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DAYTON, Ohio (Jan. 25, 2007) - Sophomore Traci Edwards scored a game-high 30 points to lead three Panthers in double-figures as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team defeated Wright State, 75-65, Thursday night in Dayton, Ohio.

The Panthers reached .500 for the first time this season, evening their record at 10-10 and moving to 6-1 in Horizon League play. WSU, meanwhile, fell to 5-13 on the year and slipped below even in the league at 3-4.

"This is a big win for us. We are trying to separate ourselves from the rest of the league, so this is a big game to win," Milwaukee head coach Sandy Botham said. "The word we talked about today was `perseverance.' We didn't start out how we would have liked, but we did a good job of being defensive and coming back."

After scoring a school-record 42 her last time out, Edwards became the first player in school history with back-to-back 30-point efforts and added 12 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season. Senior Aubrey Hampton chipped in 12 points and sophomore Katie Fournier nearly tallied her first career double-double with 10 points and eight boards.

"Our game plan was to get the ball inside to Traci and be patient to for her to get an open look inside," Botham said. "She is starting to come into her own mentally, not being so hard on herself. She is starting to play more relaxed and we have guards that can get her the ball."

Tyanda Hammock scored 17 points to lead the home-standing Raiders, while Steph Comisar scored 12 points off the bench and Brittney Whiteside had 11.

UWM fought back from a nine-point deficit to take a nine-point lead before falling behind again at 46-44 before taking control of the game with a 24-7 run over an eight-minute span to take a 15-point lead at 68-53. The Panther defense came up big, yielding just two field goals in that span and coming up with several big stops.

Fournier capped the run with a put-back with just over four minutes to play. Seven-straight Raider points would pull them within seven for the first of two times down the stretch, but that was as close as they would get. Sophomore Jody Crumble scored three points and Hampton converted 4-of-4 free throws to seal the win.

Milwaukee came up big on the defensive end, forcing 27 turnovers and coming away with a season-high 10 steals. On offense, the team shot 45.9 percent from the field and came away with 18 offensive rebounds. The Panthers held a 36-29 rebounding advantage for the game and had 18 assists compared to 21 turnovers of their own.

Wright State shot 47.1 percent for the game, including just 35.7 percent in the second half. The home team also hit 7-of-14 three's for the game and had 11 steals.

Coming out off intermission facing a four-point deficit at 35-31, Milwaukee committed turnovers on its first two possessions, which led to Wright State baskets and a 39-31 WSU lead inside the first minute of the second half.

UWM then went on a 13-3 run to take a 44-42 lead at the 14:16 mark of the second half. Edwards had eight points in the run, which included a Hampton three and basket by Fournier. The Raiders quickly re-took the lead with four-straight points from Whiteside before Milwaukee's decisive run.

The Panthers controlled the tempo of the game early, surrendering the first basket of the game before reeling off a 16-5 run for a nine-point lead at 16-7 at the 13:16 mark of the first half. Hampton and senior Kiley Johnson hit back-to-back three's to start the run.

Wright State responded with 12-straight points to re-take the lead at 19-16 on an old fashion three-point play by Hammock. WSU pushed its lead as high as seven at 31-24 on back-to-back lay ups with 3:25 to play. The Panthers fought back within three at 33-30 on consecutive lay ups by Fournier.

Milwaukee remains on the road, heading to Indianapolis, Ind., Saturday to take on Butler. The Panthers and Bulldogs tip off at 1 p.m. central time.