2018-19 #HLWBB Preview: Green Bay
Green Bay Phoenix
Last season: 29-4 overall, 16-2 Horizon League
* Horizon League regular season champions
* Horizon League tournament champions
Head coach: Kevin Borseth (16th year)
By Joey Yashinsky, Horizon League Contributor. Follow on Twitter @OneSeatOver
The numbers are simply staggering.
The Green Bay Phoenix have captured 20 consecutive regular season championship crowns. In 15 of those 20 years, they were tournament champions as well. Over the last two seasons, they have lost a grand total of zero games at home in Horizon League play (18-0).
The Phoenix permitted just 47.4 points per game last year, far and away the lowest total in the country. The next closest team was a full 3.5 points away, which is like winning the Boston Marathon by an hour.
The uneducated observer might take a gander at this year’s roster, see that they’ll be without both Jessica Lindstrom and Allie LeClaire, two Phoenix all-time greats, and think, “Well, their run is over now!”
But Kevin Borseth and the Green Bay women’s basketball program are a model of consistency unlike almost any other in the world of athletics.
The attention to detail does not change, the defensive tenacity does not change, and for the last 20 seasons, the ability to be in first place at year’s end has not changed one single bit.
The most experienced player coming back for the Phoenix will be Jen Wellnitz, a 5-foot-8 redshirt senior guard coming off a stellar season in which she was voted the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year. Wellnitz is a dynamite athlete, able to keep pace with the fastest guards or match verticals with the highest-jumping forwards. She swiped 81 balls last year, one of only two Horizon League players (Vogelpohl) to eclipse the 80-steal mark.
“If you’ve ever seen her play and seen how fast she runs and how high she jumps, you get a pretty good picture of what she can do,” said Borseth. “She has a presence on the court because of her athleticism, and we will lean on that heavily this year.”
And don’t assume just because Wellnitz is a terror on defense that she can be ignored on offense. She racked up a whopping 144 assists last year, tied for the third-best total in the conference.
A recipient of many of those Wellnitz dimes will be standout sophomore forward Karly Murphy, one of the top rookies in the Horizon League a season ago. The 6-foot-1 Murphy stepped in nicely as a third option behind Lindstrom and LeClaire, averaging better than eight points per game and shooting over 50 percent from the field. In Green Bay’s first two victories at Motor City Madness, Murphy was the epitome of efficiency; she attempted nine shots from the field and connected on eight of them.
“She’s a competitor,” said Borseth. “She just really competes. She will be a key component to any success that we have this year. She probably improved more than any player I’ve ever had in 38 years. Just a really hard-working kid that doesn’t take no for an answer.”
Returning for her junior year will be guard Frankie Wurtz, a terrific all-around player that will help to replace some of LeClaire’s production in the backcourt. Wurtz appeared in all 33 games last season and recorded five starts. That number looks to rise in 2018-19.
A big addition to the Phoenix attack comes in the form of Iowa graduate transfer Carly Mohns, a versatile 6-foot-1 forward that Borseth will lean on to provide quality minutes up front. She was a key member of the Hawkeyes’ rotation last year, a season in which Iowa won 24 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Green Bay always wants to make it difficult for you to score and loves to attack the backboard on both ends of the court. Enter the Wolf twins, Madison and Mackenzie, 6-foot-3 redshirt juniors that will be critical to the Phoenix cause.
“Every year, they just get a little bit better,” said Borseth. “That’s the big thing. They’ve had a couple injury issues that have kept them sidelined on and off the last couple years. But those two kids compete and they have a very high basketball intelligence level.”
Back for her final season at Green Bay is Laken James, a tenacious 5-foot-9 guard that won’t produce splashy numbers, but brings tremendous value all the same.
“Laken is a great defender,” said Borseth. “She totally understands what we are trying to do. Scoring is not something we’ve asked her to do, but I do think that’s something she’s gonna have to be involved in this year. So that will be a different piece for us, too.”
And so the green and white locomotive in Green Bay just keeps on rolling down the tracks, picking up hard-fought victories and celebrating one championship after another.
But Borseth has been around long enough to know that nothing in this game is given, that everything must be earned, regardless of any staggering level of past triumphs.
“Kenny Rogers said, ‘There’ll be time enough for counting when the dealing’s done.’ Right now, these kids have got to put their nose to the grindstone, be as good as they possibly can, and give an unbelievable effort to try and put themselves in a position to be successful.”
“At this point right now, we still feel like we’re chasing. We aren’t sitting here basking in the sun because it doesn’t work that way. The past success that we have had, it belongs to those ghosts. It doesn’t belong to us. Our players have to write their own chapter, create their own book, paint their own picture.”
It’s a picture that’s been without a blemish for two decades
All part of a streak - one of the most remarkable in sports history - that does not look to be coming to an end anytime soon.