ball.
After a timeout with 5.8 seconds on the clock, Green Bay committed a turnover on the inbounds pass. A
series of fouls led to Youngstown State getting to the free throw line where Malia Magestro hit one of
two shots.
Green Bay grabbed the defensive rebound with 3.9 seconds and called a timeout. Borseth drew up his
best inbound play where Butler caught a pass and dribbled baseline toward the basket, but she stepped
on the end line for another turnover.
Youngstown State converted another free throw to go up by three points. A desperation heave from
beyond half court by Genke fell short at the buzzer.
“We had two good chances at the end — very physical,” Borseth said. “Last two plays that we threw to
(try and) tie the game up were both very physical. They were very physical plays, we didn’t make them.”
Asked postgame if the loss maybe humbles his team after running off 11 straight victories, Borseth
offered his thoughts.
“I’m glad that streak thing is over with so I can quit hearing about that, for one,” Borseth said. “And two,
no, losing is not good. Does it help you? Sure. You’re going to learn from it, our kids are going to get
hungry. But you learned a lot of lessons from that.
“Obviously, you’d rather lose early in the year than you would late in the year. But we’re trying to win a
conference championship, and in order to do that you’ve got to be able to play over the top of those
things throughout the entire year. We work hard to try and be successful every game. I thought our kids
played really well.”
Green Bay scored just three baskets in the first eight minutes of the game and trailed 16-7. The Phoenix
chipped away at its deficit with Sydney Levy, Cassie Schiltz and Tatum Koenig all hitting 3-pointers. The
home team outscored Youngstown State 25-17 to head into overtime down, 33-32.
Green Bay took its first lead at 39-38 as Bailey Butler drained a 3-pointer a few minutes into the third
quarter. The Phoenix were up 50-49 going into the final quarter. However, Green Bay led just once in
the last 10 minutes and scored just 10 points in that frame.
“We didn’t move the ball very well, I didn’t think. I thought they pressured us,” Borseth said. “It’s going
to be more difficult on Sunday. If you think these guys pressure, wait until you see Sunday. Robert
Morris pressures beyond belief. I mean, beyond belief. They’re by and far the best defensive team in our
league.”
The Phoenix — which were without starter Maddy Schreiber, who has an upper body injury and will be
out a few weeks, according to Borseth — had a pair of double-digit scorers in Schiltz and Kondrakiewicz
with 15 points apiece. Butler had team highs in rebounds and assists at six.
Youngstown State, which shot 46.3% from the field (25-for-54), had four players in double figures led by
Lilly Ritz with 14 points; the 6-foot-1 forward also had seven rebounds.
“That big kid was too much for us,” Borseth said. “She was the difference, the big kid. Without the big
kid, she took a lot of things away from us. That was tough for us to run things. We’re going to learn from
that. Next time we play them, we’ll have something that big kid’s going to have to defend.”
Green Bay will have its second of a four-game homestand on Sunday at 1 p.m. when Robert Morris
comes to town. The Colonials are 8-10 overall and 2-7 in conference play.
The Phoenix will look to rebound from their first loss since Dec. 1.
“It was a good run, obviously,” Borseth said. “But you’ve got to start a new one.”