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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (Feb. 17, 2007) - Sophomore Traci Edwards scored 22 points and pulled down 11 boards to lead four Panthers in double-figures as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team held off Youngstown State for a 76-70 win Saturday afternoon in Youngstown, Ohio.

Milwaukee (12-13, 8-4 Horizon) outscored Youngstown (7-17, 5-8 Horizon) 50-43 in the second half after the teams combined for just 53 points in the first half, with YSU holding a slim 27-26 lead at the break.

The Panthers shot 58.3 percent after halftime to finish at 52.2 percent for the game and turned the ball over just 14 times. Meanwhile, the Penguins shot 55.6 percent in the second half to rebound from a 32.4 percent first half and finish at 42.2 percent.

"Our goal is always to take care of the basketball. Too often we hurt ourselves trying to make the big play and the big pass," Milwaukee head coach Sandy Botham. "We were patient with the ball today. It was great to see us come out and execute the game plan. You're not going to win a lot of games if you don't shoot the ball well, so it was good to see us do that."

But, it was at the free throw line that proved to be the difference. Neither team shot particularly well, but Milwaukee got to the line 34 times and converted 22 (64.7%), including 17-of-28 in the second half. Youngstown made 17 trips to the line, making just nine (52.9%).

"Youngstown was very physical with us in the post. They doubled Traci a lot, collapsing down hard on her," Botham said of Edwards, who finished 12-of-16 from the free throw line. "She stayed cool and was strong. They made her earn her points from the free throw line and she did."

Junior Meredith Onson added 15 points, senior Aubrey Hampton 11 and sophomore Jody Crumble 11 for Milwaukee.

"One of our team goals today was to get four players in double figures," Botham said. "As we saw at Cleveland, teams play to shutdown Traci in the post because they know a lot of our offense runs through her. They think that if they shut her down, they shut down Milwaukee. It was nice to see our perimeter players hit their shots for us."

Monique Godfrey scored 21 points to lead the Penguins, who also placed four players in double-digits. Jessica Schloemp chipped in 12 points and Ashley Pendleton and Velissa Vaughn each scored 10 for the home team.

Edwards gave the Panthers their largest lead of the game at 66-59 with 1:55 to play. After a Vaughn free throw, Godfrey drained a three to make it a three-point game. Onson pushed the lead back to six with a three of her own 15 seconds later. UWM then scored its final seven points from the charity stripe as the Penguins attempted to even the score.

YSU pulled within two at 72-70 on a Godfrey lay up with 14 seconds to play. Crumble then hit a pair of free throws before Edwards pulled down a defensive rebound and converted two more charity tosses to seal the game.

"We talked a lot about weathering storms before the game and we weathered a lot of the today," Botham said. "We kept our cool and stayed poised. We had been struggling with confidence, so it was good for us to go out there and seal the deal with late free throws."

Sophomore Katie Fournier hit a lay up off a designed play just four seconds into the second half to give Milwaukee the lead at 28-27 after it trailed by one at halftime. There were then eight more lead changes before the Panthers took the lead for good on an Onson three-pointer just before the midpoint of the frame.

Onson scored 11 of her points in the second half, and Edwards 12, as UWM overcame a halftime deficit to win for the third time this season. All three of Onson's three-pointers also came in the second half.

The Panthers headed into intermission trailing by one at 27-26. An early 7-0 Penguin run seemed to set the tone, as UWM was unable to claw back into the lead the remainder of the half. YSU scored the first four points of the game, after which Milwaukee scored the next six for a 6-4 lead just over three minutes into the game.

From that point on, each time the Panthers fought within two, Youngstown would push its lead back to four. After it became a six-point game on a Schloemp jumper with 6:26 to go in the half, Edwards converted a pair of free throws, sophomore Turquoise McCain hit an off-balance jumper in the paint and Edwards tied the score with a lay up with 3:28 to play.

Schloemp hit another jumper and Edwards converted one last free throw to provide for the halftime score.

Turnovers hounded the Panthers, as they committed 10 in the frame, but they did force seven YSU miscues and held the Penguins to just 32 percent shooting. The home team gained the 20-17 rebounding advantage

UWM returns to action at home Thursday, hosting Butler at the Klotsche Center. The Panthers and Bulldogs tip off at 7 p.m.