'There is a lot of pressure on us always': Veteran UWGB women's team shooting for first NCAA appearance since 2018

GREEN BAY – If at first you don’t succeed, try again.

And again. And then again.

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball team is hoping to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018. To do so, it must finally figure out a way to win two games at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis.

The venue has not been overly kind to the Phoenix since the Horizon League moved the semifinal and championship rounds of its tournament from Detroit to Indianapolis in 2020.

UWGB is 3-3 in tournament play at Farmers Coliseum, and some of its most difficult moments have come there.

It lost in the title game to IUPUI in 2020 in one of the worst offensive performances in program history.

The 37 points it scored that day were the second-fewest by the Phoenix since it moved to DI in 1987.

UWGB made the title game again in 2022 but lost to Cleveland State by 27 points. The Phoenix finished with 42 points and shot just 29.3%.

It had another opportunity to get to the Big Dance last season. But it again lost to the Vikings 73-61 in the title game, this time done in by a 3-for-18 shooting performance in the third quarter.

UWGB is shooting a combined 35.2% (124-for-352) in the six tournament games at Farmers Coliseum, including 23.6% from 3-point range (33-for-140).

It has shot 35.1% or lower in four of the contests, with the best performance coming when it shot 41.4% in a win over Purdue Fort Wayne in the semifinals last season.

Longtime UWGB coach Kevin Borseth sometimes can break down a game in the simplest of terms, often saying this is the time of year when a team needs to play well.

If you do, you move on. If you don’t, you go home.

UWGB hasn’t played well enough to break through to the NCAAs in recent seasons, but this finally could be the year.

If not now, when?

The Phoenix has a veteran team led by one of the winningest coaches in women’s basketball history.

All five starters have played at least three seasons at the collegiate level. They have two key veteran reserves in junior guard and Horizon League co-sixth person of the year Callie Genke along with graduate senior guard Natalie Andersen.

The last four teams standing usually represent the best in the Horizon, so games aren’t going to be quite as lopsided as UWGB’s 37-point quarterfinal win over Youngstown State on Thursday.

It must make enough shots to win not just one game in Indianapolis, but two.

The players understand what is at stake.

“Yeah, there is a lot of pressure on us always,” said junior guard-forward Maddy Schreiber, who has started all 31 games this season and is averaging 12.3 points and 4 rebounds. “But we work together, we come together, I think that’s a big thing. We are always together, and whatever happens, happens. We are doing it together.”

UWGB (25-6) will play PFW (21-11) in a semifinal at 1:30 p.m. Monday, and if it wins, there is a good chance it will face CSU in the title game.

The Vikings beat the Phoenix by one game for the regular-season title and has knocked UWGB out of the tournament each of the last three years.

The teams rank first and second in scoring offense and scoring defense, with UWGB second in offense (74.9 ppg) and first in defense (57.7 ppg) while CSU is first in offense (75.3 ppg) and second in defense (61.2 ppg).

Both also are 1-2 in shooting percentage, opponent shooting percentage and 3-point percentage.

UWGB first must focus on a PFW team it has defeated twice this season and is 11-0 against all-time.

The Mastodons have two players averaging double figures in senior guard Amellia Bromenschenkel (13.3 ppg) and senior guard Shayla Sellers (11.3 ppg).

The duo scored 17 points and shot 5-for-18 in the last meeting against UWGB on Feb. 28, a game the Phoenix won 70-61.

“We are hungry for more,” Schreiber said. “We have fallen short the past couple years, and we know what we are capable of. I think that’s really been pushing us and pushing us to get better this year.

“We are not satisfied. … We want to go in and achieve our goals.”

Borseth was asked whether he felt his players have put more pressure on themselves in recent years once they reach this now-or-never point.

“I don’t know,” he said. “You know, it’s my job to get them into rhythm. We weren’t in rhythm when we played last Saturday (in a loss to UW-Milwaukee), and it was partially because I didn’t get them into rhythm.

“If these guys are in rhythm, they can really go. Have got to find out what makes them tick for different games. Everybody has got different modes to play against us. We have to be able to make those adjustments in game scenarios and be ready for them when they hit us. If we are, and we feel comfortable, we can score. If we can score, we can win.”

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB women hope to make NCAA Tournament for first time since 2018