Women's Basketball December 13, 2015

Panthers Welcome Denver To Klotsche Center Monday

Milwaukee looking for best start in 16 years

MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee women's basketball team welcomes the Denver Pioneers to the Klotsche Center Monday evening for its final game before a few days off for final exams. The Panther are looking for their fifth win of the young season, which would give UWM its best start through eight games since the 1999-2000 season. Tipoff for Monday's game is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

WHAT'S NEW
The Milwaukee women's basketball team welcomes the Denver Pioneers to the Klotsche Center Monday evening for its final game before a few days off for final exams. The Panther are looking for their fifth win of the young season, which would give UWM its best start through eight games since the 1999-2000 season. Tipoff for Monday's game is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

LOOKING AT DENVER
The Pioneers enter Monday's game having dropped six-straight, carrying a 1-8 record overall. It certainly hasn't been an easy schedule in the early going for DU, with six of its first nine on the road. Denver has had a busy week, playing Wyoming (L, 75-64) at home on Wednesday before falling to UMKC (68-58) Saturday on the road.

Senior guard Paige Bradley and freshman guard Samantha Romanowski lead the way offensively for Denver, with both averaging over 10 points per game. Bradley poured in 27 in the loss to UMKC on Saturday to up her average to 12.7 per game so far. Bradley was named All-Summit League in the preseason league poll. That same poll placed the Pioneers eighth in the nine-team league.

SERIES HISTORY
The Panthers and Pioneers have squared off against one another just one time prior to Monday's matchup. That game, which took place back in Dec. of 1996 in Albuquerque, N.M., was a narrow Milwaukee win, 48-47.

UP NEXT
Milwaukee will take an eight-day break between games as finals get underway on campus later this week. After Monday's game against Denver, the Panthers won't play again until Tuesday, Dec. 22 when they host cross-town rival Marquette. Just like the Denver game, the Marquette game will air live on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel.

LAST GAME
Sierra Ford-Washington and Jenny Lindner each had 25 points and six rebounds to lead the Milwaukee women's basketball team to a convincing 82-71 win over Eastern Illinois Thursday night from Lantz Arena.

Milwaukee (4-3) shot nearly 60 percent from the floor in the opening half, taking a 47-32 lead at the break and then held off a pesky EIU (1-8) squad down the stretch for the win.

"This feels great, especially on the road. It's always difficult when you go into somebody else's gym," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "I really like how our team fought back. I thought we had a little bit of adversity when we gave up our lead and then we made a push. We made that push with several people and I couldn't be more proud of us to get this win on the road."

Ford-Washington led the way early with 17 first-half points, while Lindner picked up her team in the second with 16 in the final 20 minutes to help secure the win.

Steph Kostowicz just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Freshman Alyssa Fischer notched a career-high 10 points, while Alexis Lindstrom added nine points and five rebounds.

As a team, Milwaukee had 20 assists on the night, a season high.

HOT OUT OF THE GATES
With a 4-3 record to start the season, the Panthers are off to their best start under head coach Kyle Rechlicz. In fact, this year's four wins in the first seven games is the best start for the program since the 2009-10 team came out of the gates 4-1. If Milwaukee wins on Monday, that would mark the first time a Panther squad has started 5-3 since the 1999-2000 team did just that.

THE BIG 2-0...TIMES TWO
The Panther offense certainly was clicking in the 82-71 win at Eastern Illinois on Dec. 10. Milwaukee shot nearly 50 percent as a team in that game, headlined by Jenny Lindner and Sierra Ford-Washington both netting 25 points apiece. That marked the first time a pair of Panthers scored at least 20 points in a game this season.

I'LL TAKE LINDNER FOR 25 PLEASE
Sophomore Jenny Lindner was red hot in the second half of Milwaukee's win over EIU Dec. 10, finishing the game tied for a team high 25 points. That was already the second time this season the Neillsville, Wis. native has notched 25 this season, tying her career high set late last year. It marked the fifth 20-point game already in her young career.
1. 25 vs. UMKC, 11/16/15
2. 25 vs. Youngstown State, 2/19/15
3. 25 vs. Eastern Illinois 12/10/15
4. 20 vs. Cleveland State, 2/28/15
5. 20 vs. La Salle, 11/28/15

EFFICIENT, TOO
Not only did Lindner tie her career high with those 25 points in the season opener, but she did it with some of the most efficient shooting in school history by making 10 of her 12 shots on the night. That 83.3 field-goal percentage marked the third-best marksmanship in a single UWM game.

1. .909 (10-of-11), Nichole Drummond, 2/11/06
2. .857 (12-of-14), Traci Edwards, 2/21/08
3. .833 (10-of-12), Lindner

GO FISCH
Freshman Alyssa Fischer was key off the bench in Milwaukee's latest win. The Manitowoc native went 4-of-8 from the floor - including 2-of-4 from three - for a season-high 10 points. That was a big lift for Fischer, who had been in an offensive funk since dropping 22 against Tiffin in the exhibition.

ALL A-BOARD
Steph Kostowicz's performance against NIU on Dec. 3 was one for the ages. The sophomore hauled in an incredible 20 rebounds in the big win to go with 11 points for her second double-double of the season. The 20 rebounds shattered her previous career-high of 14 and ties her for sixth-most in program history. It is also the first time a Panther has collected 20+ rebounds in one game since Traci Edwards accomplished that feat Dec. 30, 2006.

SPORTSCENTER TOP 10
When Sydney Howard hit a three-pointer from near midcourt to beat the halftime buzzer in the Dec. 3 win over NIU, she not only brought the crowd to its feet for a standing ovation, she got the attention of the national media. Howard's buzzer-beater was featured the following day on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays of the day.

TAKING THE NEXT STEP
The end of last season was impressive for Steph Kostowicz, who was finally healthy and earned a spot in the starting lineup each of the final three games as a freshman. She carried that over into the first seven games of this season and averaged 9.9 points and 10.3 rebounds over those seven games. She exploded for 11 points and 20 boards - recording her fourth career double-double. She also enters play this week as one of the Horizon League's top shot blocker this year at 1.7 per game.

EARLY CHARITY SUCCESS
The Panthers are off to an impressive start from the free throw line, currently near the lead in the Horizon League with a 74.4 percent clip after sinking 93-of-125 in their first seven games. That's a better ratio than the past few seasons. Milwaukee shot 69.8 percent last year and have not finished over 70 percent since a program-record 79.1 percent showing back in 2010-11.

CHECK THAT BOX SCORE
The Panthers ended a pair of long stretches in the win over La Salle Nov. 28, one involving team defense and the other involving their rebounding prowess. Milwaukee held the Explorers to just 28.1 percent shooting (18-of-64) from the floor, marking the first time it held an opponent under 30 percent since Valparaiso made 22.0 percent (11-of-50) from the field back on Feb. 25, 2012 - a span of 94 games. On the rebounding side, not only did the Panthers out-rebound their opponent by a 53-36 total, but two different players ended the contest with 10 or more for the first time since Nov. 29, 2013 - a stretch of 58 games. Sophomore Jenny Lindner (15 boards) and junior Sierra Ford-Washington (10) each accomplished the feat. The prior instance came against Lamar, with Ashley Green grabbing 14 and Avyanna Young 11.

A WHOPPER OF AN OPENER
The 22-point margin of victory was nearly the highest in the history of the program. The only bigger one? That would be Kyle Rechlicz's first-ever game on the Panther bench, a 24-point win over Chicago State, 82-58, back on November 9, 2012.

PRESEASON PUBLICITY
Sophomore Jenny Lindner was named to the Preseason All-Horizon League Second Team in the league's annual preseason poll by the staff at the College Sports Madness website.

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.

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

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
Nearly 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 select few games will not be aired due to broadcast conflicts.

IT'S "MILWAUKEE"

• A lot has been made of the correct way to talk about the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, especially in the area of athletics. It would be appreciated if you would refer to the athletics teams as either "Milwaukee" or "UWM". Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated.

• Milwaukee Athletics is making an effort to brand itself as "Milwaukee" instead of other references. Please avoid UW-Milwaukee, UW-M, Wisc.-Mil, UW-MIL, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, etc. We appreciate your assistance with this effort in advance.

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.

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Players Mentioned

#4 Ashley Green: G/F; 5' 11"; Senior

#15 Sydney Howard: G; 5' 7"; Senior

#32 Steph Kostowicz: F; 6' 2"; Sophomore

#20 Jenny Lindner: G; 6' 0"; Sophomore

#5 Alexis Lindstrom: G; 5' 7"; Junior

#41 Jordyn Swan: G/F; 6' 0"; Senior

#21 Alyssa Fischer: G; 5' 9"; Freshman

#30 Sierra Ford-Washington: G; 5' 8"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#4 Ashley Green
: 5' 11"; Senior
: G/F

#15 Sydney Howard
: 5' 7"; Senior
: G

#32 Steph Kostowicz
: 6' 2"; Sophomore
: F

#20 Jenny Lindner
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: G

#5 Alexis Lindstrom
: 5' 7"; Junior
: G

#41 Jordyn Swan
: 6' 0"; Senior
: G/F

#21 Alyssa Fischer
: 5' 9"; Freshman
: G

#30 Sierra Ford-Washington
: 5' 8"; Junior
: G