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Coaches win over Wisconsin
63
Wisconsin WIS 1-4
80
Winner Milwaukee UWM 3-1
Wisconsin WIS
1-4
63
Final
80
Milwaukee UWM
3-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Wisconsin WIS 13 14 11 25 63
Milwaukee UWM 18 21 16 25 80

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Panthers End Streak With Big Win Over Badgers

Rechlicz leads Milwaukee past former team

MILWAUKEE – Jenny Lindner led all players with 28 points and Sierra Ford-Washington added another 27 as the Milwaukee women's basketball team recorded a big home win, taking down in-state rival Wisconsin, 80-63, Tuesday night from the Klotsche Center.
 
The win is the first for Milwaukee (3-1) in the series since Dec. 15, 1992, ending a 17-game run by Wisconsin (1-4).
 
For Panther head coach Kyle Rechlicz, this marks her first win over the Badgers – the team she played for collegiately and was an assistant coach with prior to being named Milwaukee's head coach.
 
"I don't count this any bigger than any other win," Rechlicz said. "Wisconsin is still trying to find their identity, but they've got some really great pieces.
 
"I thought our team really played Milwaukee basketball today. We talked about it in the locker room that this wasn't a game about who we're playing – we don't ever want to focus on that, we want to focus on ourselves and our team did that. We played with heart, we played with energy and our upperclassmen and leadership really stepped up.
 
"Everybody stepped up to the challenge. It was just a really fun atmosphere."
 
Lindner was money all night long, going 9-19 from the floor and a perfect 9-9 from the free throw line for her 28 points, grabbing 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the young season.
 
Ford-Washington was also huge for the Panthers, coming up with countless clutch shots on the way for 27 points on 9-15 shooting – including 3-6 from behind the arc.
 
"I think they were aggressive and they went north to south," Rechlicz said. "We were really in attack mode – especially those two (Lindner and Ford-Washington). The best part about it though was you have Steph and Alexis and everybody off the bench that were all so unselfish in those critical situations.
 
"When the clock was running down - Sierra would run and get the ball and people were willing to give it to her because they knew she could make a play. That's trust. That's our team trusting in who is playing well in that moment to be successful and I love that about our team. There's no selfishness at all."
 
Steph Kostowicz notched her third double-double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
 
Cayla McMorris led Wisconsin with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The two teams took their time feeling things out in the early going, with the first 18 points being split evenly for a 9-9 tie at the first media timeout. But, from there on out, Milwaukee showed they were the aggressors and the better team in this one.
 
UWM quickly built a seven-point edge after a layup by Alyssa Fischer with just 27 seconds left in the first quarter, and that lead only grew from there.
 
After UW rallied to within three on a pair of occasions early in the second, the Panthers rattled off a nine-point run, with all the scoring coming from Milwaukee's two-headed monster on the night.
 
Lindner sank a pair of free throws just before halftime and UWM claimed a 39-27 lead going into the break.
 
The Badgers kept fighting all the way, but Milwaukee continued to have an answer all night long. After a free throw from former Panther Avyanna Young cut the lead to 37-32 at the 8:22 mark early in the third, the panthers again went on another run. Ford-Washington and Lindner had three-straight lay-ins, followed by huge three from Kostowicz to quickly make it 50-34 for the home team.
 
Bailey Farley hit a jumper from the elbow to beat the buzzer at the end of the third to give Milwaukee a 17-point cushion with 10 minutes remaining.
 
Wisconsin would cut the lead to 11 with 6:45 to go, but Lindner made a sweet pass in the lane to find a cutting Kostowicz for an up-and-under move to end the Badgers' run.
 
UW again tried their best to gain momentum and clawed by to within 11 at the 4:03 mark, but Ford-Washington drilled a three on the next possession remove all doubt.
 
The Panthers stretched the lead to as much as 20 before finishing with a 17-point victory – just the second win over Wisconsin since moving to Division I in 1990.
 
The two teams finished tied in the rebounding column, 41-41, while Milwaukee outshot the Badgers on the night, 41.7 percent to 37.9 and forced 17 UW turnovers.

Milwaukee was also clutch from the free-throw line in this one, going 24-26 from the charity stripe. 
 
Up next for UWM is a trip out east, heading to the TD Bank Classic hosted by Vermont. The Panthers will play LIU-Brooklyn on Friday at 4 pm Central, before a Saturday contest against the other side of the bracket.
 
 
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