27-win season ends as Phoenix can’t stick with Volunteers
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball team played in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years.
It must wait at least another year for its first win in the Big Dance since 2012.
UWGB lost 92-63 to Tennessee on Saturday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The No. 11 seed Phoenix was hoping for an upset against the No. 6 Volunteers, especially considering the way it played this season in wins against two of the better teams in the nation in Creighton and Washington State.
But this one wasn’t close after the first quarter.
Volunteers standout forward Rickea Jackson lived up to her All-American status, finishing with 26 points and 9 rebounds. She was one of four Tennessee players to finish in double figures along with junior forward Sara Puckett (14 points) and senior guards Jewel Spear (13) and Tess Darby (11).
The Phoenix was led by junior guardforward Maddy Schreiber, who had 13 points in 26 minutes.
Tennessee shot 58.3% (35-for-60), while UWGB shot 37.9% (25-for-66).
Tennessee’s second quarter too much for UWGB
The Phoenix enjoyed a hot shooting start, hitting 9 of 15 shots in the first quarter. The only problem is Tennessee was even better, shooting 10-for-16 and leading 23-21 after 10 minutes.
Everything fell apart for UWGB in the second quarter, especially with Schreiber and fellow starters Natalie McNeal and Jasmine Kondrakiewicz all limited with two personal fouls.
Senior guard Natalie Andersen hit a 3-pointer with 7 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the first half to get UWGB to within 28-26, but it was all Tennessee the rest of the way.
The Volunteers scored 16 of the final 18 points of the half, including the last 11, to take a commanding 44-28 lead at the break.
UWGB went scoreless for the final 5:50 and missed its last nine shot attempts.
Tennessee shot 65.4% overall (17for-26) in the first half and went 5-for-9 from beyond the arc.
Tennessee puts away game after halftime
Any hope for a 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.
Darby hit a 3-pointer a short time later to give Tennessee its biggest lead of the game at 26 points. It eventually led by as much as 35 in the fourth quarter.
The Volunteers scored 21 or more points in each of the four quarters. It was the first time this season UWGB allowed an opponent to score 90 or more points after entering ranked No. 33 in the nation in scoring defense at 57.1 points per game.
UWGB finishes the season 27-7. It’s the third straight year it had 20 or more wins.