GREEN BAY, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay improved to 7-0 at home this season with a 63-37 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 2,956 at the Kress Center.
 
"I give a lot of credit to Green Bay, they played a great game," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "They hit us with a lot of different weapons today. Green Bay is one of the toughest teams in our league. The physicality of the game played into a lot of factors – how well you will shoot the ball, how well you can rebound and how you are going to defend."
 
The Panthers (5-11, 1-3 Horizon League) were hampered by foul trouble and a first-half Phoenix (13-3, 3-0 Horizon League) scoring run that played a major role in deciding the outcome.
 
Milwaukee played well defensively, holding Green Bay to under 40 percent shooting from the floor. But the team shot just 25.5 percent itself, allowing the Phoenix to hold its opponent below 50 points for the fifth time in the past seven games. That foul trouble played a major role down the stretch, with UWM seeing three of its starters pinned with four fouls with 10 minutes still remaining in the game.
 
"I thought we defended pretty well, holding them to 39 percent," Rechlicz said. "I really think our shooting issues came down to how hard we were playing on the defensive end. We have to be consistent every day in practice playing that tough so we are prepared to play some of the top teams in our league."
 
Senior Ashley Green, the second-leading scorer in the Horizon League at close to 20 a game, was held below double-figures for the first time in 18 games, finishing with six.
 
"I felt like we had the ball stuck in our hands," Rechlicz said. "We would come off ball screens and hold on too long and give their defense time to recover. I didn't think we found Ashley in opportune moments. We got away from our offense and did not execute well enough to get her better looks."
 
Junior Jaleesa Armstrong led the offense with nine points. Junior Jordyn Swan came off the bench to score seven and freshman Jenny Lindner grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Tesha Buck paced the Phoenix with 16 points, one of three players in double figures.
 
Milwaukee was sticking around in the second half and used a 7-2 spurt to get within striking distance. But, Green Bay responded with a 10-0 run of its own that pushed the score to 57-31. The Panthers would get no closer than 20 the rest of the way.
 
The first half was closely contested for the first six-plus minutes, with the Panthers playing strong defense in eventually holding leads of 10-7 and 12-10.
 
That final lead was followed by a lull by the offense, going nearly seven minutes without a field goal as Green Bay took off. A 13-2 stretch featuring a trio of 3's made it 20-12 and forced a UWM timeout.
 
At its biggest, the decisive scoring run grew to 18-2 to make it 25-12 on the scoreboard. The Panthers cut back into the deficit a bit just before half, making a pair of three-pointers, including one by Armstrong from just inside halfcourt at the buzzer that trimmed the margin to 34-22 at intermission. The Phoenix finished the period by netting 27 of the final 39 points in the contest.
 
Up next, the Panthers make a quick return to the Klotsche Center, welcoming Valparaiso University Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tip.