MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team used a 22-0 scoring run and forced 28 turnovers to secure a 72-63 victory over Eastern Illinois University Wednesday afternoon at the UWM Panther Arena.
 
The Panthers (3-5) scored the final 20 points of the first half and held the visiting Panthers (3-5) without a field goal for a stretch that lasted over 12 minutes in building a lead of as many as 21 points in the second half.

"It was all our defense," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "We have been preaching this for the past two to three weeks that we have to be a better defensive team. And, today, we forced almost 30 turnovers."
 
Freshman Jenny Lindner led the way, setting a career-high in points for the second outing in a row with 19. She added four rebounds and a pair of steals and was 9-of-11 from the free throw line.
 
Senior Ashley Green filled the stat sheet with an impressive line, finishing with 18 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals.
 
EIU rallied late, but Milwaukee did not allow the lead to slip under double-figures until there was under a minute remaining in the contest.
 
"I thought when they made their run that we became a very passive team," Rechlicz said. "We went to a team playing not to lose the game instead of a team that wanted to crush them and win the game. We had some opportunities to score some easy transition buckets and we pulled it out."
 
Junior Jordyn Swan was also in double-figures with 10. Freshman Steph Kostowicz chipped in with six points, seven rebounds and four steals off the bench.
 
Sabina Oroszova led EIU with a game-high double-double of 20 points and 15 rebounds.
 
A closely-contested affair that Eastern Illinois led early, UWM had to rally in the first half and used its defense to accomplish it. Trailing by six earlier and by five at 20-15 with 8:20 left before halftime, the Panthers turned the game around.
 
The team scored the final 20 points of the first half, with the string growing to 22 in the second half and to as large as 28-2 overall in building a lead of 43-22 on a Linder free throw with 16:05 to play.
 
It was during the run at the end of the first half that the outcome was decided. Milwaukee forced eight missed shots and came up with 10 turnovers, holding the visiting Panthers without a made field goal for a stretch that lasted 12 minutes and 33 seconds.
 
From there, UWM just needed to fend off EIU, and making 19-of-22 free throws in the second half sealed the win.
 
Milwaukee won the rebounding battle, 35-34, and turned those 28 Eastern miscues into a 25-11 advantage in points off turnovers. UWM ended the day at 35.2 percent (19-of-54) from the floor, with Eastern Illinois at 44.2 (23-of-52).
 
Up next, the team plays its second straight doubleheader with the men, kicking off Sunday's action as the first game of the day at 1 p.m. when they welcome Indiana University to the Klotsche Center.