Jan. 8, 2011

Box Score

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Four players scored in double-figures to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team to a 65-57 victory over Youngstown State University Saturday afternoon at the Beeghly Center. The Panthers (4-11, 1-3 Horizon League) got off to a fast start and held off the Penguins (2-13, 0-4 Horizon League) each time they made a run. Milwaukee led by as many as 18 in the first half and 13 in the second and then executed well on both sides of the ball when Youngstown cut the second-half lead to five on a pair of occasions late in the contest.

Sophomore Sami Tucker posted her first double-double of the season, ending the contest with 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Senior Lindsay Laur had a game-high 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds, just missing what would have been a program-record sixth-consecutive double-double.

"It was a nice team victory - great balanced scoring and just really happy for our players," Milwaukee head coach Sandy Botham said. "They have been through a lot of challenges and adversity and they persevered. It's great to see them come out on top because they have been working very hard for this."

Freshman Angela Rodriguez contributed a solid day with 13 points and seven assists, marking a career-high in that category for her. Freshman Courtney Lindfors was also in double-figures, finishing with 10 points and five rebounds in just 16 minutes of action. YSU was paced by Brandi Brown, who netted a game-high 22 points in the loss.

The Panthers got back on track and it started quickly. A Rodriguez three opened the scoring, but four points by Brown gave the home team the lead. That would be the only time all game that the Panthers would trail, with Rodriguez drilling another three to retake the advantage and a jumper by Laur at the 12:21 mark capping a 15-1 run for UWM to make it 18-5 at the time.

"We talked about this one being ours and what we needed to do to get it done," Botham said. "Our players came in with great focus and energy. They came out of the blocks strong with Angela getting us rolling and Lindsay following up. I think it was just their determination. Going into the half with the lead was big for us. We are looking at small victories now as a team. Going into half with the edge and the way we came out in the second and set the tone with our defense was big."

The Panthers would push that overall run to 25-6 over the game's first 12-plus minutes, taking their biggest lead of the half at 28-10 on another Laur jumper with 7:36 to go.

Youngstown would make it a game, however, scoring the final 10 points of the half to get within five, at 33-28, at intermission.

In fact, the Penguins would continue that game plan, cutting into the deficit throughout the second half. The Panthers would have an answer to push back each time.

"That was something we talked about before the game and at halftime," Botham said. "Going in to half, they (YSU) went on a nice run. And basketball is a game of runs. It was how we handled the runs and stayed poised and just kept focusing on executing the offense and defense. And they did that today, which was great. They needed this. They deserved this, so it was great to come out with the win."

YSU scored the first five of the second half to make it 34-33, but that was when Tucker took over. She spurred a 12-1 Milwaukee run over the next seven minutes nearly on her own, accounting for nine of the points on two two-pointers, two free throws and a three-point hoop to make it 46-34 with 11:23 to go.

The Penguins would get within five on a pair of occasions the rest of the way, but Milwaukee made 10-of-18 (55.6%) shots from the floor after intermission and was in control throughout.

The Panthers overcame 27 turnovers by making almost half of their shots in the game, finishing 22-of-46 (47.8%) from the field while limiting Youngstown State to just 19-of-57 (33.3%) from the floor and forcing 16 turnovers of their own. UWM was 14-of-18 from the free throw line compared to 13-of-21 for YSU and held a commanding 39-to-27 advantage in rebounds. The victory was number 250 of Botham's college coaching career.

Milwaukee returns to the Klotsche Center for a two-game homestand this week, welcoming UIC on Wednesday, with tipoff set for 7 p.m.