Box Score |  Notes

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (Feb. 2, 2008) - Freshmen Maurika Hickman and Lindsay Laur each scored a career-high and game-high 20 points, but it was not enough as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team fell to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 79-64, Saturday afternoon at the Klotsche Center.

With the loss, the Panthers (11-9, 6-3 Horizon) fell into third place in the Horizon League standings at the halfway point of the season, one game back of Cleveland State (7-2) and two back of the Phoenix (16-4, 8-1 Horizon).

"These games are always emotional. It was disappointing," Milwaukee head coach Sandy Botham said. "We didn't play to our potential and Green Bay did a really good job of taking us out of our game. We couldn't get things going on offense. We had good looks that were just not falling."

Hickman and Laur combined for the 40 points off the bench on 16-of-24 shooting and with four 3-pointers apiece. Seventeen of Hickman's points came in the second half as UWM tried to climb out of a 20-point deficit, while Laur added 12 in the period. Junior Turquoise McCain was the top-scoring starter, finishing with nine points, while freshman Jineen Williams added seven.

"I was happy with the comeback," Botham said. "Our youth gave us a lot of energy and fire, but in the end it was too little, too late."

Junior Traci Edwards, the league's leading scorer (19.3 ppg) and rebounder (9.9 rpg) coming into the day, was limited to just five points and one rebound in 18 minutes. She played just two minutes in the second half after suffering a hip injury. The game snapped her school-record streak of 41-straight games scoring in double-figures.

All five Green Bay starters reached double-figures in scoring, led by Lavesa Glover with 18. Rachel Porath added 17, Kayla Groh 14, Kati Harty 12 and Erin Templin 11.

"Green Bay is a balanced team," Botham said. "They do an excellent job in the half court of moving the ball. They're very similar (to last year's team that went to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.)"

Despite trailing by as many as 20 points, Milwaukee did not relent. Behind Hickman and Laur, the Panthers pulled within nine when a Hickman three-pointer made it 61-52 with 2:58 to go in the game. The three came during a stretch where she scored nine-straight UWM points.

Green Bay kept the Panthers at bay at the free throw line, hitting 19-of-20 from the charity stripe in the second half after not getting to the line in the first half. After missing its first, the Phoenix made its final 19 attempts on the afternoon.

Milwaukee shot 41.8 percent in the game, including a 10-for-24 clip (41.7 percent) from three-point range, but was outrebounded 35-26. It was the team's largest negative rebounding margin since Dec. 4 at Wisconsin (-10). That was also the last time UWM surrendered 70 points in a game.

Aside from its free throw display, Green Bay was an efficient 50 percent from the field. The Panthers were able to hold it to just 42.3 percent shooting in the second half and a game figure of 4-for-12 on three-point attempts. The Phoenix had entered the game among the top two nationally in both field goal and three-point percentage.

Green Bay built a 10-point lead at 15-5 with 12:56 remaining in the first half and really never looked back. UWM pulled as close as seven in the frame, but went into intermission trailing 37-25.

Milwaukee returns to the road for a two-game swing through northeast Ohio. The Panthers play at Cleveland State Thursday (Feb. 7) and Youngstown State next Saturday.