UWGB women rout Wright State in Horizon League title game, clinch bid to NCAA tournament

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women's basketball team didn’t have the player of the year in the Horizon League this season. It also didn’t have the coach of the year.

But it sure does have the best team.

UWGB beat Wright State University 62-44 in the Horizon League title game Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

It’s the fourth straight season the Phoenix is going dancing and the ninth time in the last 10. It will find out its first-round opponent and the location of its game Monday.

UWGB enters the tournament 29-3, which is tied for the most wins in a single season under coach Kevin Borseth. His squad also won 29 games in 2006-07 and 2012-13.

The Phoenix’s two seniors made sure their team didn’t have to worry about getting an at-large bid with their performances against Wright State.

Allie LeClaire had a game-high 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds, putting the exclamation point on a standout tournament that earned her MVP honors. LeClaire averaged 20.3 points in three games.

Jessica Lindstrom added 12 points and 14 rebounds for her 41st career double-double.

“We say it every year, it just gets sweeter and sweeter,” LeClaire said. “We work so hard for this. A lot of people don’t see that. They think it might be easy, but it’s so hard.

“Kudos to our team for putting in the work this summer and this year to get us to this moment.”

The Phoenix shot only 35.4 percent (23-for-65) overall and 28.6 percent (6-for-21) from 3-point range, but its third win over Wright State was by far the most lopsided after winning by seven points each in both regular-season showdowns.

“We played Wright State a couple times before, and we realized getting off to a fast start is important,” Borseth said. “As good as you might think our defense is, they scored 42 points on us in the first half on our floor.

“We knew we had to come out in a hurry. Luckily, we were able to sustain it the whole game.”

UWGB led for 38 minutes, 1 second and was in control after finishing the first quarter on a 7-0 run that put it up 18-8. Except for 22 seconds early in the second quarter, the Phoenix led by double figures the rest of the way.

It was up 38-21 at the half after holding WSU scoreless for the final 7:02 of the second quarter, which included nine straight missed shots.

While the Phoenix didn’t shoot that well, it didn’t have to because of its top-ranked defense.

It held the Raiders to 27.8 percent shooting (15-for-54) overall and just 1-for-13 from long range.

WSU senior guard Chelsea Welch, who was the Horizon player of the year, had 13 points but missed 13 of her 15 shots and was held to two points in the second half.  

“In terms of competitive desire, competitive quickness, these kids are probably as good of a team as I’ve ever had in that regard,” Borseth said. “You can see a lot of that on that court. They just really get after things, and they get after it in a hurry because they have got some athleticism to do it.

“Just a strong will. Every game you go into as a coach you are nervous. But deep down you have got kids like this playing for you, you come to realize, enjoy it. When they are here, they make things happen.”

LeClaire said afterward that every year her team says they want to win a game in the NCAA tournament but that it just hasn’t happened yet. She hopes this is the year to make a run.

UWGB has not advanced to the second round of the NCAAs since 2012, which was one year after making the program’s first Sweet 16.

ESPN’s Charlie Crème had the Phoenix receiving a No. 7 seed and playing No. 10 Syracuse in the first round in his latest bracketology Tuesday afternoon.

“I feel like our team is really confident,” Lindstrom said. “We have a lot of confident people. That’s actually key, because I feel like once you get to the big stage like that, you get kind of nervous.

“I don’t foresee a problem with that.”

WRIGHT ST. (23-10)

Smith 6-8 2-3 14, Simmons 1-5 0-2 2, Taylor 2-6 0-0 5, Vogelpohl 2-10 0-0 4, Welch 2-15 9-11 13, Adderton 0-0 0-0 0, Evans 0-0 0-0 0, Sumpter 1-4 1-1 3, Frierson 1-3 1-2 3, Beck 0-0 0-0 0, Clodfelter 0-1 0-0 0, Lloyd 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 15-54 13-19 44.

UW-GREEN BAY (29-3)

Lindstrom 5-14 1-1 12, Murphy 2-6 2-2 6, Hibner 2-7 3-4 8, LeClaire 8-18 4-6 24, Wellnitz 2-7 0-0 4, Wolf 2-5 0-0 4, Wolf 1-3 0-0 2, James 1-3 0-0 2, Pingel 0-0 0-0 0, Robson 0-1 0-0 0, Wurtz 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 23-65 10-13 62.

3-Point Goals—Wright St. 1-13 (Simmons 0-3, Taylor 1-4, Vogelpohl 0-2, Welch 0-3, Lloyd 0-1), UWGB  6-21 (Lindstrom 1-6, Hibner 1-2, LeClaire 4-10, Wellnitz 0-1, Robson 0-1, Wurtz 0-1). Assists—Wright St. 7 (Simmons 2), UWGB 15 (Wellnitz 8). Fouled Out—Wright St. Vogelpohl, Rebounds—Wright St. 34 (Frierson 8), UWGB 49 (Lindstrom 14). Total Fouls—Wright St. 16, UWGB 17. Technical Fouls—None.