UWGB women's basketball aims for good start in Horizon League with early showdown

GREEN BAY – If it were up to longtime University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball coach Kevin Borseth, his team wouldn’t be opening Horizon League play Thursday with a showdown at rival UW-Milwaukee.

Starting with five nonconference games, playing two league contests and returning to nonconference for four games isn’t the way he’d draw it up.

“It’s, yeah, I have to be careful here,” Borseth said. “I’d rather not play conference games in early December.”

The good news for Borseth is that it appears the Horizon is planning next season to move the two early conference games to late December.

It likely will require teams play three games instead of two during some weeks to get in its 20 conference dates.

“They are struggling to find how to fit all those games in a shorter span,” Borseth said. “It’s not really good for athletes to play three games in five days or six days, but that’s kind of what it’s going to be moving forward.”

The Phoenix (3-2) enters its game against the Panthers after going 1-1 at the St. Pete’s Showcase in St. Petersburg, Florida, over Thanksgiving weekend.

It led a good Florida squad by four points entering the fourth quarter Thursday but shot just 3-for-11 overall and 2-for-8 in the final 10 minutes in a 61-52 loss.

UWGB bounced back with a 56-46 win over Northeastern the following day before shifting focus to UWM (2-4) and a game at IUPUI (3-3) on Saturday.

The Phoenix split its season series against both teams last season, although the Jaguars aren’t expected to be near as good after they went 18-2 in league play and made it to the NCAA tournament.

UWGB is 54-16 all-time against the Panthers, although UWM has won four of the last six meetings.

Still, the Panthers have lost some serious firepower to graduation with the departures of guards Miquela Santoro, McKaela Schmelzer and Sydney Staver. The trio averaged a combined 23.8 points.

The Phoenix also doesn’t have to face four-time Horizon player of the year and WNBA draft pick Macee Williams when it plays IUPUI.

It would be nice for UWGB to get off to a good start in league play. But it’s not as crucial as it was when there used to be fewer conference games and the regular-season winner earned the right to host the semifinals and championship of the Horizon League tournament instead of it being at a neutral site.

“If you win two games, it’s a good start,” Borseth said. “It’s good to go out and compete every game. Win or lose, it doesn’t mean the season stops there. The big goal at the end of the year is to compete for a conference championship and get into the NCAA tournament at the end of the day.

“Our vehicle right now is going to be through that conference tournament (and the automatic bid). We have got to improve as time goes on. Certainly, getting off on a good foot would be more beneficial, but it won’t be the end-all if we win or lose.”

Sydney Levy, rest of bench step up

UWGB has gone with the same starting lineup of Hailey Oskey, Cassie Schiltz, Bailey Butler, Maddy Schreiber and Brooklyn Blackburn the first five games, with all but Blackburn averaging more than 25 minutes per contest.

But the Phoenix also has used plenty of players off the bench, which was highlighted in its win over Northeastern.

The reserves scored 34 points, led by sophomore forward Jasmine Kondrakiewicz and senior guard Sydney Levy.

The 6-foot-1 Kondrakiewicz scored a season-high 10 points, while Levy had a season-high 14.

Levy, a former Appleton North star who started her collegiate career at UWM, provides instant offense for UWGB and is off to a hot start.

She hasn’t played more than 19 minutes in any game, but she ranks third on the team in scoring at 8 points while shooting 46.7% overall (14-for-30) and 47.6% from 3 (10-for-21).

“She is a shooter,” Borseth said. “When she gets into the game, she hunts shots. We need somebody that will hunt. She’s a hunter. When she’s on, she lights the scoreboard up.

“She does a really good job off the bench giving us a spark. We need to have that. That’s a very important player. When you go to the bench and pull somebody off there, you want somebody in who is going to make an immediate impact. Sydney has got that ability.”

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