UWGB women's basketball in position to win Horizon League with big final month

GREEN BAY – Now the fun really begins.

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball team has put itself in position to win the Horizon League regular-season title for the first time since 2018 despite a roster that has been in flux for two months because of injuries and departures.

But one player goes down with an injury, another one steps up. Rinse and repeat.

UWGB beat IUPUI 76-54 on Monday at the Kress Center, setting up what should be an exciting February before the calendar flips to March Madness.

The Phoenix improved to 10-2 in league play and is tied atop the conference with Cleveland State and Youngstown State with eight games remaining.

Two of the last three games come against the Penguins (Feb. 19) and Vikings (Feb. 23), giving UWGB an opportunity to control its destiny provided it continues to play the way it has against almost every squad in the 11-team conference.

No win is easy, but three of the next five games leading into the showdown at YSU are contests no team with title aspirations can afford to lose.

Detroit (Feb. 3), Wright State (Feb. 12) and Robert Morris (Feb. 17) have gone a combined 14-50 overall and 4-31 in Horizon play.

But there are potentially more difficult games sandwiched between, with back-to-back tilts against Oakland (10-11) and Northern Kentucky (13-8).

“You have got to win, you have got to play well,” UWGB coach Kevin Borseth said. “Our league is good, top to bottom. At any point in time if you don’t do due diligence to your preparation and get ready for every game, come out with a sense of urgency, anything could happen.

“We have won some tight ones and we have had some that maybe weren’t so tight, but I think we’ve played extremely hard and have to keep doing what we are doing. I think we have to get a little bit better at some of the stuff we do, because the second time around people kind of get a feel for you. We have got to make another jump. I don’t know where that is, but we have to take a jump somewhere.”

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UWGB welcomed back sophomore forward Brooklyn Blackburn against IUPUI. It was her first appearance since the team’s first game against the Jaguars on Dec. 3.

But the Phoenix can’t catch a break in the injury department.

Sophomore forward Julia Hartwig has missed the last two games with a lower body injury. Borseth said it doesn’t look “overly promising” for an immediate return for either Hartwig or sophomore starter Maddy Schreiber, who has missed the last two weeks with an upper body ailment.

Hartwig missed the entire summer after undergoing foot surgery but has been a valuable piece for the Phoenix this season. She is averaging 4.8 points and 4.9 rebounds in 15 minutes per game, making four starts in 15 appearances.

But just like other times this season, another player has come to the rescue.

Freshman center-forward Jenna Guyer has played a key role off the bench the last two games, scoring 12 points in 24 minutes against UWM and a career-high 16 points in 15 minutes against IUPUI. The 6-foot-2 Guyer has been nearly perfect from the field while doing it, shooting a combined 13-for-16.

The Phoenix shot 49.2% overall against the Jaguars, with starters Sydney Levy (14 points) and Cassie Schiltz (12) and backup guard Tatum Koenig (10) also scoring in double figures with Guyer.

“I mean, I think that’s what our program is about,” Schiltz said. “Next man up. So, when (Hartwig) goes down, Jenna gets all the reps in practice. When it’s her time, she came up big the past few games. It’s just learning to play with everyone, and we have been having to do that a lot more lately. We just have a mentality that whoever is on the court, we are going to work together.

“It’s been going good so far.”

It might be going even better than good.

UWGB is 17-4 and could have the most wins in a season since going 29-4 in 2017-18. It had 22 victories the following season, but a string of 20 consecutive years with 20 or more wins ended in 2019-20 and the Phoenix hasn’t reached that total again.

A new streak is all but a lock, but the Phoenix has much bigger goals than just 20 wins.

“You have got to get stronger and stronger as you watch your opponent get weaker and weaker,” Borseth said. “It’s not how much talent you have, it’s how much you show. (Former college football coach) Fred Akers said that many years ago.”

Celebrating National Girls & Women in Sports Day

The 37th annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day is Wednesday, which in part celebrates breaking gender stereotypes in sports.

“It means a lot to have people to look up to and to celebrate with,” said Schiltz, who was a standout athlete in volleyball, basketball and softball while at Luxemburg-Casco. “It means a lot to have my teammates and coaches and everyone around us.”

Borseth has been coaching women’s basketball even longer than the day has been observed. He has seen plenty of good progress in four decades.

“I started in ’82, so really six years after girls basketball back then started,” said Borseth, who began his head coaching career at Gogebic Community College in Ironwood, Michigan. “I’ve been with the women all the way through. I’ve seen the growth in the game, and the growth is absolutely a thousand-fold. If you go out and watch the opportunities these young ladies have now in all sports, not just basketball but in volleyball, in softball, they are tough. They work hard. They work just as hard as the guys do. They are fun to coach. They take the game seriously. They prepare themselves.

“I’m proud to say I was part of that. I was on the ground floor of girls basketball. It has been a long time for me.”

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB women's basketball in position to win Horizon League title