Jan. 25, 2014

Box Score | Postgame Report | "Star of the Game" postgame interview

MILWAUKEE - Leading by as many as nine points in the first half before falling behind in the second, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team responded with an impressive 20-2 scoring run to help secure an 81-69 victory over Detroit Saturday afternoon at the Klotsche Center.

"I just kept challenging them at timeouts," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "They just needed that spark and that energy. I thought there were some people that really stepped up for us in the second half. Bre'Zall Warren and Kimee Chandler hit some huge baskets for us to get us going and then you have Ashley Green all over the boards again having another double-double."

Up seven at intermission, the Panthers (6-12, 2-3 Horizon League) allowed the Titans (3-16, 0-6 Horizon League) to use a 16-6 scoring run of their own to forge ahead by a basket, 48-46, with 13:28 to play.

From there, it was all Milwaukee. The Panthers turned the tide and scored 20 of the next 22 points of the game, holding Detroit without a field goal on 10 attempts for a stretch that lasted over six minutes.

"They went on that run and we bounced back with our own run," Rechlicz said. "Detroit is a team of runs and you have to handle it. We knew that going in and that we had to weather the storm."

Milwaukee turned that 48-46 deficit into a 66-50 advantage at the 7:37 mark, sending the Titans to their ninth loss in a row. Detroit got no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Senior Angela Rodriguez led an extremely balanced scoring attack with 16 points. Junior Ashley Green posted her second-straight double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

A pair of players tied career-highs in points. Senior Kimee Chandler had 10 and was 4-of-5 from the floor. Freshman Bre'Zall Warren netted 13 points. Ten of the 11 UWM players found the scoring column and seven had at least seven points.

Senee Shearer led the Titans with 21 in the loss. Tayelor McCalister had 17 points and eight rebounds.

That 16-6 run gave Detroit the brief lead. A three by Warren stemmed the tide and three by Green made it 54-50 at the 12:17 mark. Freshman Sydney Snower extended the advantage to nine on a three at the 10:44 mark and from there the Panthers took care of business to get the victory.

Milwaukee ended up holding a seven-point lead at intermission, but the first half had numerous whistles - 25 total fouls - and was disjointed enough to not allow either team to get into any flow.

UWM started well and kept going from there, but could never truly pull away. It scored the first five points on the day and built leads by counts of 12-5 and 18-10.

A three from senior Emily Decorah at the 4:26 mark gave the Panthers a nine-point advantage for the first time in the game at 30-21, but Detroit got enough stops to trim the deficit to seven at halftime despite being held to 30.8 percent (8-for-26) field goal shooting in the period. The Titans, one of the better three-point shooting teams in the league, went 0-for-6.

Milwaukee shot 39.3 percent (24-of-61) on the day, making 10 more three-pointers. It also won the rebounding battle, 44-42, and held a 14-6 advantage in points of turnovers.

Up next, the Panthers play the third of four in a row at home Wednesday, welcoming UIC to the Klotsche Center for a 7 p.m. tipoff.