#HLWBB Preview: Green Bay
Cam Fuller
Green Bay Phoenix
Last year: 27-6 overall, 15-3 Horizon League
Coach: Kevin Borseth (15th year: 1998-2007, 2012-current)
Team Preview
By Joey Yashinsky, Horizon League Contributor
Kevin Borseth took over the Green Bay women’s hoops program in 1998. He led the team to a first-place finish with a near-flawless 13-1 conference record.
It’s been almost two decades since and the rest of the league is still waiting for Green Bay to drop out of first place.
In one of the most unbelievable streaks in sports history, the Green Bay Phoenix women have captured the last 19 Horizon League regular season basketball championships. In fact, the streak extends so far back that the first few titles occurred when the league was still known as the “MCC.” Don’t think that they are just December-to-February players, either; the Phoenix have followed up 14 of those 19 regular season crowns with conference tournament championships as well.
In the Try for Twenty, Borseth will come prepared with another loaded and experienced roster.
Leading the attack will be a pair of star seniors, Jessica Lindstrom and Allie LeClaire. Each was voted as a preseason all-conference player, Lindstrom on the first team and LeClaire elected to the second.
Lindstrom is as complete a player as you’ll find in college hoops. At 6-foot-1, she has the size and strength to work for layups inside. She also stepped out and drilled 58 from downtown last year at a 40% clip. And that’s before you mention her work on the boards.
“Jessica is the Dennis Rodman of women’s basketball,” Borseth said of Lindstrom and her 9.8 rebounds per game. “She rebounds better than anyone I’ve ever coached. She just has a knack for finding the ball. She just goes and gets it. In practice, we call our drills ‘Lindstrom Drills’ and none of the drills involve blocking anyone out. I don’t think she’s blocked anyone out in her entire life. (laughs) But she gets every rebound, so we all might be able to learn something from that.”
LeClaire will be asked to partially fill the large void resulting from the graduation of Green Bay standout Mehryn Kraker, who was selected by Washington in the WNBA Draft and is now playing pro ball in Spain. The senior guard appears more than ready to take on that responsibility. LeClaire played a huge role in the Horizon League championship against Detroit Mercy, leading the Phoenix with 19 points, 10 of which came in the critical fourth quarter as the Titans mounted their rally. Borseth will lean heavily on LeClaire for leadership and clutch shot-making in 2017-18.
“Allie is a kid that leads by example,” Borseth said. “She’s one of those student-athletes that you have to create new rules for: like, ‘You must be out of the gym by midnight...’ or ‘You can’t just be bringing all these different people in to rebound for you.’ She is an absolute workhorse in terms of the effort that she puts in.”
Fueling the Phoenix defense will be redshirt junior Jen Wellnitz. Borseth said, “All of a sudden, there she is. It’s like she’s shot out of a cannon. She’s got a burst to her that I’ve never really seen in any other athlete that I’ve coached.” Wellnitz is a legitimate candidate to take home Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year honors at season’s end.
Additional backcourt depth will be provided by Laken James, a feisty guard looking to take on a larger role in her junior season.
Twin sisters Madison and Mackenzie Wolf are a force to be reckoned with inside. The redshirt sophomores, at 6’3” and 6’4”, give the Phoenix tremendous size up front. Madison performed extremely well in the NCAA Tournament loss to Purdue, contributing eight points and four rebounds in just 14 minutes.
If the Green Bay run of excellence is going to be stopped, the other Horizon League teams will need to find some way to defeat the Phoenix on their home floor. They were 9-0 in HL home games last season and have dropped just one over the last two years. When “The Kress” gets three thousand people in there and they are all on top of the court shouting at a fever pitch, clearly it can have quite the effect on the visiting club. In part, that’s how you wind up bagging 19 conference titles in a row.
Could it go to 20? We’ll see as this Horizon League drama unfolds over the next handful of months. The league is loaded with talent in multiple places, but until you knock off the champs, they get to keep wearing the belts and unfurling the banners.
“The streak is not something we ever take for granted,” Borseth said. “It is there. It is a ghost. Our players all know that it’s there. We don’t necessarily talk about it, but those ghosts of the past are hanging in our rafters. It reminds these kids every day that at Green Bay, nothing but your best is going to be tolerated.”
Motor City Madness
Support the Phoenix at the 2018 Little Caesars Horizon League Basketball Championships March 2-6 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Tickets can be purchased at campus box offices now and online starting December 15. For more information, click here.
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