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Ritchie, Phoenix defeat Spartans

WICHITA, KAN. — Adrian Ritchie scored 20 points off the bench, Julie Wojta added 18 and UW-Green Bay advanced to the NCAA women’s tournament’s regional semifinals for the first time with a 65-56 victory over Michigan State here Tuesday night.

Horizon League champion Green Bay (34-1) extended its winning streak to 25 games overall and its record against Big Ten Conference teams to 4-0 this season.

The Phoenix are headed to Dallas for the regional semifinals against Baylor.

Poor shooting plagued fourth-seeded Michigan State, which shot 37.3 percent from the field and committed 25 turnovers. Kalisha Keane led the Spartans (27-6) with 20 points but also had seven turnovers.

Green Bay routinely pounded overmatched conference teams while rolling up its glossy record, but received only a No. 5 seed in the tournament because of its strength of schedule—the Phoenix played only four opponents ranked in the top 100 of the RPI during the regular season.

But the Phoenix have shown in two NCAA tournament games that they can win close games—beating Arkan-sas-Little Rock by four points in the first round before hanging on after building a 14-point lead against Michigan State.

Green Bay led by 12 at halftime before the Spartans rallied to twice pull within one point. Keane’s basket with 11:25 left got Michigan State within 41-40, but the Spartans weren’t able to take the lead.

The Phoenix led 48-46 with 7 minutes left, then scored seven straight points, a run that included a three-pointer and another basket by Celeste Hoewisch, the Horizon League’s co-player of the year with teammate Kayla Tetschlag.

Green Bay extended its lead to 60-50 on a free throw by Sarah Eichler with 1:13 left, and held on despite shaky late free-throw shooting, going 5 of 10 from the line in the final 55.3 seconds. Michigan State got within 60-56 on a three-pointer by Keane with 42.7 seconds left but had two subsequent turnovers.

The Phoenix received offensive contributions from all over the floor. Ritchie finished 4 of 5 from three-point range, Hoewisch scored 14 points and Tetschlag added 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Green Bay’s quickness—the Phoenix recorded 13 steals—helped overcome a 40-25 rebounding deficit against the taller Spartans.

Green Bay held Michigan State without a field goal for almost 9½ minutes in the first half and led 35-23 at halftime. The Spartans shot 33.3 percent from the field and had 15 turnovers in posting their third lowest-scoring half of the season.

The Phoenix had four steals in the first 4½ minutes and seven for the half, continually stepping in front of Michigan State passes.

UW-GREEN BAY 65, MICHIGAN STATE 56

Green Bay (65)—Hoewisch 5-10 3-6 14, Quilling 0-2 0-0 0, Wojta 7-10 4-5 18, Tetschlag 2-9 6-6 10, Eichler 1-3 1-2 3, Ritchie 6-10 4-6 20, Bauer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-44 18-25 65.

Michigan State (56)—Washington 4-6 1-3 9, B. Thomas 4-13 2-2 10, Johnson 4-13 0-0 8, Keane 7-16 3-4 20, Alton 3-9 0-0 9, J. Thomas 0-1 0-0 0, Poole 0-0 0-0 0, Pickrel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-59 6-9 56.

UW-Green Bay 35 30—65

Michigan State 23 33—56

Three-point goals—Green Bay 5-8 (Ritchie 4-5, Hoewisch 1-2, Tetschlag 0-1), Michigan State 6-18 (Keane 3-7, Alton 3-9, B. Thomas 0-1, Johnson 0-1). Fouled out—Washington. Rebounds—Green Bay 25 (Tetschlag 12), Michigan State 40 (Johnson 11). Assists—Green Bay 14 (Tetschlag 4), Michigan State 14 (B. Thomas 4). Total Fouls—Green Bay 15, Michigan State 22.

Attendance—4,242.