Feb. 23, 2014

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

MILWAUKEE - Senior Angela Rodriguez and sophomore Avyanna Young each had a double-double to lead the way for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team in a 90-78 victory over Cleveland State University Sunday afternoon at the Klotsche Center.

The Panthers (8-18, 4-9 Horizon League) led by nine at halftime and steadily pulled away from the Vikings (13-13, 8-5 Horizon League) to earn the victory.

"I am really proud of how we stepped up tonight," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "I know that we can compete with a lot of teams in our league and I think this helps give our players that confidence that the next game that we play, we can compete and we can play tough. I hope we can continue this momentum into Wright State."

Rodriguez finished with a team-high 26 points and tied her career-high with 10 assists. Young added her 11th double-double of the season with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Freshman Bre'Zall Warren scored a season-high 17 points and senior Emily Decorah was also in double-figures, finishing with 13 points.

Imani Gordon led the Vikings with a double-double of 28 points and 15 rebounds.

"That was a fun game to coach," Rechlicz said. "I felt like our execution from the start of the game was hands-down one of the best it has been all season. We made some adjustments in our plays this week based on how Cleveland State had defended us in the first game and our players executed it to a tee. We got Avyanna going early in the paint, which really helped our outside shooters and we had some big people step up. To have Bre have her career-high and hit those free throws at the end of the game as a freshman is really huge for us and I felt like Angela was back to her normal self. Just making really good passes and decisions and scoring the basketball as well as she did."

The first half featured 10 lead changes and they all occurred in the first 10 minutes of the contest. Young's layup at the 10:07 mark gave UWM the lead for good on the day and gave the Panthers a little bit of control. Back and forth for a bit, CSU was back within three at 27-24, but Milwaukee would score 13 of the next 18 points to build the advantage to 11, settling for a 40-31 lead headed into the locker room when the Vikings scored at the halftime buzzer.

The Panthers controlled the game from there. A 6-0 spurt, capped by a Decorah three at the 16:43 mark, extended the lead to 49-35. CSU trimmed the lead back under 10 points just once the rest of the way and Milwaukee was solid at the free throw line down the stretch to put it away, making 14 of its final 18 from the charity stripe over the final two minutes of the game.

"I kept telling her (Rodriguez), the more we have the ball in your hands, the better we are," Rechlicz said. "She is one of the best free throw shooters in the country, so when you have someone like that on your team, you definitely want to put the ball in her hands at the end of the game."

UWM shot well on the day, finishing at 45.6 percent (26-for-57) from the floor, making 10 more three-pointers as well. CSU finished at 43.7 percent (31-for-71) from the floor.

Milwaukee won the rebounding battle, 43-40, and took care of the ball. The team had just nine turnovers, with an impressive assist-to-turnover ratio of 21-9.

Rodriguez pushed her career point total to 1,501 to become just the sixth player to reach that plateau in school history. With the 10 assists, she is also closing in on the school record for assists in a season - she is currently at 151, with the school standard of 153 up next.

Up next, the Panthers head off for the start of their final two games on the road, playing at Wright State Saturday. Tip off is 1 p.m. CST.