Nov. 20, 2015
Teams: Vanderbilt (1-1) at RV/RV Green Bay (1-0)
Day, Date: Saturday, Nov. 21
Tip-off time: 1 p.m.
Site: Kress Center (Green Bay, Wisconsin)
Radio: 95.9 FM / 560 AM
TV: ESPN3 (online only)
The Vanderbilt women faced a quality opponent in their first road trip of the season — and the team’s second trip will offer more of the same. The Commodores, who were saddled with an 81-56 loss at Dayton on Wednesday, will visit the Kress Center on Saturday for an afternoon matchup against a Green Bay team that posted a 15-1 home record last season and went 28-5 overall. Green Bay, like Dayton, received votes this week in both the AP poll and USA Today Coaches poll, and the Phoenix, just like the Flyers, advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season. Here’s a closer look at Saturday’s game.
l The skinny on the Commodores: The first two games of the season produced contrasting results for the Commodores, who posted a 50-point victory over Mississippi Valley State in the season opener last Sunday, then suffered a 25-point loss to Dayton on Wednesday. Senior guard Jasmine Jenkins has paced the Vanderbilt offense in both games, scoring a career-high 24 points in the win over MVSU and then scoring 16 against Dayton. Vanderbilt shot 54 percent from the floor in the victory over the Devilettes, but endured a cold-shooting performance against Dayton, making just 19-of-60 attempts (31.7 percent) from the field.
l Scouting Green Bay: The Phoenix have a dangerous 1-2 punch in Tesha Buck and Mehryn Kraker, who were both named to the preseason All-Horizon League first team earlier this month. Kraker, a 6-0 forward, averaged a team-high 12.5 points per game last season and Buck, a 5-11 junior guard, was the team’s second leading scorer last year at 11.6 points per game. … Green Bay relied heavily on 3-pointers last season, averaging 22 attempts per game from behind the arc, and four players on the team finished with 30 or more 3-pointers for the season. … The Phoenix took a tough hit in the preseason when it was announced — just nine days before their season opener — that Ashley Luke would be sidelined this year with an injury. Luke, a transfer from Western Illinois was expected to make big contributions for Green Bay this season after being named the Summit League’s Player of the Year last season.
l Sizing up the Series: Saturday’s game will mark only the second-ever meeting between the Commodores and Phoenix. The teams met for the first time last season, when Vanderbilt posted a 68-64 overtime victory on Nov. 17. (More on that game below). Vanderbilt’s win over Green Bay represented one of only four regular-season losses for the Phoenix, who posted a 19-1 record from Jan. 3 through March 15 of last season.
l Update the Phoenix: After posting a pair of lopsided victories in exhibition games against Minnesota-Duluth and St. Norbert, the Phoenix opened the regular season with a 75-55 home victory over Marquette last Friday. Kaili Lukan scored a game-high 22 points in the win, and also pulled down 10 rebounds to secure a double-double. Tesha Buck had 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range. Allie LeClaire had 13 points, and Jessica Lindstrom finished just shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. Green Bay went 11-of-26 (42 percent) from 3-point range in the win.
l Looking back to last year: Vanderbilt used a strong inside attack to down Green Bay, 68-64, in overtime on Nov. 17 last season. All five of Vanderbilt’s starters finished in double figures, led by Marqu’es Webb with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards. Mehryn Kraker led Green Bay with 17 points, all but four in the second half. Hot-shooting Christa Reed scored eight early points for the Commodores, who rushed out to a 14-2 lead and eventually expanded its advantage to 23-8. But Green Bay charged back with a 22-7 run to cut VU’s lead to 33-30 at the half. After battling through a tightly-contested second half, Caron-Goudreau gave Vanderbilt a two-point lead on a jumper with 13 seconds left, but LeClaire hit a layup with four seconds remaining to force overtime. VU opened the extra session with a 7-2 run and held on from there.