Jan. 13, 2000

CLEVELAND - The UWM women's basketball team began the conference season in winning fashion with a 70-69 victory against MCC rival Cleveland State on Thursday night.

"This is one of the toughest road swings in the conference (Cleveland State and Detroit), so to get a conference win on the road here is huge," said UWM coach Sandy Botham.

The Panthers improve to 7-7 on the season, 1-0 in MCC play. Cleveland State falls to 8-6, 0-2 in league play.

Three Panthers scored in double figures in the game, led by freshman guard Jessica Wilhite's 15 points. Janelle Jonason added 12 and Daryl Schaffeld scored 11 for UWM.

Jonason led UWM with eight rebounds. Teri Stoltenberg added five points, four assists and seven rebounds.

"We had good depth tonight," said Botham. "That's the kind of total team effort that helps us win basketball games."

The Panthers led by eight points at halftime, 28-20, but hit their first five three-pointers of the second half en route to a 49-32 lead with 13:30 remaining. But the Vikings rallied with an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to a single digit, 51-43, with 9:13 remaining. "I always think of Cleveland State as a second-half team," said Botham. "We can't let down in the second half, especially on the road."

The Vikings continued to whittle away at the Panthers' lead. UWM lead by seven, 66-59, with 3:12 remaining, but CSU scored 10 of the game's last 14 points.

Cleveland State's Mahogany Green hit a jumper with eight seconds left to cut UWM's lead to two, 70-68. Green then stole the inbounds pass and was fouled with a second left in the game. She hit her first free throw and missed the second.

Cleveland State's Audra Cook scored a game-high 26 points and collected 17 rebounds.

UWM travels to Detroit for a Saturday game.