By Tori Wittenbrock
Associate Sports Editor
GREEN BAY – As UW-Green Bay Women’s Basketball prepares to enter their 2023 season with their first preseason match on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at home, they are also avidly awaiting another big game early on this season — their Wednesday, Nov. 1, game against Northern Michigan University.
The Phoenix are thrilled to host the Upper Michigan team during their annual Yooper Night themed game for fans.
UW-Green Bay held its first annual Yooper Night during the 2019-20 season, but with no fan attendance for games at the Kress during the Covid-19 pandemic 2020-21 season, the team was forced to disrupt their hopes for theme nights. However, Yooper Night made its reprisal on the schedule last season, and will continue to garner support from fans this year as well.
Head Coach Kevin Borseth has a personal connection to Yooper Night and said that he hopes a lot of fellow Yoopers in the Green Bay area are able to make their way out to the Kress to support the team that night.
“I’m a Yooper and there are a lot of us living in the Green Bay area. The ultimate goal is to drag a lot of people out on a Wednesday night for some fun and some good basketball,” said Borseth.
“We’ve had another night in the past when we played an Upper Michigan team. There were flannels and some corny advertising, but I think the fans really enjoyed it.”
The night will include a lot of thematic ‘Yooper’ elements, for fans and for the team to encourage people to show up for the game and be a part of a fun theme night.
“We will be playing Northern Michigan University (NMU), which is a U.P. school. There will be a manufacturer out of Iron Mountain supplying Kromer caps with the insignia on the side for the team. It’s just kind of an opportunity for everyone to come out and wave the Yooper flag,” said Borseth.
Aside from the fun aspects of attending Yooper Night, Borseth said that he is most looking forward to seeing fans in the stands from the Green Bay community as they come out to support women’s basketball in the early stages of their season.
“It means a lot to support the game of women’s basketball. It’s really been growing by leaps and bounds over the last ten years. Our area is really rich in talent and it’s just great to be appreciated with a good fan base,” said Borseth.
“We have a good squad this year. It’s going to be a really fun type of basketball to watch. The people that support us religiously will continue to enjoy it and those who haven’t are going to like it. They can come out and get a beer on tap at the game and just have a good night. It should be fun.”
After the Phoenix host NMU at home on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Kress, they will head to Mexico for the Cancun Challenge tournament before heading back to Wisconsin to begin their regular season against UW-Milwaukee on Nov. 30.