DAYTON, Ohio - Tay'ler Mingo scored a game-high 24 points and Wright State University pulled away down the stretch in handing the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team a 91-73 loss Saturday afternoon at the Nutter Center.
 
The Panthers (9-19, 5-11 Horizon League) hung around until late, playing the second-place Raiders (23-7, 12-4 Horizon League) evenly for the majority of the afternoon.
 
"I thought we came in with a lot of heart after having such a tough loss at home against Detroit," UWM head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "I felt like we were locked in, I felt like we were together, I thought we put a great game plan together and our players executed it."
 
Senior Ashley Green paced four Milwaukee players in double-figures, finishing with 16 points and five rebounds.
 
Junior Sydney Howard stayed hot with 12 points, junior Jaleesa Armstrong netted 11 and dished out eight assists and freshman Steph Kostowicz nearly had back-to-back double-doubles, finishing with 10 points and eight boards.
 
"Even though we didn't win, today gave our players confidence to know that we can play with the best teams in our league and for 30-plus minutes we did do that today," Rechlicz said. "We need that confidence going into the postseason."
 
Mingo scored 16 of her 24 in the second half, helping the Raiders slowly pull away over the final 10 minutes. Milwaukee was back within four at 59-55 on a Kostowicz three at the 10:31 mark, but 11 points in a row – seven by Mingo – pushed WSU's advantage to 70-55 and essentially gave them the game.
 
"At the end, I think that Mingo just decided to take over," Rechlicz said. "She is clearly one of the best players in our league and got to the paint on us whenever she wanted to. It was a good learning lesson for some of our freshman who had to guard her as well."
 
Tayler Stanton posted a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Raiders. UWM freshman Christina Wakeman tied her career high with nine points.
 
Tied four times in the second half alone, Wakeman split a pair of free throws to knot the game at 42-42 at the 18:32 mark, capping a 14-5 run to make it a new game after WSU had taken its biggest lead of the afternoon.
 
It was tied again at 49-all before the Raiders took control.
 
A closely-contested game for the majority of the first half, Milwaukee trailed by just a basket at halftime – at 41-39 – and nearly had the lead, only to see freshman Kelsey Cunningham's three-pointer at the buzzer rim out.
 
Two scoring runs told the story, the second by Wright State that took the momentum away from the Panthers and gave it back to the home team. Milwaukee was ahead, 17-13, before the Raiders used a 15-4 run to retake the lead and go back ahead 28-21 at the time.
 
WSU maintained that cushion for the next few minutes. Milwaukee responded once again, using five in a row to get back within striking distance and within a bucket on an Armstrong three at 37-35.
 
The Panthers finished out the regular season with a 5-11 conference record and will be the No. 8 seed for the upcoming Horizon League Tournament. As the eighth seed, UWM will host the No. 9 seed, the Valparaiso Crusaders, in the first-round game Monday. The postseason contest will get underway at 7 p.m. from the Klotsche Center.
 
"Going into the conference tournament we have to put it all together," Rechlicz said. "We have learned a lot of lessons this season and now it's time to put the product out on the court. We have to rely on our biggest strength and that is that we play hard and we play together. And then we have to do the little things like take care of the basketball, get good shots and really lock up defensively."