WBB up and down in Wisconsin
Oakland women’s basketball terminated No. 22 Green Bay’s 16-game home win streak, but lost two days later at Milwaukee as it continued its five-game road trip.
The Golden Grizzlies beat Green Bay 58-56 on Thursday. Freshman Taylor Jones made the game-winning layup with 22 seconds left.
Jones, who was named Horizon League Freshman of the Week for the fifth time this season on Feb. 1, scored five of her 12 points in the final 1:32 to help record Oakland’s first win over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 21 South Dakota State 67-51 in 2009.
Player of the game Sinclair Russell recorded her third double double of the season with 15 points, 12 rebounds and three assists, including two 3-pointers.
Senior Olivia Nash racked up 12 points and seven rebounds.
“It’s a great, great win against a really, really good Green Bay team,” head coach Jeff Tungate said.
Oakland’s two-game road win streak came to an end with a 77-64 loss to Milwaukee on Saturday. Tungate said the team didn’t bring its best game to the Klotsche Center.
Taylor Gleason, Elena Popkey and Jones finished in double figures. Gleason and Jones recorded 14 points followed by Popkey with 11 points and seven assists. The trio shot 15-for-28 from the field.
Popkey is second place in school history with 440 career assists.
Gleason has scored at least ten points in ten of her last 15 starts.
Tungate thought the team played good defense in the first quarter but overall didn’t give the effort it needed in order to take home the win.
“Give Milwaukee a lot of credit. They’re a very good basketball team and if you don’t bring it, you’re not going to win,” Tungate said.
The Golden Grizzlies take on Youngstown State Feb. 4 at the Beeghly Center before closing out the road trip at Cleveland State on Feb. 6.