Phoenix women ranked No. 2 in this poll

Our favorite ESPN writer, Graham Hays, provides a bit of commentary following ESPN’s mid-major poll. Here’s what he had to say about our unbeaten Phoenix, which is ranked No. 2 behind Gonzaga this week:

“The Phoenix extended their regular-season winning streak to 25 games with two victories in Puerto Rico over the holiday weekend. Taking care of business in an 82-62 win against Illinois was a good opening act — Green Bay should beat Illinois, and it didn’t dawdle in taking a 38-25 halftime lead and shooting 50 percent for the game. But the big victory came against No. 25 Georgia Tech. Down 54-48 with 1:24 to play, Green Bay forced overtime on an Adrian Ritchie 3-pointer with two seconds remaining, and then came back from five down in the extra period to win 67-62. Julie Wojta (20.8 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 3.4 steals per game) remains as underrated a player as there is in the Top 25.”

ESPN’s Hays: Marquette not the only challenge for Phoenix hoops
No rest for the Phoenix women, who host Marquette Friday (Dec. 2) night followed by Northern Iowa at noon on Sunday (Dec. 4). NIU is raked 8th in the mid-major poll. Here’s Hays’ take on NIU:

“It’s difficult not to imagine what might have been had Jacqui Kalin stayed healthy, but Northern Iowa isn’t letting the preseason loss of the reigning Missouri Valley Conference player of the year stop it. Other than a four-point loss to Iowa in a game they led with 36 seconds to play, Northern Iowa has steamrolled to wins by an average of 19 points per game. A different player led the team in scoring in each of the wins, a good way to make up for losing one great player. Rachel Madrigal looks positively Kalin-like in averaging 15.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game while shooting 54.9 percent from the floor and 44.8 percent from the 3-point line.”