Feb. 12, 2005

Box Score

CLEVELAND - Nichole Drummond scored a career-high 24 points and Kiley Johnson added a career-best 20 as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee posted a 69-61 victory over Cleveland State University in Horizon League women's basketball action here Saturday (Feb. 12). The Panthers improved to 12-11 overall and 9-3 in the league while CSU falls to 3-20 overall and 2-10 in league action.

Head coach Sandy Botham decided to shake things up following Thursday's loss to IPFW as she started five new players versus Cleveland State. Kerri St. Aubin and Kiley Johnson were making their first starts of the season while freshmen Emily Huss, Meghan Klein, and Elisha Hudson all registered their first career starts.

Milwaukee came out with a lot of energy early but struggled to find the basket as as Cleveland State grabbed leads of 7-2 and then 11-5 with 13:13 to play in the game. The Panther offense received a kick start when leading scorer Nichole Drummond entered the game with 13 minutes left in the game. Drummond scored seven of Milwaukee's next nine points to tie the game at 14 with 10:01 left in the half.

UWM continued to forge ahead and took its largest lead of the half, 24-18, on a Drummond three-ball from the right corner at the 5:32 mark. The Panthers struggled from the field the remainder of the half and made just two shots the rest of the half. CSU outscored Milwaukee 10-4 to end the half as the two teams went into the break tied at 28.

Cleveland State shot 50.0% from the field in the half while the Panthers shot just 29.7% for the frame. Milwaukee committed just seven turnovers in the half while forcing the Vikings to commit 11 miscues.

Milwaukee quickly grabbed the lead just a few minutes into the second half when an Emily Huss 18-footer gave the Panthers a 31-28 cushion with 18:47 left to play. CSU quickly went on a run and scored 11 of the next 13 points to go ahead 39-33 thanks to three, three-pointers. Johnson drilled three-balls on the next two UWM possessions to make it a 42-39 game. Drummond connected on two free throws with 13:06 to play. Milwaukee had four different chances to grab the lead but failed to score and Cleveland State kept control of the game.

The Panthers battled back and took a 52-49 lead on a Megan Rogers layin with 6;32 left. Another Rickards trifecta tied the game but UWM went on a 14-1 run over the next 4:35 to go ahead for good, 66-53. Cleveland State hit two three-pointers late but it wasn't enough as the Panthers posted the eight-point victory.

Drummond hit eight-of-10 shots from the field and went six-of-seven for the line for her career game while Johnson drilled a season-high three, three-pointers in her 20-point, five-rebound, three-assist showing. Rogers added 11 off the bench for Milwaukee which shot 48.3% from the floor and posted a positive 17-13 assist-to-turnover ratio on the day. Maria Rickards led CSU with 18 points while Erin Martin added 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Milwaukee returns to action on Thursday (Feb.17) when it hosts UIC in a crucial league showdown. UIC is currently one-half game ahead of UWM in the race for second place in the league.