Feb. 3, 2005

Box Score

DAYTON, OHIO - Aubrey Hampton made four free throws in the final 30 seconds to help the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team hold on for a 57-53 victory over Wright State University in Horizon League action here Thursday (Feb. 3). The Panthers, who trailed just once in the game, moved to 10-10 overall and 7-3 in the league while moving ahead of WSU in the Horizon League race. With the loss Wright State dropped to 12-9 overall and 6-4 in league action.

WSU scored the first two points of the game before Milwaukee grabbed the lead for good by scoring the next six points to grab a 6-2 cushion with 14:37 left in the half. Both teams struggled with turnovers and shooting the ball through much of the first half while UWM could never grab a comfortable lead. Wright State cut the lead to one, 16-15, at the 6:46 mark but a Megan Rogers layup and four straight from Teri Huff pushed the cushion to 22-15 on 5:13.

The lead stayed in that range for the rest of the half before WSU outscored the Panthers seven to one in the last 1:11 of the half to tie the game on a Whitney Lewis layup as the horn sounded. UWM shot a respectable 43.5% in the first half while holding the Raiders to 36.7% to go with 12 turnovers. However, Wright State was able to hang in the game thanks to 10 offensive rebounds and a +10 rebound margin.

Molly O'Brien took the game over to begin the start of the second half as the junior scored UWM's first eight points to give the Panthers a 35-29 lead with 17:57 to play in the game. Wright State continued to dominate on the glass and got back to within one, 40-39, after three Lewis free throws. Kiley Johnson drilled a three-ball on the Panthers next possession to make it 43-39. Brittney Whiteside scored on Wright State's next trip before O'Brien delivered again, this time nailing a trifecta from the left baseline to give UWM a five-point lead.

Wright State continued to battle thanks to solid offensive rebounding while Milwaukee could never pull away. Huff scored on back-to-back possessions to give UWM a 51-46 lead with 5:44 to play but WSU scored the next four to get to within one with 2:56 on the clock. Both teams struggled to score over the next few minutes before Megan Rogers found Kimberly Becker wide open underneath the basket for a 53-50 lead with 55 seconds left.

WSU came up empty on its next possession and Hampton nailed two free throws to make it 55-50 with 22 ticks remaining. Tyanda Hammock's three-pointer cut the lead to two but Hampton iced the game with two more charity tosses with eight seconds laft. Wright State came up empty from then on out as Milwaukee escaped with the four-point victory.

O'Brien led UWM's balanced attack with a 13-point, eight-rebound, three-assist effort while Huff scored 12 points. Hampton scored 10 points for Milwaukee to go with a team-high four assists. Whiteside led the Raiders with 13 points and 10 boards while Lewis added 11 markers and 13 rebounds.

The Panthers return home for a quick turnaround and will host Detroit on Saturday (Feb. 5). The UWM/Detroit contest is set to begin at 6 p.m. at the Klotsche Center.