By: Ryan Hartwig (@RyanHartwig)
GreenBayPhoenix.com
GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Lockdown defense has always been a staple of
the Green Bay women's basketball program, dating back to the early days under
inaugural head coach Carol Hammerle. Forty years later the tradition is as
strong as ever, as the 2012-13 version of the Phoenix (12-2, 2-0 Horizon
League) led by Kevin Borseth currently ranks second among 343 NCAA
Division I teams in scoring defense, giving up just 46.9 points per game.
"We're stingy," said
Borseth, who is in the first year of his second stint at Green Bay. "The kids
play hard. They play really hard and they help each other and they're in the
right spot at the right time guarding the ball. I think (the success) is a
culmination of the years of drilling that they've had. I think we're just
reinforcing it now that this year has come around and they're doing a pretty
good job with it."
Green Bay has won
seven straight contests heading into the second week of its Horizon League
schedule, a stretch in which the Phoenix has allowed just 40.0 points per game
while holding its opponents to 29.1 percent shooting. Green Bay has held
all seven opponents to 46 points or less during the streak, including three
totals in the 30s.
To watch a video
feature on Green Bay's recent defensive success, click here.
Last week the
Phoenix shut down two of the league's top scorers in Detroit's Shareta Brown
and Wright State's Kim Demmings, holding them to a combined 11 points in a pair
of home victories. Brown, who entered the contest ranked second in the nation
in scoring (26.0 points per game) managed just eight points on 2-of-4 shooting,
while Demmings, the conference's Preseason Player of the Year, was held to a
career-low three points on 1-of-13 shooting. Demmings, who was coming off a
35-point performance in the league opener at Milwaukee, had previously reached
double-figures in 37 consecutive games.
The 62-31
win over Detroit on Jan. 8 represented the second-lowest point total
surrendered in the last 29 seasons for Green Bay, and the lowest since holding
Northern Arizona to 27 during the 2007-08 campaign. The Phoenix has held 10 of
its 14 opponents this season under 50 points, and four under 40 points.
Aiding Green Bay's defensive success in 2012-13 has been
the team's ability to create turnovers. The Phoenix, which ranks 10th in the
country in turnover margin (+7.14), has forced at least 17 turnovers in every
game this season. Senior Adrian Ritchie
(De Pere, Wis.) leads the Horizon League with 44 steals (3.1 per game), a total
that includes a career-high seven in the win over Detroit.
The Phoenix will look to continue its defensive dominance
this week as it opens a four-game Horizon League road trip at Cleveland State
on Thursday at 6 p.m.
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