Horizon League Women's Basketball Release #7
Dec. 17, 2007
Complete Release in PDF Format 
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Green Bay junior guard Rachel Porath was tabbed as the Horizon League Women's Basketball Player of the Week as she averaged 14 points and six rebounds per game in a 1-1 week.
Rachel Porath, Green Bay
Jr. * G * Luxemburg, Wis.
Green Bay's Rachel Porath collected her second career Horizon League Player of the Week honor after she helped the Phoenix to a 1-1 record this past week. In two games, Porath averaged 14 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. In addition, the junior guard only missed two shots in two games as she went a combined 11-of-13 from the field. Porath began the week by going 3-of-3 from the field and 2-of-2 at the free-throw line for nine points in a 81-58 loss at Wisconsin on Tuesday. The Wisconsin native finished the week by scoring a game-high 19 points as she went 3-of-3 from beyond the arc in a 79-27 win over Northern Arizona on Saturday. Porath also pulled down seven rebounds and collected seven steals against NAU.
Other Top Performances for the Week Ending December 16
Lade Akande, Butler
Jr. * C * Robinson, Ill.
Akanke helped the Bulldogs to their eighth win of the season as they defeated Tennessee State 72-62 on Sunday at home. Against TSU, Akande scored a game-high 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting. The BU junior also pulled down six rebounds and recorded two blocks.
Brittany Korth, Cleveland State
Sr. * G * Clinton, Wis.
In the Vikings' only game of the week, Korth scored 12 points, collected four rebounds and dished out three assists in a 63-60 loss at Buffalo on Saturday evening. The Wisconsin native was 4-of-8 from the field, all of which were from three-point range.
Traci Edwards, Milwaukee
Jr. * C * Menasha, Wis.
Edwards led the Panthers in a 63-53 loss against Drake on Thursday with 16 points, 10 rebounds and three steals in the only game of the week for UWM. Nine of Edwards' points came from the free-throw line as she went 9-of-12 from the charity stripe.
Aimee Litka, Valparaiso
Jr. * F * South Bend, Ind.
Litka averaged 14 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in a 1-1 week. The Valpo junior opened the week by scoring a career-high 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting in a 94-56 setback at Notre Dame on Wednesday. She then concluded the week with 11 points and four rebounds during a 65-62 win against South Dakota State on Sunday.
LaShawna Thomas, Wright State
Fr. * G * Columbus, Ohio
Thomas averaged 14 points and six rebounds per game. The WSU began the week by tallying 20 points and five rebounds in a 73-66 loss at Cincinnati on Tuesday. She followed that performance with eight points and seven rebounds during a 65-46 loss at Dayton on Sunday.
Kelsey Gurganus, Youngstown State
Jr. * G * Indianapolis, Ind.
Gurganus led YSU in scoring last week with a career-high 14 points in a 79-56 loss at Cincinnati on Saturday. She also recorded a career-best seven made field goals and four assists against the Bearcats.
News From Around the League
Butler
The Bulldogs improved to 8-1 on the year following a 72-62 win over Tennessee State on Sunday.
Butler's 8-1 start to the season is the program's best nine-game record since the 1990-91 squad opened with a 10-1 mark.
Sophomore forward Susan Lester notched her second and the team's third double-double of the season against Tennessee State on Sunday as she scored 14 points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds to finish just one board shy of her career-high total. The Anderson, Ind., native has tallied 11 double-doubles in her career.
With her 23-point performance against TSU on Sunday, junior center Lade Akande moved into 17th-place on the Bulldogs' all-time scoring list with 1,028 points. She is just four points shy of passing Nancy Bowden (1,031) for 16th place. Akande became the 19th player in school history to record 1,000 career points against Evansville on Dec. 6.
Butler returns to action at 12 p.m. on Thursday at home as it faces off against IPFW.
Cleveland State
The Vikings (3-5) fell on the road at Buffalo (63-60) on Saturday.
Saturday's loss at Buffalo was just CSU's second game this season that was decided by less than 10 points. The Vikings are 0-2 in those contests.
Sophomore forward Stephaine Crosley is averaging 8.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game during the last three contests.
The Vikings were 11-of-14 (.786) from the free-throw line on Saturday at Buffalo and are shooting .772 from the charity stripe this season.
CSU will wrap up its season-long five-game roadtrip this week with games at Niagara (7 p.m.) on Monday and Colgate (7 p.m.) on Friday. Following a break for the holiday, CSU will return home to host American (3 p.m.) on Dec. 29, which will be CSU's first game in the Wolstein Center since Nov. 27.
Detroit
Detroit head coach, Mickey Barrett, announced his resignation last week, and Lee Piepho was appointed as UDM's interim head coach on Wednesday. Piepho was hired this past summer as an assistant coach and came to Detroit after serving as the girls varsity head coach at Howell (Mich.) High School for the past 12 years.
In addition, senior forward Joyce Massey was released from the squad on Saturday due to conduct detrimental to the team.
The Titans return to the court on Tuesday after a 10-day lay-off and will face Toledo for the second time this year, which marks the first time UDM has ever played a home-and-home series against a non-conference team in the same season.
The Titans will wrap up 2007 with a 7 p.m. match-up at IPFW on Friday as UDM does not play again until Jan. 3 against Green Bay (7 p.m.).
Green Bay
The Phoenix went 1-1 this past week to move to 5-3 on the year. Green Bay began the week Tuesday with a loss on the road to Wisconsin (81-58), but rebounded on Saturday to defeat Northern Arizona 79-27 it what was the largest margin of victory for Green Bay since joining the Division I ranks.
The 27 points Green Bay allowed against Northern Arizona were the fewest points allowed by the Phoenix since a 64-21 win over UNC Wilmington during the 1994-95 campaign.
Freshman guard Heather Golden notched a career-high 10 points against Northern Arizona. She also tied for the team high with three steals along with an assist in 24 minutes.
For the first time this season, senior guard Kayla Groh did not reach double figures in scoring. Groh had seven points along with four assists in 24 minutes against Northern Arizona.
This week, Green Bay welcomes Arizona to the Kress Center on Thursday at 8 p.m. and North Dakota State on Saturday at 8 p.m.
Loyola
The Ramblers (1-8) return to action on Thursday against Memphis in the Florida Gulf Coast Classic. Loyola's game against the Tigers will be its first game since losing at DePaul 93-51 on Dec. 8.
Following it game against Memphis, LU will meet either Florida Gulf Coast or Texas-Pan American on Friday.
Sophomore guard Maggie McCloskey (11.2) and sophomore forward Elyse VanBogaert (11.1) are averaging more than 11 points per game and are the top two scorers on the squad this season.
Loyola enters the week having shot under 40 percent in four of its last five games and hit just 40 of 114 (.351) from the floor in its last two games.
Milwaukee
The Panthers dropped to 3-5 on the year following a 63-53 loss at home against Drake on Thursday.
UWM had just 14 turnovers against Drake, the previous low for turnovers in a game this season had been 18 at Central Connecticut State.
Junior center Traci Edwards pushed a streak of consecutive made field goals to 12 before missing her fourth attempt of the game. Edwards also moved into second place in school history in free throws made, surpassing the 350 made by Jen Greger (1993-97). She has 356 and trails only Maria Viall (2000-04; 390).
UWM returns to the court at 8 p.m. on Thursday against North Dakota State.
UIC
The Flames (3-5) will look to rebound from a 51-39 loss on the road to Western Michigan back on Dec. 8 when they travel to the 2007 Caribbean Challenge on Dec. 18-19.
The two-day event in Cancún, Mexico, will place UIC against nationally-ranked LSU (4 p.m.) on Dec. 18 and Southern Mississippi (1 p.m.) on Dec. 19.
UIC has lost its last three games. Against WMU, freshman forward Shanice Sadler recorded a season-high eight points on 4-of-7 shooting and five rebounds in 13 minutes of play.
Valparaiso
The Crusaders (4-6) opened last week with a 94-56 loss at No. 17/17 Notre Dame, but rebounded to defeat South Dakota State 65-62 at home.
With the win, Valpo has now won nine straight home games at the ARC.
Junior forward Amiee Litka averaged 14 points per and 4.5 rebounds per game last week for the Crusaders. In addition, Junior guard Agnieszka Kulaga led Valpo with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting against SDSU.
Kulaga averaged 13.5 points and 5.0 assists per game this past week.
In the final two minutes of games this season, Valpo has been shooting at a 89.7 percent (26-of-29) clip from the free-throw line.
Valpo returns to action against Saint Xavier on Saturday at 2:35 p.m. in what will be the Crusaders' final game before opening League play at home against Butler on Jan. 5.
Wright State
The Raiders (2-8) fell short on the road against Cincinnati (73-66) on Tuesday and on the road against Dayton (65-46) on Sunday.
The Raiders rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to lead by one with seven minutes left at Cincinnati and later trailed by just one with 2:43 to play, but the Bearcats hit six foul shots down the stretch for the victory. On Sunday against Dayton, the Flyers used a 22-5 run to overcome an early WSU one-point lead UD then maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Freshman guard LaShawna Thomas scored 20 points at Cincinnati and then had eight points along with seven rebounds at Dayton.
Wright State wraps up the 2007 and non-League portions of its schedule Friday by hosting Evansville.
Youngstown State
The Penguins (4-5) fell on the road against Cincinnati 79-56 in their only game of the week.
Senior forward Jessica Schloemp extended her consecutive games played streak to 82.
Senior Lauren Branson dished out six assists and now has 366 career assists. She needs 11 more to move into sixth place on the YSU all-time list and 34 more to become the sixth player in school history to tally 400 assists in a career.
Junior Tiara Scott posted back-to-back double figure games for the first time in her career with 12 points against Cincinnati (12/15) and 12 points against Miami (Ohio) (12/8).
YSU returns to action this week against instate foes Ohio State (7 p.m.) on Wednesday and Akron (5:30 p.m. ) on Friday.
