UWGB women can't overcome size disadvantage against Tennessee, but future remains bright

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball team often faces bigger and more athletic teams when it makes the Big Dance.

UWGB has found ways in the past to have success despite the disadvantages, but that wasn’t the case in a 92-63 loss to Tennessee on Saturday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Phoenix did its best to hang around early. It even led by six points in the first quarter and only trailed by a bucket at the end of it.

But the Volunteers flexed their muscles, used their size, changed up their defense and cruised the rest of the afternoon.

They outscored UWGB by 14 points in the second quarter and by 10 in the third. They scored more points than any Phoenix opponent this season and the most since Oakland put up 93 against it in January 2020.

Tennessee is No. 30 in the NET rankings, giving the Phoenix reason to believe it could pull off the upset considering it had beaten two teams in Creighton (No. 24) and Washington State (No. 29) this season that are ranked higher.

But the Volunteers played this game like they were about 25 spots too low and more in the company of fellow SEC member and tournament favorite South Carolina. The same No. 1-ranked team they only lost to by one point in the conference tournament earlier this month, and only after a banked-in buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

Senior forward Rickea Jackson is listed at 6-foot-2 but looks like she is shortchanged by at least an inch.

UWGB had no answers for her after she scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed 9 rebounds while shooting 10-for-14 in just 29 minutes.

Tennessee uses size advantage to beat UWGB

She wasn’t the only one on Tennessee taller than almost anybody on the Phoenix roster.

Fellow 6-2 forward Sara Puckett had 14 points and shot 5-for-9 while 6-1 senior guard Tess Darby had 11 points off the bench and went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.

Senior guard Jewel Spear was the shortest of the bunch and she still is 5-10. She finished with 13 points and made 5 of 8 shots.

“I think this is the biggest, and probably strongest, team we have played all season long,” said UWGB junior guard-forward Maddy Schreiber, who finished with a team-high 11 points. “So, I think kind of coming in we were like, ‘Well, we are a little undersized, but that’s OK.’ It’s about what’s inside, not necessarily what is physically.

“I don’t think coming in we were too scared about that. When we got out there, they are a tough team. They are big girls. They are tough girls. I think it was a little bit challenging when we got out there, but we played with them for a while.”

The Phoenix matched the Volunteers almost shot-for-shot in the first quarter. UWGB was 9-for-15 and Tennessee 10-for-16.

It almost was a perfect start offensively for a team that had to at least be a little concerned with how it would score points against a Tennessee squad with so much size.

But the Volunteers (20-12) shifted to a zone defense in the second quarter, and the Phoenix never could quite adjust during a game-defining run in which the Volunteers scored 16 of the final 18 points of the first half, including the last 11, to take a commanding 44-28 lead at the break.

UWGB (27-7) went scoreless for the final 5:50 and missed its last nine shot attempts, while Tennessee shot 65.4% overall (17-for-26) in the first half and went 5-for-9 from beyond the arc.

It didn’t help that Schreiber and fellow starters Natalie McNeal and Jasmine Kondrakiewicz were all on the bench at times with two personal fouls.

Tennessee stays hot in second half

The Phoenix never was going to quit after halftime, but attempting to overcome a 16-point deficit was too much to ask.

“Our defense really changed the complexion of the game in that second quarter,” Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said. “We had no deflections in the first quarter. I think to finish the game, we finished with about 17. We just upped our activity. I thought we upped our intensity a little bit.

“We stayed within our system. We didn’t change our system too much from first quarter on, but our players were able to find their comfort and be a little bit more aggressive. Make things difficult.”

Any hope for a memorable Phoenix comeback ended when the Volunteers scored 13 of 15 points to take a 67-37 advantage with 5:22 left in the third quarter.

Jackson had a 3-point play to start the spurt and ended it with another one, both times being fouled on a made layup and converting on the free throw.

Tennessee led by as much as 35 in the fourth quarter.

“We knew coming in that Green Bay was a great, efficient offensive team,” Jackson said. “We just knew that we had to stay within ourselves. I feel like we just started wearing them down on the defensive end. We were just so connected on the defensive end, helping each other. Talking. Doing everything, because we knew they were a great, efficient offensive team.”

UWGB future looks bright

If it’s possible to have a little extra disappointment after a loss, that’s how the Phoenix felt.

It made the NCAAs for the first time since 2018, so reaching this point was a big moment for a program that had been used to going dancing almost every year for two decades.

But players weren’t satisfied simply reaching the tournament for the first time in their careers, other than senior guard Natalie Andersen, who previously made it with IUPUI.

They really believed they could do some damage once here. Not just pull off an upset against Tennessee but maybe even a shocker against No. 3 seed North Carolina State in the second round.

“It was pretty sad, not going to lie,” Andersen said about the mood in the locker room afterward. “I loved playing for this team. I loved playing for Coach (Kevin) Borseth here. I’m just sad that it’s all over.”

Andersen was a key piece off the bench this season and will be a tough loss to graduation, but there must be optimism about UWGB being right back at this point next year with an already veteran team having one more year of valuable experience.

The Phoenix has several players who already have played four seasons but still have one additional year of eligibility after the NCAA granted that for players already in college during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

A trio of starters in Cassie Schiltz, McNeal and Kondrakiewicz hold that option.

Combined with the return of Schreiber, standpoint point guard and defensive whiz Bailey Butler and Horizon sixth-person of the year Callie Genke, not to mention the improvement of some of the younger players on the roster, the Phoenix will be loaded.

Borseth also could scour the transfer portal for another veteran to add the way he has the last couple years with McNeal, Andersen and former talents such as Tatum Koenig and Sydney Levy.

“I’m really proud of our team,” Borseth said. “Great year, all things considered. Played against a really good Tennessee team, they are a lot better than their record indicates. Proud of our crew. I thought our crew represented really well.

“It was a great year.”

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB women's basketball has bright future despite loss to Tennessee