March 9, 2001

Box Score

Chicago, Ill. - Forward Mandy Stowe scored 19 of her game and career-high 27 points in the first half to lead top-seeded UW-Green Bay past No.5 UIC, 72-55, in semifinal action in the 2001 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Basketball Championship presented by Mountain Dew, at the UIC Pavilion.

"Stowe just dominated us in the first half," remarked UIC head coach Tim Eatman. "But with great players the bigger the game, the better they are. We can coach all we want, but in the end it's the players that make plays."

"Anybody that knows our team, knows that we like to get the ball as close to the basket as possible," commented UW-Green Bay coach Kevin Borseth on getting the ball in Stowe's hands early on. "It seems that is the way I was taught. Lay-ups are a lot easier than three-pointers."

This is the second straight season that UW-Green Bay has knocked off UIC in the semifinal round, as the Phoenix advance to the MCC Tournament Championship game for the fifth-consecutive year. They will face in-state rival UW-Milwaukee at 5:00 p.m., tomorrow (March 10), after the Panthers scorched Loyola 80-49 earlier in the day in the first semifinal.

UW-Green Bay guards Amanda Leonhard and Sara Boyer also scored in double-figures with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

The Flames battled throughout, but were out-rebounded (40-28) and outscored in the paint (34-20) to close the deal.

"We knew it was going to be a physical game and UIC did a good job in the first half," said Borseth. "In the second half, we just hung on, and hung on, getting two points at a time ."

UIC senior guard Kimberly Henry came off the bench to score 24 points, 18 in the second half, to lead the Flames. Melea Clark chipped in 15 points for UIC.

The Flames end their season at 10-19, while UW-Green Bay plays tomorrow in search of its fourth-straight MCC Tournament Title and NCAA Tournament berth.