The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team officially gets the 2015-16 campaign started this week, welcoming UMKC to the Klotsche Center for a rare Monday evening tilt, set to start at 7 p.m. to get the season opener underway. The Panthers are coming off an 84-45 win over Tiffin University in their lone exhibition outing just three days ago, while the Kangaroos are 0-1 to begin the year after falling to North Florida at home by a score of 62-55.

LOOKING AT UMKC
The Kangaroos are coming off a 6-24 record a season ago, which included a 4-10 mark in Western Athletic play. Fourth-year head coach Marsha Frease welcomes back eight letterwinners from last season, including guard Aries Washington. Washington was named to the WAC All-Newcomer team a season ago after averaging 10.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.

SERIES HISTORY
The series dates all the way back to 1991, but the contest played last year - a UWM victory - was the first since the early 90's. The Kangaroos do lead, 6-3, but the Panthers have claimed wins in three of the past four.

LAST GAME
Freshman Alyssa Fischer netted a game-high 22 points in just 15 minutes off the bench to lead the way as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team rolled to an 84-45 victory over Tiffin University Friday night at the Klotsche Center.
 
The Panthers raced out to a 10-2 lead over the Dragons in their exhibition opener and then used an 11-0 run at the end of the first quarter to pull away. Milwaukee led at halftime by 22 points at 45-23 and that was as close as it would be the rest of the way.
 
Fischer made quite the first impression, scoring her 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting, sinking 4-of-6 three-pointers along the way. She took over in the second quarter, pouring in 10 points in a row as UWM took control of the contest.
 
Sophomore Jenny Lindner added 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting and was joined in double-figures by freshman Emma Dau, who ended her first game in a Panther uniform with 10 points.
 
Sophomore Steph Kostowicz chipped in with nine points and a team-high five rebounds. All 13 players that were in uniform played, with 11 finishing in the scoring column. Deidre McKay scored 11 points to lead the Dragons.

FOR OPENERS
The Panthers hold an 8-17 record in season-openers at the NCAA Division I level (dating back to 1990-91). A year ago, Milwaukee rode the hot hand of senior Ashley Green to a 77-73 victory over North Dakota State. Green set career highs with 36 points and 15 rebounds in the narrow win. Head coach Kyle Rechlicz is now 2-1 in openers, as UWM ran away with an 82-58 win over Chicago State in Rechlicz's debut contest three years ago.

BEST EVER
Ashley Green's 36 points against NDSU in that game a season ago represented the most-ever for a Milwaukee player in a season opener, topping the 30 that Traci Edwards netted in the initial game of 2007-08.

NEW-LOOK PANTHERS
Milwaukee will have a new look to the roster this season after graduating three influential seniors from a year ago. The roster features six players who were on the team in 2014-15 and nine newcomers. Among the new faces are a trio of transfers (one will be sitting out, one a JUCO transfer and one ready to play this season after sitting out a year ago due to transfer rules) as well as six true freshmen all looking to make a good first impression.

TIME TO STEP UP
The situation allows the Panthers an opportunity for new players to step up or returning players to expand their roles from last season. The team will return just under half - 48.6 percent - of its scoring (963 of 1,981 total points) and just over half - 51.5 percent - of rebounding (558 of 1,083 total individual rebounds). When you break it down further, senior Jordyn Swan, who will miss the season due to injury, accounted for returning totals of 201 points and 108 boards.

OFF TO A GOOD START
Jenny Lindner enjoyed a stellar campaign as a newcomer a season ago, earning Horizon League All-Freshman Team honors after averaging 10.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, starting 28 of the 30 games she appeared in. That marked the first time a UWM player made the league all-freshman squad in four years. She finished 17 games in double-figures - the most for a UWM freshman since Ashley Green also accomplished the feat 17 times back in 2011-12.

Among Lindner's double-digit contests was a 25-point outing against Youngstown State Feb. 19, the third-highest scoring output for a freshman in school history.

1. Courtney Lindfors: 35 points (11/16/10)
2. Traci Edwards: 28 (2/25/06)
T3. Lindner: 25 (2/19/15)
T3. Maria Viall: 25 (12/17/00 & 3/1/01)

In addition, her .822 free throw percentage topped the team and was the third-best ever for a UWM freshman in program history and her five made 3's against YSU was one off the school freshman mark of six set by Angela Rodriguez back on 12/1/10 against Bradley.

THE KOST OF ADMISSION
Steph Kostowicz continued to impress at the end of her first season in a Panther uniform a year ago, earning Horizon League Freshman of the Week honors March 9 after she averaged 14.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game against Detroit and Wright State, posting her first career double-double versus the Titans. She upped the ante against Valpo March 9, equaling her career-high with 18 points and topping her rebound high, finishing with 14. She closed her freshman season strong, scoring in double figures in each of her final four games - the last three in the starting lineup - averaging 14.3 points and 11.0 rebounds in that final four-game stretch, shooting just over 50 percent from the floor.

BLOCK PARTY
Kostowicz also made some noise on defense, leading the way with six blocks against Valparaiso in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament, which was just off the school record of seven. It has been a while since a Panther caused so much commotion in the paint, a span of 109 games having passed since a UWM player had at least five (Courtney Lindfors had six against Chicago State, Dec. 15, 2011). Kostowicz added four more rejections in the season finale against Green Bay in the league quarterfinals.

SYD THE KYD
Sydney Howard enjoyed a breakthrough junior campaign and her performance in the month of December was noteworthy. In six games (four starts), Howard averaged 7.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game and reset her career-high for points in a game twice, including 14 against IPFW Dec. 28. She shot 51.9 percent from the field (14-27), 55.6 percent on 3's (5-9), playing 25.7 minutes and had 11 assists compared to four turnovers. She also went for a career-best 17 points against Detroit March 4. Howard finished the year averaging 5.8 points and 2.7 rebounds to top her former career bests of 2.3 ppg and 1.4 rpg. She had four games of 10 or more points after accomplishing the feat just once over her first two seasons. She also had the best assist-to-turnover ratio on the squad at 64-44, a ratio of 1.45 that finished as the fifth-best in program history for a single-season.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS
The Panthers set a record for fewest turnovers per game in 2012-13 at 16.2 - an impressive total considering the record that they broke was the former standard of 17.3 set during the 2001-02 campaign (an improvement of over one per game). The new record did not last long, however, as UWM turned the ball over just 14.9 times per contest in 2013-14 to shatter the record once again. The team came close again last season and the past three years under Kyle Rechlicz now account for the top three entries in the record book.

TEAM TURNOVERS PER GAME
1. 14.9 turnovers per game, 2013-14
2. 15.2 in 2014-15
3. 16.2 in 2012-13

HOW THEY ROLL
The Panthers were at it once again from deep last season and it would have been more noticeable had they not been even better at it the previous two years. The team once again finished close to the top of the record book for three-pointers made and attempted. Prior to Kyle Rechlicz's arrival, the most three's made was 212 and attempted was 586. The marks set in 2012-13 (255 of 726) smashed the old standards. In 2013-14, the team finished at 241 makes and 733 attempts, both numbers ending in the top two all-time. After three seasons under Kyle Rechlicz, the triple-happy Panthers nearly hold each of the top three marks for 3's made and attempted for a season.

3's MADE
1. 255 in 2012-13
2. 241 in 2013-14
4. 205 in 2014-15

3's ATTEMPTED
1. 733 in 2013-14
2. 726 in 2012-13
3. 676 in 2014-15

IT'S AN OLD HABIT
The Panthers have turned it up from three-point range recently, but have always been a threat from long distance. In fact, the team has a long history of making three's headed in to 2015-16. Milwaukee has made at least one three-pointer in every game dating back to an 0-for-4 showing from long-distance against Marquette back on November 26, 2002. That makes 389 games in a row heading into the game against the Kangaroos. It's still a ways to go for the NCAA record, however, which is held by Canisius at 510 in a row (1994-2011). The Horizon League record was halted three years ago when Loyola came up empty at 446. Cleveland State held the record previously - which was also the NCAA mark at the time - at 408 (1992-2007). For comparison, the NBA's longest streak is the Dallas Mavericks at 1,108 in a row.

MAKING A NAME FOR HERSELF
Head coach Kyle Rechlicz was named the seventh coach in program history in May of 2012. She also got off to one of the best starts - becoming the first UWM coach to win three of her first five contests of her initial campaign. In her first season, Rechlicz was also one of the youngest coaches at the NCAA Division I level - just seven coaches had earlier birth years when the 2012-13 campaign began.

WATCH 'EM ANYWHERE
Fans will have the opportunity to watch the Panthers all season long. The team will play five games on local broadcast television, once again returning to Time Warner Cable SportsChannel. Another 16 games will be carried live online on ESPN3 as well as four other road games via opponent platforms. For the Panthers' TWC SportsChannel contests, Bob Brainerd and former UWM great Maria Viall will once again be calling the action.

HEAD TO THE BIG 920
Every Milwaukee regular-season game will once again be available on the radio and online via "The Big 920" on your AM dial. Scott Warras is back for his 10th season donning the headset. Fans can also catch Warras' call with the majority of the team's ESPN3 webcasts. A handful of games will be aired on WISN 1130 AM due to broadcast conflicts.

WELCOME
Head coach Kyle Rechlicz rounded out her staff in the offseason with a series of moves. Ashlee McGee moved up a spot in the assistant coach hierarchy and former video coordinator Dan Carey was promoted to assistant coach, with the recruiting coordinator role also added to his title.

Mike Hamilton was hired as the new Video Coordinator and Molly Hanson as the Director of Basketball Operations.

UP NEXT
The Panthers are off for the rest of the week, getting set to prepare for three games in Florida over Thanksgiving week. Up next is a stop at Florida Atlantic next Tuesday, set for a 6 p.m. CST tip.