Milwaukee Takes On Former League Foe Loyola On Sunday

Panthers look to bounce back after Wednesday’s 2OT loss

MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee women's basketball team looks to bounce back this Sunday with a 2 pm contest against Loyola University Chicago from Gentile Arena. Milwaukee and Loyola are plenty familiar with each other, with Loyola a former member of the Horizon League before departing for the Missouri Valley Conference in 2013. The game can be viewed live online at ESPN3.com, with live-streaming audio at TheBig920.com with Panther voice Matt Menzl on the call.

Panther Bits
• Milwaukee is coming off one of its best seasons in program history, winning 19 games a year ago and earning a berth to the WNIT.

• The Panthers return three starters and nine letterwinners from last season, welcoming six newcomers to the roster, including four true freshmen.

• The Panthers were picked third in the 2016-17 preseason coaches' poll after finishing in second place a year ago.

• Kyle Rechlicz enters her fifth season as head coach of Milwaukee with high hopes, having been named Horizon League Coach of the Year last season. She became just the second coach in school history to earn that honor.

• After earning First-Team All-Horizon League honors last season, Steph Kostowicz doubled down after being named preseason first-team all-league entering to the 2016-17 campaign.

WHAT'S NEW
The Milwaukee women's basketball team looks to bounce back this Sunday with a 2 pm contest against Loyola University Chicago from Gentile Arena. Milwaukee and Loyola are plenty familiar with each other, with Loyola a former member of the Horizon League before departing for the Missouri Valley Conference in 2013. The game can be viewed live online at ESPN3.com, with live-streaming audio at TheBig920.com with Panther voice Matt Menzl on the call.

LOOKING AT LOYOLA
The Ramblers enter Sunday's game 0-2 on the young season, falling to Northern Illinois, 90-70, before a 59-39 defeat at Pittsburgh on Thursday. Loyola is in its first season with Kate Achter at the helm, with quite a few new faces on this year's roster, as well. Kaitlyn Williams leads LUC so far this season with 13 points/game, including a 19-point performance against NIU.

SERIES HISTORY
The Panthers hold a 30-13 all-time lead over Loyola. This marks the first time the two teams have meet since the Ramblers departed the Horizon League in 2013. UWM will look to break a six-game losing skid to Loyola, with three of those losses coming in a six-week span during that 2012-13 season. The Panthers' last win in the series came on Jan. 15, 2011, a 72-58 win in Milwaukee.

UP NEXT
UWM returns to campus for a big showdown with in-state rival Wisconsin on Tuesday at 7 pm from the Klotsche Center. Tuesday's game will be the first of the year broadcast live on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel. The first 500 fans will receive a free Panther t-shirt.

LAST GAME
Sierra Ford-Washington, Steph Kostowicz and Jenny Lindner all posted double-doubles but it wasn't enough as the Milwaukee women's basketball team dropped a 114-104 double overtime thriller to Northern Illinois from the NIU Convocation Center Wednesday evening.

It took a herculean effort from NIU's (2-0) Ally Lehman to bring Milwaukee (1-1) down in this one, scoring a program-record 48 points on 17-29 shooting.

"Coming into this game, we knew this was going to be a very tough battle," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "We really respect the Northern Illinois coaching staff and what they're building here. They have an unbelievable senior in Ally Lehman, and she put her team on her back tonight."

Kostowicz led UWM with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Ford-Washington added another 18 points and 11 rebounds for her second double-double in a Panther uniform, while Lindner was also big with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

This marks the first time in Milwaukee's Division I history that three players all recorded a double-double in the same game.

In all, Milwaukee had six players score 10 or more points on the night, with Lizzie Odegard and Alexis Lindstrom each netting 12, while Bailey Farley scored 11 in her first start as a Panther.

BREAKING THE CENTURY MARK
Milwaukee's 104-point performance against Northern Illinois Nov. 16 tied the second-most points in a game in program history - second only to the memorable 116-point game Dec. 4, 2012 against Bradley. The Panthers also scoring 104 points in a big win over Northeastern Jan. of 1991. This year's performance marked the sixth time UWM has eclipsed the 100-point barrier in its D-I history and the 12th time since basketball began at the school in 1971. The Bradley game marked the most recent reaching the century mark, with the other triple-figure outings including totals of 104 (Northeastern, 1/22/91), 102 (Detroit, 1/19/02), 101 (CSU, 2/17/96) and 100 (YSU, 2/2/02). The 218 combined points in the NIU this season also marked the second-most total points in a game in program history, shy of only the 228 in the 2012 win over Bradley. It also marked just the second time both teams were 100-plus in the same contest.

THAT'S KIND OF A BIG DEAL
Milwaukee did something it has never done before in the Nov. 16 game at Northern Illinois - have three players with a double-double in the same contest. Steph Kostowicz (30 pts, 11 reb), Sierra Ford-Washington (18 pts, 11 reb) and Jenny Lindner (16 pts, 12 reb) all recorded double-doubles in Milwaukee's 114-104 loss, marking the first time three players have done that all in the same game.

FOR OPENERS
The Panthers improved to 10-17 all-time in season openers at the NCAA Division I level (dating back to 1990-91) after their 76-68 win over Western Illinois to start the 2016-17 season. The win over WIU was an exciting one, with Jenny Lindner pouring in 23 points to go with eight rebounds, while Steph Kostowicz notched her first double-double of the young season with 20 points and 11 boards. Head coach Kyle Rechlicz is now 4-1 in openers, as UWM ran away with an 82-58 win over Chicago State in Rechlicz's debut contest four years ago.

EARLY LEAGUE HONORS
Freshman Lizzie Odegard made her collegiate debut in Sunday's win over Western Illinois, collecting five points, five rebounds and one assist in just 14 minutes of action. Lost in the stat sheet is that most of Odegard's efforts came at a crucial time, with WIU closing in on Milwaukee's big lead midway through the third quarter. For her efforts, Odegard was named Horizon League Freshman of the Week, becoming the first Panther to earn a league award after her collegiate debut in program history.

DOUBLING DOWN
Steph Kostowicz has picked up right where she left off last year, recording back-to-back impressive showings to start the 2016-17 season. The preseason first-team all-league honoree opened with 20 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Western Illinois and followed that up with 30 points and 11 boards against Northern Illinois. That gives her 12 double-doubles now in her career at the early part of her junior season. In fact, that marks the first time a Milwaukee player has started the season with back-to-back double-doubles.

JENNY BEING JENNY
Jenny Lindner has a big part of Milwaukee's success in the early going this year. In the season-opening win over Western Illinois, the junior netted a game-high 23 points, now giving her 20 or more points in four of her last seven games dating back to last season. Impressively, Linder was able to score anywhere she wanted on the court, going 6-12 from inside the arc, 1-2 from outside and 8-8 from the charity stripe. She then followed that up with the seventh double-double of her career, notching 16 points and 12 rebounds at Northern Illinois Nov. 16.

6 x 10 = TEAM EFFORT
Another notable from Milwaukee's Nov. 16 contest at Northern Illinois - six Panthers reached double figures in scoring. The Panthers entire starting five of Bailey Farley, Alexis Lindstrom, Jenny Lindner, Sierra Ford-Washington and Steph Kostowicz all scored 11 or more points, while freshman Lizzie Odegard came off the bench to also chip in 12. That marked the first time six players scored since Mar. 9, 2007 in an 83-79 win over Wright State in the Horizon League Tournament quarterfinals - a total of 280 games earlier.

PRESEASON RANKS
The Horizon League released its preseason rankings as voted on by coaches, media members and SIDs with the Panthers picked to be right back at the top this season. Milwaukee was tabbed third overall with 246 points, behind only Green Bay (299) and Detroit (256). Steph Kostowicz also was recognized when the votes were announced, earning first-team all-league honors after earning the same distinction at the end of last year's outstanding run.

IN THE BOOKS
Last season was truly a memorable one for Milwaukee, recording its best regular season in a decade with quite a few remarkable accomplishments achieved by last year's squad.

• The 19 wins are the most in a season since the 2005-06 team that finished 22-9 on their way to the NCAA Tournament.

• The 12 conference wins are the most also since the 05-06 season.

• Milwaukee also posted 10 wins away from home, just one shy of the record 11 non-home wins set by the 2001-02 team.

• The Panthers finished their home season with a 9-5 mark - the first home winning season since 2010-11 (7-6). In fact, last season's home winning percentage of .643 is the highest since the 05-06 team went 13-3 for an .813 mark.

• Last year's second-place finish marked the first time Milwaukee has finished in the top half of the league standings since the 2010-11 team placed fourth and it is the first top-two finish for UWM since taking second in the 07-08 season.

400 AND COUNTING!
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. 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 423 games in a row heading into the game against the Ramblers. 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 five 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. After three years of hard work, the Panthers broke through in her fourth season at the helm with an incredible campaign last year. Milwaukee racked up 19 wins, finished season in the Horizon League and earned a trip to the WNIT. All that work did not go unnoticed, as Rechlicz was named Horizon League Coach of the Year at the end of last season, making her just the second coach in program history to earn that honor.

WATCH 'EM ANYWHERE
Fans will have the opportunity to watch the Panthers all season long. The team will play four games on local broadcast television, once again returning to Time Warner Cable SportsChannel. Another 21 games will be carried live online on ESPN3 as well as one other road game via an opponent platform. 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. Matt Menzl will don the headset for the first time this season. Fans might remember Menzl after years of calling Milwaukee soccer and volleyball games, as well spending the past five seasons as the voice of Green Bay men's basketball. Fans can also catch Menzl's call with the majority of the team's ESPN3 webcasts. A select few games will not be aired due to broadcast conflicts.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#4 Bailey Farley: G; 5' 10"; Junior

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

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

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

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

#45 Lizzie Odegard: F; 6' 0"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#4 Bailey Farley
: 5' 10"; Junior
: G

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

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

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

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

#45 Lizzie Odegard
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: F