Box Score |  Quotes |  Notes

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (Dec. 2, 2005) - Freshman Emily Market deflected a pass in the paint and senior Molly O'Brien came up with the steal with 3.8 seconds remaining as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team held on for a 73-70 victory over Southeast Missouri State Friday evening at the Klotsche Center.

O'Brien immediately drew the foul with the Panthers ahead, 71-70, and hit both of her free throws for the team's second win over SEMO (3-3) this season. UWM came out on top, 90-87, in two overtimes when the teams met Nov. 25 in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Freshman Traci Edwards led four players in double-figures with a team-high 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Senior Nichole Drummond added 15 points and seven rebounds for Milwaukee. Tatiana Conceicao scored a game-high 28 points for the Redhawks.

Milwaukee had taken a six-point lead at 69-63 on a three-pointer by junior Megan Rogers with just over five minutes to go in the game. That lead fell to one when Wanika Owsley came up with a steal and found Simone Jackson for a lay-up to make it 71-70 with 1:06 to go. After a Panther miss, Conceicao came up with the rebound and SEMO called timeout.

Southeast came out of the timeout with 24 seconds on the clock, but could not get a shot off. Following the two O'Brien free throws, Tiffane Ryan missed an off-balance three at the buzzer.

"It was like a mirror image of last Friday," head coach Sandy Botham said referring to the double-overtime game these two teams played Nov. 25 in Missouri. "I'm proud of our team for hanging in there and getting the win in regulation. Especially against one of the top teams in the Ohio Valley Conference and one that won 22 games last season."

The Panthers won despite shooting just 37.7 percent, but cleaned up on the boards, 36-25, and committed a season-low 15 turnovers. UWM also got to the free throw line 37 times, converting on 28 for a 75.7 percentage. Meanwhile, Southeast Missouri State shot 54.3 percent from the field and 53.3 on three-pointers, but committed 19 turnovers.

"I thought we were really aggressive on the offensive end and did a great job controlling the boards," Botham said. "Rebounds and turnovers have been our Achilles heel in the past few games. We talked about it, emphasized it in practice and I thought we did a good job of it today."

Coming out of halftime trailing by one, the Redhawks opened the second half on a 9-2 run and built a 47-41 lead when Conceicao converted a three-point play just under four minutes into the half. From that point, Milwaukee came alive going on an 8-0 run ignited by an Edwards three-point play.

UWM hit then three free throws to tie it and went ahead 49-47 on a lay-up by Markert at the 14-minute mark. The game went back and forth until Edwards put the Panthers up for good with a pair of free throws, making it 55-54 with 10:59 to play. Milwaukee would build its lead to seven at 61-54 a minute and a half later and then hold on down the stretch for the win.

Both teams came out of the gates firing in the first half, hitting on a combined 66.7 percent of their shots (14-21) heading into the second media timeout with 11:03 to go before the half. At the time, Milwaukee held the 20-18 lead after leading by as many as five in the early goings.

Even after the Panthers' shooting touch began to fade, they held their own with the hot-shooting Redhawks by crashing the boards and getting to the line. For the half, UWM shot just 41.4 percent but held the 17-11 rebounding advantage, including nine offensive boards, and hit on 12-of-14 free throws. UWM also committed just six turnovers in the half, compared to eight assists. Meanwhile, SEMO shot 60.9 percent from the field and was forced into eight turnovers.

"We knew we could take advantage of them on offense if we penetrated," Botham said. "We were aggressive going to the basket and it paid off for us in trips to the free throw line."

Milwaukee fell down by four on a number of occasions during the first half, but battled back to take a 39-38 lead into halftime when Onson hit a three-pointer 36 seconds before the break.

Rogers, with 13 points, and Onson with 10 also reached double figures for the Panthers, while Conceicao was the only Redhawk over nine.

UWM returns to action with its third game in five days Sunday at South Dakota State. The Panthers and Jackrabbits will tip off at 2 p.m. in Brookings, S.D.