Dec. 30, 2004

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team held a two-point lead at the half but couldn't maintain it as the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay ran away with a 63-46 victory in the Horizon League opener for both teams here Thursday (Dec. 28). UWGB outscored UWM 42-23 in the second half to improve to 9-2 overall and 1-0 in the league while the Panthers fell to 3-7 overall and 0-1 in league action.

"UW-Green Bay showed why they are a championship team," UWM head coach Sandy Botham said. "They went on that second half run and our players just fell apart. We panicked and we just quit playing. We showed no fight and no competitiveness at all. That is disappointing."

Both teams struggled to score in the first half as Milwaukee's zone defense slowed down the tempo of the game. UW-Green Bay's Abby Scharlow scored the first five points of the game to give the Phoenix a 5-0 cushion at the 18:35 mark but Kimberly Becker scored five straight UWM points to cut the gap to two, 7-5, at 15:40.

Milwaukee grabbed its first lead of the game, 8-7, on a Nichole Drummond jumper at 12:35 and went up by two, 14-12, on a Drummond triple with 9:25 remaining in the half. Tiffany Mor connected on a three-point play to give UWGB the one-point lead three minutes later but a Molly O'Brien layup and three-pointer and a Drummond transition bucket gave the Panthers a 21-17 lead, its largest of the game, with 1:42 on the clock. UWGB tied the game at 21 but Teri Huff's jumper with under a minute remaining gave the Panthers the 23-21 lead at the break.

Milwaukee held UW-Green Bay to 29.6% shooting in the first half and just 13.3% (2-for-15) shooting from the three-point line. UWM shot only 30.8% overall from the half but hit four-of-ten three pointers in the frame.

Green Bay turned up its offense in the second half and found the range from long distance to grab the lead back early in the half. Tricia Grassel nailed three, three-pointers and Abby Scharlow connected on one as UWGB raced out to a 35-27 lead with 15:50 remaining in the game. Scharlow nailed another three to make it 38-27 before three Panther free throws cut the lead to eight.

Unfortunately for UWM the push would be shortlived as the visitors scored the next six points and 14 of the next 16 to post a 50-32 bulge with 6:39 to go. Amanda Cook drilled a three-pointer to get the Panthers back to within 15, 50-35, but the hosts could get no closer the remainder of the way.

Drummond led all players with 16 points to go with three rebounds, three assists, and two steals while O'Brien chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds. Scharlow led UWGB with 15 points along with six boards and three assists with Nicole Soulis added 12 points off the bench. UW-Green Bay shot 55.6% from the field in the second half while nailing six-of-10 from downtown. Conversely, Milwaukee shot just 24.0% in the second half to go with seven turnovers.

UWM will look for its first league win of the season when it faces Butler University on Monday (Jan. 3). The Panthers and Bulldogs will square off at 6:00 p.m. at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind.

Game Notes

* UWM lost a regular season home Horizon League game for just the fourth time in its last 39 games

* The 27.5% field goal percentage is the lowest by a UWM team since last year's squad shot 25.8% at New Hampshire on Dec. 12, 2003

* Milwaukee closed out the 2004 calendar year with a 16-13 record

* Nichole Drummond has now scored in double figures in nine of the ten games this season

* Freshman walkon Emily Huss hit a three-pointer in the final minute for her first career points