GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Senior Ashley Green scored 30 points and junior Jaleesa Armstrong added 23 but the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team could not convert a big halftime lead into victory, falling to the University of North Dakota, 83-76, Tuesday evening at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
 
"I told the team before the game that this would be a statement win for our program to be able to beat an NCAA-Tournament team like North Dakota," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "We shot the ball extremely well in the first half but we struggled to keep them out of the paint. We have to build off of this and we know we can do it. If our players can lock into being that first-half team we saw tonight – that confident team – then we are going to have a great year."
 
The Panthers (1-1) scored 50 points in a half for the first time in over four years, only to see a complete reversal after halftime as North Dakota (1-1) went ahead with just over four minutes to play and fended off UWM from there.
 
Green became just the second player in program history to score 30-or-more points in back-to-back games (66 total points), joining Traci Edwards (72 in consecutive games in January of 2007) on the short list.
 
Green sank five three-pointers, added six rebounds and had a pair of steals. She has now made 63.2 percent (24-of-38) of her field goal attempts on the season.
 
Armstrong made five 3's of her own, adding four assists in 27 minutes. Junior Jordyn Swan also finished in double-figures with a career-high 12 points and six rebounds.
 
Mia Loyd had 18 of her team-high 20 points after the break as UND outscored the Panthers 51-26 in the second half. Leah Szabla added 19 points and Makailah Dyer chipped in with 14.
 
The Panthers blitzed UND in the first half with an amazing three-point attack. Milwaukee made 13-of-15 triples in the first half, a gaudy 86.7 percent from long range to build a lead to as many as 20 before settling in with an 18-point cushion at the break at 50-32.
 
"We knew that they pack it in a lot," Rechlicz said. "The game plan was to attack the paint and make kick-out passes. In the first half, we executed that very well."
 
Milwaukee finished the night with 16 made three's, just one off the school and league record of 17 it set in 2012 and actually a new school mark for a game that did not go into an overtime period.
 
UND, a team that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago and is ranked just outside the Mid-Major Top 25, needed to shoot 60.7 percent after intermission to fend off the Panthers, and held a large 28-12 advantage in points in the paint. North Dakota also out-rebounded the Panthers 38-23 in the contest.
 
After Milwaukee jumped out to an early lead, Armstrong drilled a trio of triples to push the advantage to 39-23 at the 5:03 mark.
 
Following a UND basket, Green hit another from distance and Swan followed suit on the next possession to give the Panthers their biggest lead of the day at 45-25 and silence the home crowd.
 
A cold start to the second half got UWM off on the wrong foot. Stuck on 50 for over five minutes, a 12-3 run made it a game and North Dakota continued to chip away from there.
 
"I think we lost our confidence," Rechlicz said. "I feel like North Dakota came out and punched first in the second half. And instead of punching back to retake control of the game, I felt like we just took the punches. It's not like they did all of the damage in the first two minutes. They kept chipping away and chipping away. We'd make mini-runs but never made a statement."
 
Armstrong's layup still had UWM in front by eight at 66-58 at the 8:02 mark, but Loyd put the home team on her back and took over. She scored seven straight points to make it 66-65 and, after a Green free throw, Bailey Strand hit a three that gave UND its first lead of the second half at 68-67.
 
Trailing by as many as seven, the Panthers made one final stand. A pair of Green free throws had them back within two at 78-76. They got a stop on the defensive end but saw a shot at the tie with 60 seconds remaining rim out.
 
Up next, the team heads back to Wisconsin and has the remainder of the week off to prepare for its home opener Saturday. UWM welcomes Bowling Green to the Klotsche Center for the rare 11 a.m. tip-off.