Green Bay Women's Basketball NCAA Tournament Notes & Quotes

Round 1 March 19 Wichita, KS

 

Green Bay Phoenix season notes
Green Bay (32-1) returned 10 letter winners including all five starters. Green Bay is having its best season in its 38-year history.

Records

Senior Celeste Hoewisch became Green Bay's all-time leader in games played with 129 during the Horizon League Tournament championship game. Green Bay is two (2) free throws shy of the all-time record for makes in a single season and three (3) assists and four (4) steals shy of the single-season marks.

 

Celeste Hoewisch has 1,387 career points, eighth highest in school history. She is 21-points shy of number 7 Julie Steeno (1979-82)

 

Postseason History
12^th overall appearance in NCAA Tournament - third consecutive.

The Phoenix enter the tournament as the fifth seed, highest post season seeding ever. Green Bay is 3-2 when playing on a neutral court in NCAA Tournament.

Green Bay has never advanced beyond the second round in the NCAA Tournament. In 2009-10 the Phoenix fell 56-60 to Iowa State in the second round.

Projected Starters
4            Celeste Hoewisch            5,7”            Senior

10            Hannah Quilling            5'7”            Junior

32            Julie Wojta                        6'0”            Junior

42            Kayla Tetschlag            6'0”            Senior

43            Sarah Eichler            5'11”            Sophomore

 

First Round Locker Room quotes - March 19, 2011 – Wichita, Kan.

Student-Athlete: Hannah Quilling “This is what we work all year for. This is why we're here in the summer, it's why we get up at 6 o'clock in the morning, it's, you know, our blood sweat and our tears. I don't think you'll ever get used to it just because it's such a big thing. You have that 'I've been there before' feeling. We came here last year with seven freshmen, so it's a whole different team. Our ability to get the job done has gone up greatly since last year.”

Student-Athlete: Kayla Tetschlag “What we've been working on the last couple days is running through a few situational plays and things like that in practice so the last couple days we've spent time going through circumstances and knowing what we are doing at certain times. So I think we are prepared for it, um, but all year we haven't had that problem. We have a really good defense and really take pride in guarding one on one and I think we are really evenly matched all around.”

“We got everyone back from the previous year and just playing with each other more and more throughout the year and ya know we midway through the year we started not only beating teams but putting them away and keeping that lead so just that experience with each other and the maturity we keep playing our game and never focusing on the score, things like that have really helped us.”

 

First Round Press Conference quotes - March 19, 2011 – Wichita, Kan.

 

Student-Athlete: Celeste Hoewisch

“I think we're prepared and I think we're a veteran team.”

“What we can control is having a great game plan and coming out and play hard against Little Rock.”

“We are trying to change some mindsets about mid-major teams.”

“We can only do what we can do, and hopefully our play will speak for itself.”

“I think the redshirt year is a great chance for you to learn the system.”

“You really get to watch great players ahead of you.”

“Playing and practicing with college basketball players, great college basketball players, is something you kind of have to learn on the go if you're a freshman, if you even get the chance to go out there and play.”

 

Student-Athlete: Julie Wojita “They have a good leader on their team that can make plays for them.”

“Just coming out ready to play will be a big point for us.”

 

Coach Matt Bollant  “We did situational practicing.  We are down one with one minute left, up two with two minutes left, different situations throughout the week. One of the disadvantages of playing well and beating teams is that we don't get that experience late in the game, but we anticipate playing well in a close game.”

“We have great seniors, we've got kids who have played in the NCAA tournament, you know we won a two point game against Virginia, we're down one with the ball with eight seconds left against Iowa State, and so both those games we made plays and played  with poise and did the right things.”

“You know, obviously we lost to Marquette, we had an open three at the buzzer to tie the game and we executed the play really well and just didn't make the shot. But did the right things late in the game to get back in that game and give us a chance to tie it.”

“You know I think honestly about the rankings, we are ranked probably about where we should be, we are ranked 11^th in the coach's poll and I think 12^th or 13^th in the AP. That loss to Marquette, that maybe it, but honestly the biggest issue is the RPI. And I love the fact that next year the RPI is changing nest year and you get credit for road games. We are 15^th in the Sagarin and I think 22^nd in the RPI and so for us the problem is strength of schedule.”

“I would love to play Home and Away's with every BCS school in the Big X and the Big XII but the problem is they're not coming to Green Bay. You know, we've got Marquette and Wisconsin who are willing to do that but the chances of other teams, I've called just about every other program to try and get them to do a Home and Away with us and it'd be great but the problem is that it just doesn't happen.”

“One thing we did do this year and it worked really well, was that we went to Cancun and played Hartford, Penn State, and Utah. Who are all three playing in the NCAA tournament, we beat all three of them. And so Next year we are trying to do another Thanksgiving tournament and play as difficult as schedule as we can in those tournaments.”

“The locker room after the Iowa State game last year was the start of it. You could see them bonding in the locker room and know that we got everybody back and then the first half against Wisconsin this year we're playing our rival at home in front of a great crowd and I forgot what the half time score was but we were pounding them and we ended up winning by 26. And I remember going in at half time and thinking 'Wow these kids have a chance to be really special.'”

“Chastity is a really great player and she's got about as pure shot that I have seen as a coach and she can score in a variety of ways. One you can't let her get catches where ever she wants and when she does get a catch you have to guard her with more than one player. But she is a very good passer and you can't just collapse on her because she sees the open court really well, and she passes over the top really well so we are just going to try and limit her the best you can and keep her from getting any kind of rhythm and keep her from getting touches and when she does get touches being able to help and recover and keep her from doing the things she really wants to do.

“I look for a kid that fits Green Bay, you know our practices are extremely intense and we have extremely high expectations for them. And not every kid is going to be able to come in and make it and be able to stay and make it through that. They better value the right things. They better be unselfish to play in our program because we have 14 kids and they all have to be that way, if one isn't they are going to stick out like a sore thumb.”