Green Bay and Cleveland State Advance to 2023 Barbasol #HLWBB Championship Game
INDIANAPOLIS – The 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship will end with a collision between the top two programs with a combined 56-8 record. Regular season champ and top seed Green Bay and runner-up Cleveland State will battle Tuesday for a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Tuesday’s final at Indiana Farmers Coliseum will tip at noon ET and air on ESPNU.
#1 Green Bay 69, #6 Purdue Fort Wayne 65
For the 12th time in 15 years, Green Bay is playing the final game of the Horizon League championship. The top-seeded Phoenix (27-4) advanced to the final Monday afternoon with a 69-65 comeback win over No. 6 seed Purdue Fort Wayne.
Cassie Schiltz led four Green Bay players in double figures with 17 points while Sydney Levy added 14. Shayla Sellers led all scorers with 21 points to lead Purdue Fort Wayne, which ended its season with a 14-19 record but won eight of its last 13 games.
“This time of year is ‘win and move on’,” Green Bay head coach Kevin Borseth said. “It was a great win for us. It’s a long road and nothing is guaranteed, but we’re lucky to get one and move on.”
The game couldn’t have started better for Purdue Fort Wayne, making a March tournament run just two years after going 1-22. The Mastodons built a 17-7 lead in the first quarter and held Green Bay to 2-for-16 shooting. As Green Bay gained momentum, Purdue Fort Wayne kept pace and still hung on to a 30-21 lead with 2:36 to go before halftime.
That’s when the championship pedigree of Green Bay kicked in.
The Phoenix blitzed Purdue Fort Wayne going into halftime, tying the score on six straight made field goals. An 11-1 run tied the game at half and Green Bay took the lead for good in the third quarter. Later, a 3-pointer by Levy gave Green Bay a 63-52.
“Our players showed a lot of grit, especially getting it tied in the second quarter,” said Borseth, who is aiming for his 14th NCAA Tournament appearance. “Our defensive energy was very good to get back from down 11. To be tied at halftime was remarkable. Our defense really rescued us tonight.”
“We stayed confident and finally our shots fell. It gave us energy going into the second half,” Schiltz said. “We have one more game to go. We’ll bring all the energy we have into the championship game.”
Purdue Fort Wayne answered that run with six straight points and would get as close as four twice in the fourth quarter. Green Bay made the key stops late to stay one step ahead in an evenly-matched game. Both made exactly 24 field goals and eight 3-pointers on the day and turnovers were nearly even.
“Getting our girls this experience, for them seeing how cool this is will make them more hungry,” Purdue Fort Wayne coach Maria Marchesano said. “We’ll be more comfortable the next time we get here. We want to make this the expectation in our program - just like Green Bay.”
“We know we’re not done yet. Our mentality is we’re not done yet and we’re ready for the championship game,” Levy said.
#2 Cleveland State 63, #5 Northern Kentucky 60 (OT)
No. 2 seed Cleveland State (29-4) advanced to the Horizon League final for the second straight year, holding off No. 5 seed Northern Kentucky 63-60 in overtime on Monday. CSU got 25 points from Horizon League Player of the Year Destiny Leo and will play Tuesday for a chance at a League title and the school’s third NCAA berth.
Cleveland State and NKU split won both regular season meetings with the Vikings winning by one and the Norse winning by four. Tuesday’s tournament game followed that trend as the two teams traded punches for 45 minutes. The game was an epic battle between Leo and NKU’s Lindsey Duvall. Duvall scored 21 points to keep pace with Leo and also grabbed nine rebounds. The two star guards’ 46 points came on 17-for-31 shooting and they combined to make nine 3-pointers.
Leo made a stepback 3-pointer with 1:19 left in regulation to give CSU a 54-51 lead. Duvall answered with the clock winding down, hitting a deep shot of her own with 8 seconds left on the clock. Leo would go on to score five points in the first 35 seconds of overtime to help the Vikings hold on.
“It was an amazing college basketball game. Both teams really wanted to win and we were basically lucky to make one more play than they did,” Cleveland State head coach Chris Kielsmeier said. “I give Northern Kentucky a lot of credit. They played hard and we just persevered and found a way.”
“I’m really proud of our team. There’s never been a day they haven’t given everything they have,” NKU head coach Camryn Whitaker said. “I couldn’t be more proud to coach this team. Somebody has to win, somebody has to lose. We came out on the wrong end.”
Both Duvall and Leo deflected to their teammates, citing screens set for them and key offensive rebounds that gave them more chances to score. CSU’s Brittni Moore had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Gabriella Smith scored 14 points.
Cleveland State, now one of only seven teams in Horizon League history to win 29 games, raced out to a 9-0 lead to open the game before Northern Kentucky strung together stops that led to transition offense for Duvall and Ivy Turner, who added 11 points.
Northern Kentucky (17-14) led 32-27 at halftime and offense was hard to come by in the third quarter, with the two teams combining for 20 points. The difference in the game was no more than four points for the last seven minutes of the regulation before Leo had her scoring spurt in overtime.
For Cleveland State, the mission remains simple.
“Do your job right and keep your eye on the prize,” Kielsmeier said. “If we do that, we’ll have a good chance to win.”