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Steph Kostowicz
Steph Kostowicz
80
Winner Milwaukee UWM 14-6, 6-3
78
Cleveland State CSU 10-10, 5-4
Winner
Milwaukee UWM
14-6, 6-3
80
Final
78
Cleveland State CSU
10-10, 5-4
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Milwaukee UWM 14 27 12 27 80
Cleveland State CSU 22 15 21 20 78

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Kostowicz Beats Buzzer To Sink Vikings

Panthers have déjà vu win over CSU

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Steph Kostowicz's reverse layup just before the buzzer sent the Milwaukee women's basketball team home with a thrilling 80-78 victory over Cleveland State Thursday morning in front of a school day crowd of 1,329 from the Wolstein Center.
 
Milwaukee (14-6, 6-3 Horizon) started the game slowly and faced a barrage right out of the gates from the host Vikings (10-10, 5-4 Horizon), only to erase an early 13-point deficit in the first half alone.
 
The game featured eight ties and 13 lead changes. It was also awfully reminiscent of the last time the two teams met – a 59-58 Panther win at home over the Vikings after Sierra Ford-Washington hit a game winner with just seconds left on the clock last February.
 
"This was quite a game," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "We didn't start off very strong. They (CSU) were hitting threes. I thought they did a great job of understanding our defense to start. We made a few adjustments and were able to take the lead at half, but we knew this was going to be a battle. They have two of the best scorers in the league in Abshaw and Livingston.
 
"I'm just really proud of our teams' resilience on the road. We continued to feed who was hot in Alexis Lindstrom. We got her the ball and that was awesome. Steph was finishing around the basket, Jenny hit some big shots – we really are in this position right now because we have so many different scorers, combined with a more than capable bench."
 
Alexis Lindstrom led all scorers in this one with a season-high 21 points, going 5-of-8 from behind the arc.
 
Kostowicz finished the game with 17 points and nine rebounds. Jenny Lindner and Lizzie Odegard each added 14 points, while Sierra Ford-Washington once again stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
 
Khayla Livingston led Cleveland State with 20 points as one of four Vikings in double figures.
 
Milwaukee got out of the gates slowly in the early contest, while facing an early assault from the hosts. CSU connected on four of its first six three-pointers and jumped out to a 22-9 lead less than seven minutes into the game. Milwaukee was able to limit the damage from there but still trailed 22-14 heading into the first break.
 
That slight momentum shift carried over into the second quarter where the Panthers cut the lead to 22-18 to cap a 9-0 run at the 8:03 mark. After a brief spurt by the Vikings to make it 35-27, UWM blasted used five different scorers and blasted off a 14-0 run to suddenly make it 41-35 Panthers with 53 seconds left in the half.
 
It was a back-and-forth game from there, leading up to the final few minutes.
 
A layup by Ford-Washington gave UWM a 65-64 edge with 6:19 left in the fourth, only to see Cleveland State score six straight for a 70-65 lead at the 5:36 mark. Milwaukee answered right back with back-to-back buckets from Lindner and Kostowicz, followed by a mid-range jumper from Lindner and just like that UWM reclaimed the lead at 71-70 with 3:43 to play.
 
With just under one minute remaining, Ford-Washington just beat the shot clock on a driving lay in to give Milwaukee a 78-76 advantage. CSU tied things back up on a basket by Abshaw with 31 seconds left in the game, setting up the Panthers final possession.
 
Ford-Washington started with the ball at the top, before passing to Kostowicz at the right elbow with six seconds left. The forward paused before driving hard to the baseline, adjusting to the help defense and going up-and-under for the reverse layup just before the final horn to send the Panthers home with the win.
 
Milwaukee won the rebounding battle, 39-39, and had a slight edge in shooting, 50.9% (29-57)-46.8% (29-62). The Panther bench also outscored its counterpart in a decisive way, 16-2.
 
The Panthers continue their road swing through northeast Ohio on Saturday with a 3:30 pm Central Time game at Youngstown State.
 
 
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