The Green Bay Phoenix women's basketball team celebrated last season's championship with a ring ceremony and banner unveiling Saturday night before cruising to an 82-48 victory over Loyola Chicago in its home opener at the Kress Events Center.

The win was a strong response after Green Bay opened its season with a 76-60 road loss to No. 4 Duke earlier in the week.

With a roster that looks significantly different from a year ago, the Phoenix are still establishing their identity, but Saturday's performance showed promising signs.

Green Bay took control early, using a 13-3 run midway through the first quarter to build a 21-13 lead after the opening 10 minutes.

The Phoenix continued to pull away in the second quarter, outscoring the Ramblers 23-10 to take a commanding 44-23 advantage into halftime.

Green Bay never let up, opening the second half with six unanswered points and extending its lead to 62-32 heading into the fourth quarter.

Meghan Schultz led the Phoenix with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while Maddy Skorupski added 14 points and a game-high seven assists.

Kristina Ouimette finished with 10 points, McKenna Johnson added nine, and Ady Ketterhagen and Maren Westin each contributed eight.

The Phoenix shot 47.3% from the field and connected on 27 of their 31 free-throw attempts.

Defensively, Green Bay forced 23 turnovers while committing just seven of its own. The Phoenix converted those turnovers into 26 points and held Loyola Chicago to 32.7% shooting.

Green Bay also received 33 points from its bench, showing the depth of a team still finding its footing early in the season.

The Phoenix improve to 1-1 and will look to build on their momentum Wednesday, Nov. 11, when they travel to Illinois State for a 6:30 p.m. matchup against the Redbirds.

For a team building a new identity, Saturday was a strong first step on its home court.