MILWAUKEE - Senior Ashley Green set a school record with her fifth 30-point game of the season and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team poured in 53 points in the second half to earn a 76-69 victory over Cleveland State University Saturday afternoon at the Klotsche Center.
 
The Panthers (9-17, 5-9 Horizon League) faced a six-point deficit at intermission against the Vikings (16-11, 8-6 Horizon League) but righted the ship and took over in the second half.
 
"Our team is one of those teams that, if we play with energy and emotion, we are tough to beat," UWM head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "In the first half we were playing hard, we just weren't taking care of the basketball. We had five turnovers in a row and called a timeout and then we got focused. And it was really fun to watch our team come together and execute."
 
They took the lead for good with just under seven minutes to play and controlled the contest the rest of the way to earn the big victory on "Senior Day", sending Green, Macie Dorow and Hannah Kaul out in style.
 
"It was a great second half," Rechlicz said. "It was fun to play basketball like that. I felt like, early on, that Jenny Lindner put us on her back. She had the determination, got some key rebounds that really kept us in the game. Ashley came out in the second half and really took over. She became unstoppable. And it was fun to see her do it from the free throw line. To come in and go 9-for-9 in such a big game, when the pressure is on the line to hit those. I didn't want the ball in anyone else's hands."
 
Green finished with 30 points and six rebounds, going 10-for-15 from the floor and an impressive 9-for-9 from the free throw line. Her fifth game of 30-or-more breaks the school mark of four set by Traci Edwards back in the 2007-08 campaign. Her 30 points also give her 1,599 in her career, moving past Umenia White (1,597 from 1985-89) and into fourth place on the all-time list.
 
A freshman also helped lead the charge. Jenny Lindner recorded her second career double-double, scoring 20 points and grabbing a season-high 12 rebounds. She made numerous big shots to help UWM overcome the early second-half deficit, as her three gave the Panthers their first lead of the second half at 49-46 at the seven-minute mark and another Lindner triple extended the lead to 10 at 64-54 and essentially iced the win.
 
Cleveland State tried to hang around in the final minutes, but Milwaukee made 9 of 10 free throws in the final 60 seconds to put it away.
 
Junior Jaleesa Armstrong finished with nine points and seven assists. Brooke Smith led four Vikings in double-figures with 17. The Milwaukee defense held Imani Gordon to just four points, well off her 16.2 ppg season average.
 
The second-half turnaround was impressive. UWM had 13 turnovers at intermission and finished at 17. The Panthers hit 15-of-29 attempts from the floor and an impressive 20-22 from the free throw line in the second half (23-of-25, 92 percent for the game) to finish with 53 points
 
UWM also outrebounded CSU by a 44-37 total and turned in a 34-22 advantage in the paint while holding the Vikings to 34.7 percent (26-of-75) shooting on the day.
 
The victory was a key one in the standings, helping UWM to five league wins and into the mix for a move up the ledger.
 
Up next, the team will close out the home portion of the regular-season schedule with a Wednesday game against Detroit, set for a 7 p.m. tipoff.