Jan. 23, 2003

Box Score

DAYTON, OHIO - Maria Viall scored a game-best 28 points and tied a school-record with 21 rebounds to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team to a second-half rally and a 76-65 victory over Wright State University here Thursday (Jan. 23). Viall and senior Jessica Wilhite each scored 18 second half points as UWM outscored the hosts 50-31 in the frame to improve to 7-10 overall and 3-4 in the Horizon League. With the loss, Wright State fell to 5-11 on the season and 3-3 in the league.

The Panthers took control of a sloppy game in the early portion, building as much as a six-point lead, 14-8, with 11:29 left in the first half. UWM then became careless with the ball and the Raiders capitalized on numerous turnovers to go up 15-14 at the 8:41 mark on a Tiffany Webb layup. WSU then scored 11 of the next 17 points to grab a 26-20 lead on a pair of Kendra Agee free throws with 4:39 left.

Wright State took a 34-26 lead into the half despite shooting 28.2% from the floor. Milwaukee committed 16 first half turnovers and connected on just 35.5% of its shots. Meanwhile, WSU turned the ball over just twice in the first half as Webb led all scorers with 12 points. Viall paced the Panthers with 10 points and 12 boards in the stanza.

Milwaukee turned the tide in a hurry in the second half, scoring the first eight points of the frame to tie the game at 34 with a Wilhite jumper at the 17:01 mark. Two Jill Ransdell free throws gave WSU a quick two point lead but six consecutive points gave UWM a 40-36 lead with 13:35 left.

Wright State made one last push midway through the second half as two consecutive Webb buckets tied the game at 44 with 10:59 left. Wilhite then took control of the game and hit three, three-point buckets in a 1:02 span to give the Panthers a seven-point lead they would not relinquish. Viall then took over the game and scored 14 points in the game's last nine minutes as UWM never led by less than eight points the rest of the way.

Milwaukee shot 58.1% for the second half and took care of the ball much better, committing just six turnovers. Viall finished the night 12-18 from the field and added two blocked shots to go with her first-ever "twenty-twenty" performance. Wilhite connected on 8 of 15 shots on the night and four of six from three point territory to finish with 22 points. UWM outrebounded the Raiders 53-27 on the game and won for the first time on the year after trailing at the half.

UWM will look to win back-to-back games for the first time all season Saturday (Jan. 25) when they head to Indianapolis, Ind. to face Butler University. The game is set for 1 p.m. CST at Hinkle Field House on the BU campus.