Dec. 21, 2002

MILWAUKEE - Anna DeForge's putback basket off of her own miss with 0.9 seconds remaining propelled Wisconsin AAU to an 82-81 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in exhibition women's basketball action here Saturday (Dec. 21). Milwaukee outscored AAU 45-37 in the second half after falling behind 45-36 at the half but the second half rally fell short.

Wisconsin AAU controlled the game from the beginning as UWM never had the lead in the first stanza. The exhibition team, comprised of former college stars from the state of Wisconsin, built as much as a 19-point cushion, 39-20, on a DeeDee Pate layup with 6:22 left. UWM battled back and went on a 12-0 run to cut the lead to 39-32 with 1:40 remaining in the half. Reserve point guard Kerri St. Aubin notched four assists during the run while freshman Nichole Drummond scored six of her eight points.

Milwaukee scored the first seven points of the second half, five from Jessica Wilhite, to cut the AAU lead to 45-43 at the 18:17 mark. A jumper by Anna DeForge pushed the AAU lead back to eight, 51-43, with 17:07 remaining, before the Panthers scored eight straight to knot the contest at 51-all. Led by a three-pointer and two free throws from Abby Garchek, Wisconsin grabbed a seven-point bulge, 58-51, with 13:54 left in the contest before UWM made another late game run.

The two teams traded blows before Milwaukee tied the game again, this time at 74 with 3:35 remaining on a Maria Viall jumper from the baseline. After two free throws by DeForge, Milwaukee grabbed its first lead of the game, 77-76, on Wilhite's eighth three-ball of the contest.

The Panthers appeared to put the game out of reach with 46 seconds remaining when two Wilhite free throws, her 33rd and 34th points of the game, put the home team ahead 81-77. However DeForge, the former University of Nebraska star, drilled a three-pointer on the next possession to make it 81-80. On the ensuing sequence, DeForge corralled Wilhite's miss with 14 seconds left, drove down the court, missed a jumper, grabbed her own rebound, and banked home the subsequent game-winner with under a second remaining. Milwaukee did not get a shot off on its last possession of the game.

Wilhite led all scorers with 34 points on 8-15 shooting from three-point land. Viall added 17 points and 20 rebounds while Becker nothced 16 points and 10 boards. DeForege paced Wisconsin AAU with 26 points and 13 rebounds while Garchek added 26 points of her own.

Milwaukee will return to regular season action next Saturday (Dec. 28) when it plays host to the University of San Francisco. The UWM-USF contest is set to begin at 2 p.m. in the Klotsche Center.