The UIC Flames (3-11, 0-3 HL) move past the halfway point of the regular season with a home showdown against Green Bay (12-2, 3-0 HL) Saturday at 3:00 pm, part of a challenging stretch to begin Horizon League play.

Sunday's game will be the third of four in a row against the top four teams in the preseason Horizon League poll.  The Flames are searching for their first win against Green Bay in 16 meetings.

The contest will be senior Melita Emanuel-Carr's 100^th in a Flames uniform.  Emanuel-Carr has started every game this season and is averaging 9.7 points and a career high 4.6 rebounds.  She leads the team with 7 double figure scoring games this year and was the team's top scorer in three contests.  The product of London, England is UIC's leader in three pointers and steals, and has gotten to the free throw line more than any of her teammates.

Emanuel-Carr had a season high 16 points in UIC's loss to Milwaukee Thursday night.  The Flames had a conference-play high 15 steals and 7 blocks, but Milwaukee used a 12-0 run late in the second quarter to establish a stranglehold on the game and the Flames were never able to threaten again.  Brittany Byrd scored a career high 18 points.  She has led the team in scoring in four of the last six games and has put up double digits in six straight contests.

UIC has been much more consistent from the floor the last two outings, making over 40% of their shots in both games.  That followed a stretch of nine games in which the Flames broke 40% just once.  They made a season high 9 three pointers against Milwaukee, and lead the Horizon League in offensive rebounds.  They'll need to continue their high level of play in all those areas against Green Bay, who has the second stingiest defense in the nation.  The Phoenix allow a mere 47.6 points per game on 32.3% shooting, a mark good for fourth nationally.

The Phoenix are undefeated in Horizon League play, coming off a 75-36 win over Valparaiso Thursday.  Green Bay opened the game on a 27-6 run and led at the half 40-15.  They held the Crusaders to a season low 22% shooting effort and forced nearly as many turnovers (26) as they allowed rebounds (28).

Green Bay is the best shooting team in the conference overall and from behind the arc.  Jessica Lindstrom, a three-time Horizon League Player of the Week this season, is averaging 11.4 points and 10.1 rebounds, and the current Player of the Week, Mehryn Kraker, is third in the league with 18.3 points per game.  Kraker is the best shooter in the Horizon League (.586) and is in the top 10 in assists and steals.  She went for 22 points in the Phoenix' win over Valpo.

The Phoenix were the prohibitive choice to win the Horizon League in the preseason poll, and they are backing up that honor by sitting atop the current CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll and garnering votes in the AP and USA Today polls.

Saturday's game will be televised on ESPN3, and live stats will be available on UICFlames.com.  See the blue box above for direct links to both, and follow @UIC_WBasketball on Twitter for additional in-game updates and notes.