MILWAUKEE - Tay'ler Mingo scored 17 of her game-high 23 points in the second half as Wright State University broke open a close contest at halftime with a strong finish in claiming an 80-58 victory Wednesday evening at UWM Panther Arena.
 
The Panthers (5-10, 1-2 Horizon League) held the high-powered Raiders (13-4, 2-1 Horizon League) to just 31 first-half points, but a big scoring run opened up the contest and UWM was unable to mount a comeback.
 
"Wright State did a great job in the second half and it is something that we can really learn from in how to play a team that is aggressive as Wright State is," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "I thought we moved really well in the first half and had some really good leadership in keeping our team focused. But that's why I love our conference, we always get to play everybody twice. We will be able to make the adjustments and put ourselves in a better position."
 
Junior Jaleesa Armstrong paced Milwaukee with 17 points, tying her season high with five rebounds. Senior Ashley Green posted her fourth double-double of the season and 13^th of her career with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
 
Jenny Lindner, the reigning Horizon League Freshman of the Week, added 16 points and four rebounds, making all six of her free throw attempts.
 
Abby Jump added a career-high 15 points in just 14 minutes off the bench for WSU.
 
After the Panthers cut the lead back to one in the waning minutes of the first, the Raiders scored the final four points of the period and the first four of second half to build the lead back to nine at 35-26. An overall run of 25-7 gave them the lead at 52-33 on a pair of free throws with 13:32 remaining.
 
"We told them at halftime, it was kind of the same story as their game against Detroit [when WSU trailed by 8 at halftime]," Rechlicz said. "It was a very close game and then they just turned the jets on. They picked up the pressure and started scoring a little more off of steals and Mingo started taking over."
 
Mingo, the leading scorer in the Horizon League, finished 8-of-17 from the floor but the Milwaukee defense forced her into making seven turnovers.
 
Mistakes also hurt the Panthers. The team came into the night averaging just 16 turnovers a game, but hit that total with 13 minutes left in the contest and finished with 21. Foul trouble also hurt. Green picked up her fourth with over 13 minutes remaining and two other players fouled out.
 
One major WSU push made the difference over the first 20 minutes, with a 14-2 spurt that included 11 points in a row at one time turning a three point Milwaukee lead into the Raiders biggest advantage of the half.
 
The Panthers led early, up 8-4 on a layup by Green off a nice pass by Armstrong. They then led 12-11 at the 10-minute mark on a steal and fastbreak bucket by Armstrong and made it 14-11 on a Green layup. The defense held WSU without a point for a four-minute stretch.
 
Wright State went on that surge at that point, eventually building a nine-point advantage at 25-16. UWM quickly responded with 10-2 spurt to trim margin to just one at 27-26 on an Armstrong three-pointer.
 
Up next, the Panthers head up I-43 for a matchup with perennial Horizon League power Green Bay Saturday. Tip off is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Kress Center.