March 13, 2013

Box Score

CHICAGO, Ill. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team was tied early in the second half and was within seven late in the game, but a 10-0 run helped give Loyola University a 71-54 victory Wednesday night at Gentile Arena.

The Panthers (9-20) overcame a slow start and made it a game, tying the Ramblers (16-14) early in the second half. They were still within seven at 53-46 with 5:50 to play, but 10 points in a row by Loyola decided the Horizon League Tournament contest.

"It was a tough night for us and the end of our season, but our team really stepped up and played as hard as they could," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "We seemed very rushed tonight, we seemed like we were pressing to me. I called a couple of early timeouts to get us calmed down and get our shots moving in the right direction."

Sophomore Ashley Green and freshman Avyanna Young led the offense with 10 points each, with Green adding eight rebounds and Young six. Senior Sami Tucker had six points and 11 rebounds in her final game, with classmate Sammy Theut finishing with six points and six boards in her final contest.

Milwaukee, one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country coming in, went just 3-for-17 from long range, its fewest makes in a game all season. The team did set a season-high with 50 rebounds, including 22 offensive, and held the Ramblers without a made three at 0-for-9.

"Loyola did a really good job taking it away from us," Rechlicz said. "They played aggressive on the perimeter and put us in a position where they let our guards go one-on-one against their guards and we just couldn't turn the corner on them. We ended up taking some bad shots instead of being patient and moving the ball a little bit."

The deficit was seven at 53-46 with 5:50 to play on a three-pointer by junior Emily Decorah. Loyola would not let its lead be questioned; scoring 10 points in a row to make it 63-46 and that was the ball game.

Simone Law had 22 points and eight rebounds to lead Loyola, which set a school record with 11 blocks. Taylor Johnson had 18 and seven boards and Troy Hambric finished with 16 points and six blocks of her own.

Down just a point at halftime, Milwaukee had a few opportunities to take the lead. The Panthers did finally tie the game, making it 30-30 on a three-pointer by junior Angela Rodriguez with 18:08 to go. Getting to that point seemed to take a bit of steam out of the squad, as Loyola would score six in a row as part of a 10-2 run to build its advantage back to eight at 40-32.

After a rough start, the Panthers dug deep and made it a new game by intermission. Trailing by as many as 11 at one point, Milwaukee scored 22 of the final 34 points to trim the deficit to a single point at 28-27 after the first 20 minutes.

A cold start really put UWM up against the wall, missing three of its first four shots and turning the ball over four times to trail 10-2. That Loyola advantage grew to 11 at 16-5, but the Panthers fended the Ramblers off from there. A 12-4 run helped them get back into the game, trimming their deficit to just three at 22-19 on a nice layup by Young at the 6:15 mark.

The loss concludes the first season for Rechlicz. Her team broke three Horizon League records and 10 different school records, including a new standard for points in a game when the Panthers finished with 116 against Bradley.