Wis.-Green Bay completes perfect Horizon season

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — University of Wisconsin-Green Bay coach Matt Bollant and senior guard Kati Harty ended the Horizon League tournament with a victory lap as they slapped hands with home fans.

Green Bay finished its perfect run through the conference Sunday, beating UW-Milwaukee 65-41 in the tournament championship game for an automatic NCAA bid.

Last year, Green Bay was stunned at home in the semifinals and was left out of the NCAA tournament — despite going 26-6 overall and 17-1 in the league.

“It was a healthy [nervousness],” Bollant said. “It wasn’t a fear like, ‘Oh, my gosh, could we lose again?’ It was more of a confident, ‘We’ve done the right things, and good things are going to happen because of it.”’

Kayla Tetschlag and Harty scored 12 points apiece to lead Green Bay to the win. Harty was named the tournament’s outstanding player. Lavesa Glover and Celeste Hoewisch added nine each for the Phoenix.

Green Bay (29-3) went 18-0 in the Horizon League’s regular season, ran its winning streak to 21 games and will make its ninth NCAA appearance since the 1994-95 season.

The Phoenix were leading 18-14 when they went on a 14-2 run over the final six minutes of the first half to take control. The Phoenix, who entered the game leading the nation in scoring defense, led 32-16 at halftime.

Milwaukee (15-18) hit 50 percent of its shots, but had more turnovers (20) than field goal attempts (14).