SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Green Bay got physical with top-ranked Notre Dame and gave the Fighting Irish about all they could take.The Phoenix (2-1) rallied from 17 points down midway through the third quarter and narrowed the lead to five points three times in the final 4 minutes before finally falling 71-67 in a Preseason WNIT semifinal Thursday night.The Irish (3-0) shot just 33 percent in the second half and 36 percent for the game. Arike Ogunbowale led the Irish with 18 points but didnt hit another basket after making a 15-foot jumper to extend Notre Dames lead to 17 points.Jessica Lindstrom led the Phoenix with 20 points and 16 rebounds, hitting a 3-pointer to cut Notre Dames lead to 69-64 with 19 seconds left. But Marina Mabrey, who finished with 13 points, hit two free throws to give the Irish a seven-point lead with 16 seconds left.Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw was disappointed with the Irish, saying they were ragged on offense and struggled defensively against Green Bays screens.Theyre so experienced. Theyre poised. Theyre well coached. Theyre disciplined. Offensively they were really hard to guard and defensively they made it really difficult to get the ball in the post, she said.The Irish, who normally dominate inside, had only a 28-24 advantage inside against the Phoenix and Green Bays reserves outscored Notre Dames bench 22-8.The Phoenix shot 64 percent in the second half and 45 percent for the game.We changed a little bit of the schematic and tried to put it so we could drive it and spread them out a little more, which helped us, Green Bay coach Kevin Borseth said. But we hit some shots, some big shots.Players on both sides described the game as physical.But I feel like thats just part of the game nowadays, Lindstrom said.McGraw believes having such a tough challenge will help the Irish.Hopefully we learned a lot from it. I thought we made some big plays in the end when we had to. But overall, just really disappointing, she said. We looked like the younger team on the floor, and I think we were. But I think we can play a lot smarter.BIG PICTUREGreen Bay: The Phoenix, the favorites to win the Horizon League, played their first game ever against a No. 1 ranked team and stayed within reach throughout the game as they gave the Irish all they could handle.Notre Dame: The Irish struggled offensively early against the Phoenix, who ranked ninth nationally in scoring defense last season at 52.2 points a game, but managed to pull out the victory despite being held to 36 percent shooting.POLL IMPLICATIONS:Green Bay: The Phoenix were already receiving votes and likely could well move into the rankings with an impressive showing on the road.Notre Dame: The Irish may be hard-pressed to keep the No. 1 ranking after struggling on its home court against an unranked opponent.TIP-INS: The Irish were 0 of 5 from 3-point range in the second half after going 5 of 8 in the first half. ... Green Bay was 6 of 9 from 3-point range in the third quarter. ... The Irish have players from 10 states on their roster. Every player on Green Bay is from Wisconsin. ... The Phoenix dropped to 1-2 all-time against the Irish, with the win coming in 1987.UP NEXTGreen Bay: The Phoenix are knocked out of the Preseason WNIT. Green Bay plays road games against Belmont, Chattanooga and Bradley before returning home to face Drake on Dec. 3.Notre Dame: The Irish will play No. 17 Washington in the Preseason WNIT final at South Bend on Sunday. The Irish then play at Louisiana-Lafayette on Tuesday. Cheap Football Ghana Jerseys . But by the time the game started, the Toronto Raptors forward felt even worse. And, for three quarters, it showed as Gay shot a woeful three-for-13 from the field. Cheap Ghana Soccer Jerseys . -- Charlie Graham stopped 67 shots as the Belleville Bulls edged the visiting Guelph Storm 6-5 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. http://www.cheapghanajerseys.com/ . The Olympic champion curler and TSN curling analyst immediately went online to look at the Halls long list of honoured members. Thats when the enormity of the honour sunk in. Womens Ghana Jerseys . The 26-year-old Ireland striker, who has four goals this season, has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with his new club. Replica Ghana Jerseys .com) - The Chicago Blackhawks aim for their third three-game winning streak of the season when they host the struggling Edmonton Oilers in Sundays battle at the United Center. CLEVELAND -- The Browns continued their methodical housecleaning by sweeping out another first-round pick.Cornerback Justin Gilbert, who never lived up to being the No. 8 overall pick in 2014, was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday for a sixth-round draft pick in 2018 and Cleveland also released wide receiver Taylor Gabriel as it trimmed its roster to the NFL-required 53 players.Gilbert was a major disappointment almost from the moment he began with the Browns. He started in just three games over two seasons in which he never seemed to mesh with his teammates on or off the field. The 24-year-old made only one interception and never delivered on the big-play potential he showed after starring at Oklahoma State.Gilberts departure wasnt entirely a surprise. On Friday, coach Hue Jackson said the defensive back had shown some signs of improvement this summer but did not guarantee he would make the roster.With Gilbert gone, the Browns dont have any of the players they selected in the first round from 2011-14. Phil Taylor, Trent Richardson, Brandon Weeden, Barkevious Mingo and Johnny Manziel -- all first-round picks -- preceded Gilbert out of town. Clevelands new front office recently traded Mingo to New England and the troubled Manziel was released in March.The Browns have made three trades in the past week and the roster is likely to undergo further changes in the next 48 hours.In getting down 53, the Browns released Gabriel, who had 64 catches over the past two seasons.The 25-year-old Gabriel figured to have an edge after a long punt return in Thursdays loss to Chicago. However, the Browns decided to keep the four rookies they drafted this year -- Corey Coleman, Ricardo Louis, Jordan Payton and Rashard Higgins -- along with veterans Andrew Hawkins and Terrelle Pryor over Gabriel. Wide receiver Josh Gordon is suspended for the first four games because of multiple drug violations and does not count against the roster.Weve gotten a lot bigger, weve got younger and I think weve gotten better, first-year coach Hue Jackson saidd.dddddddddddd Having Terrelle Pryor and obviously our draft pick Corey Coleman is good, and its great to see Terrelle come on. Obviously, getting Josh Gordon back on our football team is huge. Youre talking about one of the better receivers in the league, and weve got to make sure we hold this thing together until he can get back and were looking forward to having him back.Also, the Browns addressed their punting issue by signing former Denver punter Britton Colquitt to a one-year contract.The Browns had been looking for a punter since trading three-time Pro Bowler Andy Lee to Carolina earlier this week for a fourth-round pick. On Thursday, punters Kasey Redfern and Mike Palardy both shanked kicks badly in a loss to Chicago. Redfern and Palardy were both released.The 31-year-old Colquitt spent six seasons with the defending Super Bowl champion Broncos, who cut him on Tuesday. He has averaged 45.2 yards per punt in his career.Its great that we had the opportunity to add a quality veteran punter. Obviously, we let a really good one go, but its tremendous that our personnel staff was able to quickly bring someone to our team who has had success in this league and has some skins on the wall, said Jackson, who vowed to fix the punting problem after the Browns lost 21-7 to the Bears. Were excited about the opportunity to work with him.Colquitts brother, Dustin, punts for Kansas City. Their dad, Craig, punted for Pittsburgh from 1978-84.On a busy day, the Browns learned they may face Eagles rookie quarterback Carson Wentz in the Sept. 11 season opener. Philadelphia traded Sam Bradford to Minnesota on Saturday, clearing the way for Wentz to take over if hes recovered from cracked ribs.The Browns could have taken Wentz in the draft but opted to trade the No. 2 overall pick to the Eagles, who gave Cleveland their first-round pick in 2017 to move up.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL White NFL Jerseys Cheap Cheap Jerseys Youth NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale Jerseys 2018 Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Hoodies Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys ' ' '