Fans are sad that the UW Green Bay women’s basketball team won’t be advancing to the next round after the team lost to the University of Minnesota, but they’re proud of the fight that the Phoenix put up.

The Bar on Lime Kiln Road in Green Bay was packed with UWGB alumni on Friday afternoon, and some know exactly what it’s like to play on the women’s basketball team.

“I think with this game what you’re going to see is, Minnesota scores very well, so within their conference they’re one of the top-leading, or leading scorers for points that they scored, but for us, we’re the team that gives up the least points. So it’s a good matchup,” Jeanne Stangel, a former UWGB basketball player, said. 

The father of one of the seniors, Allie LeClaire, watched the game anxiously from The Bar while his daughter played her last moments of college basketball during the game, which was held in Oregon. 

“As they say, that ‘s my little girl, so, just try to watch it and stay focused you know, but games like this, it’s kind of tough, but we get through them,” Mike LeClaire said.

During the game, an alumnus raised money for the UWGB women’s basketball program and other athletic programs. 

“This year we raised on the fifty-fifty raffle alone around $12,000,” Rich Spangenberg said.

While the Phoenix were ahead for some of the game, they weren’t able to keep it up, but they still made their fans proud. 

“They got nothing to be ashamed of, they did an awesome job, represented the area very well, yeah, it’s unfortunate though,” Joe Lett of De Pere said.

“They played a nice, hard game but in the end they just came up a little short. But they played nice and hard and they did a great job,” Isabella Shirer of Green Bay said.