Coach Kevin Borseth says 'pretty resilient' UWGB women's basketball team won't get rattled by upset loss
GREEN BAY – The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball team won its first eight Horizon League games this season for the first time since starting 10-0 in 2016-17.
It’s always Oakland that ruins the fun.
The Golden Grizzlies ended both streaks, including beating the Phoenix 83-81 on Sunday at the Athletics Center O’rena in Rochester, Michigan, in a game UWGB looked to have wrapped up before things fell apart.
The focus should have been on how the Phoenix rallied from a nine-point deficit with 2 minutes, 9 seconds remaining in the third quarter to lead by six points with just 45 seconds left.
Instead, it was on the missed chances that turned a win into a loss. Notably, going 0-for-6 from the line in the final 41 seconds while Oakland chipped away at the lead before a game-winning shot from Brooke Quarles-Daniels with 1.4 seconds left.
Quarles-Daniels finished with 27 points and shot 11-for-14, enjoying success against what is usually a stifling Phoenix defense.
UWGB had limited each of its previous three opponents to 48 or fewer points and ranks 55th out of 348 Division I teams in the nation in allowing 58 points per game.
But Oakland (8-9 overall, 4-5 Horizon) shot 50.9% overall and scored the most points against a Phoenix team since the Grizzlies put up 93 in January 2020.
Perhaps with a younger team there would be concern how an upset loss like the one to Oakland might impact them the next couple of games.
This Phoenix group likely won’t get rattled at all.
“I believe so, yeah,” UWGB coach Kevin Borseth said. “These kids work hard. It was a tough game. We were out of the game, came back and didn’t close it out in the end. But our kids are pretty resilient."
The loss to Oakland puts UWGB in a first-place tie in the Horizon with Cleveland State at 8-1 entering a 6 p.m. game at IUPUI on Wednesday.
The Phoenix and Vikings meet for the second time this season Feb. 3 in Cleveland after UWGB beat CSU by 13 at the Kress Center in December.
As much as a regular-season conference championship means to the program, that’s not the ultimate goal.
UWGB hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2018, and the only way to likely punch its ticket to the Big Dance is to win the Horizon tournament in March.
Since the semifinal and championship games are at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis, there isn’t that much of an advantage between being the No. 1 seed or the No. 2 seed considering UWGB won’t get to play in front of a passionate home crowd the way it used to when it earned the top seed.
“You want to win your conference championship, that goes without saying, because everyone is working to do that and that’s a feather in your cap to do it,” said Borseth, who in his 21st overall season with the Phoenix has led it to 16 conference championships. “But at the end of the day, the only way we are getting into (the NCAAs) right now with that loss to (Oakland) particularly, is now we have to win our conference tournament.
“We have always known that in advance. You can be the seventh seed and win it, so it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference.”
UWGB is missing key player in Callie Genke
The Phoenix is dealing with bumps and bruises like many teams this time of year, but it has been without an important piece in recent days with the absence of junior guard Callie Genke.
The former Freedom standout has missed the past two contests with an upper body injury and played only a combined 18 minutes the previous two games she was available.
Genke has been a big weapon in a reserve role after starting 18 games last season.
She is averaging a career-high 7.9 points and shooting 46.7% overall.
Borseth was hoping the 6-foot Genke could help fill some of the void left by the graduation of former guard Sydney Levy, who many times last season would give UWGB instant offense on her way to 1,000 career points.
Genke has done just that when healthy.
“Every bit of it,” Borseth said. “I don’t think anybody is surprised what Callie is doing. She has a little bit of everything. Great post-up player. Great defensively.
“She is as good of a defender as we have. Callie is a really good player, and the best part of it is she is just a really great teammate. Fun to coach. A phenomenal person and a great teammate.”
Borseth was unsure what Genke’s status will be for IUPUI or against Wright State on Sunday at the Kress.
UWGB was hit hard by injuries throughout last season but has been relatively fortunate so far in 2023-24.
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The team has started the same five of junior guard-forward Maddy Schreiber, junior guards Natalie McNeal, Cassie Schiltz and Bailey Butler and junior forward Jasmine Kondrakiewicz in each of the first 19 games, while graduate transfer Natalie Andersen has appeared in every contest off the bench after starting all 30 games for IUPUI last season.
“We have to wait and see what our roster looks like,” Borseth said. “We had some tweaks the other day and we are waiting for Callie to come back. … We miss anybody who doesn’t have the opportunity to play.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB women's basketball team moves on after upset loss to Oakland
