Dec. 29, 2007

Box Score

Box score

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Green Bay women's basketball team (8-3) pulled away with a strong defensive effort at the start of the second half to post an 82-65 win over Southern Illinois Saturday afternoon.

For the second straight outing junior center Lavesa Glover notched a career-high with her team-best 18 points. Fellow juniors Kati Harty and Erin Templin sniffed at career-bests as well, both missing by a point as they tallied 17 and 12 points, respectively.

Not to be lost in the shuffle was Rachel Porath's second double-double of her career with 17 points and a team-high 10 caroms. Kayla Groh rounded out the quintet of Phoenix in double figures with 14 points.

"It's good to head into conference play with a win," said head coach Matt Bollant. "They worked to take away our three-point shooting, and we were able to pick things up in other areas."

The Phoenix owned a 37-32 lead at the break after a first half that featured six lead changes and three ties. Leading 42-37 with two minutes gone in the second half, Green Bay went on a 12-0 run, as the Phoenix defense forced five turnovers in a six-possession span.

From there, Green Bay held a double-figure lead for the rest of the game, peaking at 19 points before settling on a 17-point margin.

Green Bay's defense was bolstered by a career-tying high six steals by Harty as the team registered 13 thefts.

Southern Illinois (4-6) was paced by Jasmine Gibson's 24 points, including 16 in the first half. Erica Smith and Tanaeya Worden also reached double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Green Bay begins Horizon League action Thursday, Jan. 3 when the Phoenix travels to face Detroit.