Box Score

Sierra Ford-Washington's game-winning shot

Cleveland State CSU 5-17, 2-10 HL

Milwaukee UWM 13-9, 7-4 HL

Cleveland State CSU

5-17, 2-10 HL

Final

Feb. 11, 2016

Milwaukee UWM

13-9, 7-4 HL

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	OT 1	F
Cleveland State CSU	12	9	14	16	7	58
Milwaukee UWM	17	17	9	8	8	59

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | February 11, 2016

Milwaukee Fends Off CSU In Overtime

Ford-Washington’s jumper with 6 seconds left wins it for UWM

MILWAUKEE – Sierra Ford-Washington picked a good time for her only basket of the game.

The junior hit a tough jumper in the lane with 6.7 seconds left on the clock to give the Milwaukee women's basketball team a thrilling 59-58 overtime victory over Cleveland State University Thursday afternoon in front of over 2,000 fans inside the Klotsche Center.

UWM (13-9, 7-4 Horizon) led by as many as 16 in the third quarter before going cold offensively and see CSU (5-17, 2-10 Horizon) storm back to take a two point lead with 27 seconds left in regulation.

But Emma Roenneburg calmly sank a pair of free throws with four seconds left on the clock to force overtime, setting up Ford-Washington's big game winner in the OT.

"Sierra is one of those players that it doesn't matter how she's been playing throughout the game, I want the ball in her hands when it's crunch time," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "She is such a leader. She has come from an experienced program where she has been in those situations a lot, and I knew if we put the ball in her hands something good would come out of it.

"She hit a tough shot. That's that leadership from an upperclassman that you need on the floor toward the end of the game."

While Ford-Washington hit the winner, Jenny Lindner helped set things up with a huge game for Milwaukee, leading the way in scoring with 17 points and rebounding with 14 boards for her third double-double of the season.

"I challenged Jenny before today's game," Rechlicz said. "I the first half of conference she actually only had eight offensive rebounds. And I told her that's not good enough. You're one of our best players on the floor and you play a significant amount of minutes and you've got to get rebounds for us.

"She put it in her head that she can be a rebounder tonight and she was amazing. Every single rebound – even ones she didn't get to – she had her hands on. For her to get four offensive rebounds in one game just shows that she can be that player – that dominant player.

"She stepped up big for us."

Steph Kostowicz added 11 points and five boards before fouling out and Sydney Howard and Alexis Lindstrom both scored nine to go with a pair of steals each.

Ashanti Abshaw was a force for Cleveland State in this one, netting 20 points to go with her season-high 17 rebounds.

After an early 12-8 Viking lead, the Panther offense got a big spark from the crowd of over 2,000 grade school students on hand. A trio of layups followed by a three from the corner by Kelsey Cunningham and Milwaukee led 17-12 after 10 minutes.

A jumper by Roenneburg just 1:30 into the second quarter stretched the lead to 24-12 to cap the Panther run at 16-0. Kostowicz hit a tough runner just before the buzzer to give her team a 34-21 lead at the half with all things going Milwaukee's direction.

The second half was a different story though for UWM. The Panthers shot just 5-27 (18.5 percent) from the floor in the second 20 minutes and saw their 16-point lead early in the third turn into a two-point CSU advantage with 27 seconds left after a free throw from Khayla Livingston.

Lindstrom's jumper with 10 seconds left was just off, but Roenneburg, a freshman, grabbed the rebound, was fouled and calmly hit a pair of free throws with four seconds left to send it to overtime.

The Vikings scored the first five points in the extra period and it started to look like Milwaukee's cold shooting might doom them in.

That was until Lindner took over.

The Neillsville native scored six-straight points for the Panthers to bring it to 58-57 after her three-pointer with 42 seconds left. Milwaukee's defense played tough, got the ball back and set it up for Ford-Washington's big shot.

CSU had one last chance, but Ford-Washington came up with one of her season-high four steals to seal the win for the Panthers.

Cleveland State actually outshot Milwaukee for the game, 32.8 percent vs. 32.4, while UWM claimed a narrow 50-48 edge in rebounding.

Milwaukee returns to the Klotsche Center for its next game, a Saturday contest against Youngstown State schedule for 2 p.m. The Panthers will don their pink jerseys as part of the annual "Pink Out" game.

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