Skip To Main Content

Milwaukee Athletics

Skip Ad
team, court

Women's Basketball

Panthers Off To Valparaiso Thursday

Milwaukee will look to rebound with road win

MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee women's basketball team will look to get back on track with a trip to Valparaiso Thursday evening with a 7 p.m. game from the Athletics-Recreation Center. UWM will look to bounce back and improve on their 7-5 league record - currently sitting right near the top of the league standings. For Valpo, this is the final home stand on the season, with senior day scheduled for Saturday.
 
LOOKING AT VALPARAISO
The Crusaders have had a rough go of it recently, dropping its last five games by an average of 12.4 points per game. VU will return home though for a brief two-game home stand starting with Milwaukee on Thursday. Valpo is 7-7 in home games this season.
 
If there is one team that has more young talent than Milwaukee in the Horizon League this season, it's Valparaiso. Its top-three leading scorers are all underclassmen. Jasmyn Walker (11.9 ppg/sophomore), Dani Franklin (10.5 ppg/sophomore) and Meredith Hamlet (10.5 ppg/freshman) are all having strong showings in the early going of their collegiate careers.
 
THE FIRST MEETING...
Milwaukee hit a season-high 11 three pointers - including nine in the first half - on its way to an 82-60 win over Valparaiso Jan. 16 from the Klotsche Center.
 
The Panthers blew that one open late in the first half and never looked back, leading by at least 19 points the entire second half.
 
UWM went 11-of-16 from behind the arc - a mark of 68.8 percent. That is the third-highest three-point percentage for a game in school history.
 
Six different Panthers recorded at least one three for the game.
 
SERIES HISTORY
With the win earlier this year, Milwaukee improved its series lead to 16-9 over the Crusaders. Neither team has been able to pull off the season sweep since UWM won both games in the 11-12 season.
 
UP NEXT
The Panthers will make a stop at UIC on its way back to Milwaukee. UWM and the Flames will tip off Saturday at 3 p.m. from the UIC Pavilion.
 
LAST GAME
Youngstown State shot 50 percent from the floor and hit 12 of the 26 three-pointers in a 70-62 win over the Milwaukee women's basketball team Saturday afternoon from the Klotsche Center.
 
The Panthers (13-10, 7-5 Horizon) had another huge game from Jenny Lindner, finishing with 23 points, six rebounds and four steals, but it wasn't enough to cool off the hot-shooting Penguins (16-8, 7-6 Horizon)
 
"I'm a little disappointed in where we were at today," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "I didn't think we had the same energy level that we normal put forth and we have our Milwaukee style of play and I didn't think that we performed that for the entire game today. There were moments where we were playing well and then there were other moments where we looked complacent and even a little tired.
 
"This is a learning moment. We're a young team. We have to understand how important each game is, especially these ones at home. We'll go back to the drawing board and get ready for next week."
 
Lindner was the hot hand for the third-straight game, shooting 9-16 from the floor and connecting on all five of her free-throw attempts for a game-high 23 points and a career-high four steals.
 
HERE'S JENNY
After a 25-point, 10-rebound performance in the season-opener, it had been a little bit more of a struggle for sophomore Jenny Lindner in the early going this season. That was until the last eight games. After entering the season still working her way back from an off-season injury, Lindner has returned to form in a big way. Over those last eight games, she scored in double digits all eight times and is averaging nearly 16 points per game, including a 23-point performance against Youngstown State on Saturday.
 
THAT'S WHAT I CALL CLUTCH
Sierra Ford-Washington has come up with some big shots for Milwaukee this season, including a pair of game winners in the final seconds. The junior hit a tough jumper in the lane with 6.7 left in overtime to take down Cleveland State Feb. 11. Before that, her layup with 6.4 on the clock was the difference in UWM's 54-53 win over UIC Jan. 14.
 
A GOOD TIME TO GET GOING
While Sierra Ford-Washington stole the headlines in the 59-58 overtime win over Cleveland State Feb. 11 with her game-winning shot with just 6.7 seconds left on the clock, ironically it was one of the worst games she has played as a Panther. Entering that game averaging a team-leading 13.4 ppg, Ford-Washington nearly went scoreless, scoring her lone basket of the contest as the game's final points.
 
A LOT OF NAIL BITERS
Milwaukee's one-point, last second win has been just part of the norm for the Horizon League this season. Heading into Thursday's action, 21 league-only games have been decided by five points or less, with five of those being decided by just one point.
 
FOURTH TIME'S A CHARM
Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz is enjoying quite a bit of success in her fourth season at the helm. Rechlicz has led the Panthers to 13 wins with at least seven more games left on the schedule. That is more than each of her first three seasons, finishing last season with 10 victories. UWM hasn't won more than 13 games in a season since the 2008-09 team won 15.
 
AN OLD, OLD WOODEN SHIP
Milwaukee's offense has been very diverse this season. One year after Ashley Green led the team in scoring in 20 of UWM's 30 games, the Panthers have already had four different players lead the team in scoring through 22 games this season. Jenny Lindner has led the way in nine games thus far, while Steph Kostowicz and Sierra Ford-Washington each have done so seven times on the year.
 
In fact, UWM currently has four players that average 10+ points per game, making them one of just two league schools (Oakland) with that much wide-spread scoring options.
 
DOUBLING DOWN
Jenny Lindner had a monster of a game in the win over Cleveland State Feb. 11. The sophomore led the way with 17 points and 14 rebounds for her third double-double of the year.
 
That marked the ninth double-double by a Panther this season. Impressively, those nine different outings have come by four different players (Lindner, Steph Kostowicz, Emma Roenneburg, Sierra Ford-Washington).
 
BLOCK PARTY
Sophomore Steph Kostowicz has made quite an impact down in the post defensively for Milwaukee this season. The second-year player is averaging 1.5 blocks per game. That number ranks fourth in the conference and 103rd in the nation.
 
Not only that, her 35 blocks this season are already closing in on the all-time record list for a single season. While Maria Viall's school record of 53 in 2003-04 might be hard to reach, Kostowicz has already surpassed Viall's 34-block performance from 2003-04 for 10th in UWM history and needs just one more to move into sole possession of eighth place all time.
 
A PEEK AT THE LEAGUE STANDING
While there is still a lot of basketball yet to be played, UWM currently finds itself sitting in a logjam near the top of the league standings. That is significant as the Panthers haven't finished in the top half of the table since the 2010-11 team placed fourth and hasn't finished runner-up since the 07-08 season.
 
LIKING LEAGUE PLAY
Since the conference season started, the Panthers have seen some significant improvements in quite a few categories, especially the team's shooting. Before league play started up, Milwaukee was shooting .367 from the floor and just .302 from behind the arc. Now that conference play has started? UWM is shooting a whopping .405 from the floor and .338 from three.
 
WINNING BIG
The win at Northern Kentucky on Jan. 23 was Milwaukee's third-straight and fourth overall this season by at least 20 points. That is the most 20-point wins in a single season since the 2008-09 team also had four 20-point wins.
 
The last time Milwaukee has had more than four 20-point wins in a single season? The 2001-02 team posted nine victories by at least 20 points. That team went 20-8 with an average winning margin of 18.1 and has the largest win in school history - a 100-46 win over Youngstown State.
 
LOTS OF 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 73.2 percent clip after sinking 287-of-392 thus far. That's a better ratio than the past few seasons. Milwaukee shot 69.8 percent last year and has not finished over 70 percent since a program-record 79.1 percent showing back in 2010-11.
 
Individually, Milwaukee has two of the best free throw shooters in the league this season. Jenny Lindner - who went 10-for-10 once this season and has missed just three free throws in 2016 - is third in the conference and is 15th in the nation at 87.3 percent this year. Meanwhile, Sierra Ford-Washington - who twice has gone 8-for-8 in a game this year and was 11-for-11 against Oakland - ranks fifth in the league and 62nd in the country at 83.7.
 
ALL GOOD THINGS...
Milwaukee's five-game win streak was snapped on Jan. 28 at the hands of Detroit, 89-79. It took a total team effort from the Titans to finally end the Panthers big run, including a season-high shooting percentage of 56 percent by Detroit.
 
The five-game run marked the longest winning streak under head coach Kyle Rechlicz. Milwaukee's last string of five or more came in 2007-08 when it rattled off five in a row early in conference play. Prior to that, the longest win streak of at least five came during the 2005-06 season when UWM ended the season with 12 straight all the way to the NCAA Tournament.
 
AWARD-WINNING PLAY
The awards have started to pile up for Steph Kostowicz after her recent run of play. She was named Horizon League Player of the Week Jan. 25 after stuffing the stat sheet in a pair of Panther road wins. Kostowicz was also honored by College Sports Madness for the second-straight week, this time being named the High Major Player of the Week to go with the league's weekly award. Finally, she was also named to the NCAA's "Starting 5" for the week as one of the top-five players in the nation.
 
IT'S BEEN A WHILE
It's no secret Milwaukee has had plenty of early success this season. UWM got its 13th win of the year on Feb. 11 against Cleveland State - the fastest calendar date Milwaukee has gotten to 13 wins since the 2005-06 season when they reached that mark on Feb. 9. That team finished the year with an impressive 22 wins, making it all the way to the NCAA Tournament.
 
MAKE IT RAIN
The Panthers hit a season-high 11 threes in its 82-60 win over Valparaiso Jan. 16. While making three-pointers is nothing new for Milwaukee, the rate at which UWM was clicking against the Crusaders was worth taking note. Milwaukee went 11-for-16 in that win for a .688 percentage, ranking third all-time in program history.
 
1- .786 (11-14) Central Michigan          2/17/00
2- .722 (13-18) Western Michigan         11/14/12
3- .688 (11-16) Valparaiso                1/16/16
 
THE KOST OF ADMISSION
Steph Kostowicz was nearly unstoppable in three-straight Panther wins against Valpo, WSU and NKU, posting career-highs in all three games. After tallying 20 points, six steals and five assists - all career highs - against Valpo, she again netted 20 against Wright State before pouring in a new career-best 23 points on 7-8 shooting at NKU.
 
WORKING THE GLASS
Milwaukee has made a clear emphasis on the rebounding front this season, and it has shown. The Panthers are out-rebounding their opponents by an impressive 5.9 per game, including a decisive 44-32 edge against Wright State - a team that came into that game ranked second in the nation in rebounding. In fact, UWM is averaging nearly nine more boards than its opponents in wins (42.1-33.2), and still has the edge in losses, though the margin is much closer (39.5-38.0).
 
Here's a look at some of the largest rebounding margins for Milwaukee thus far this season:
 
1. +24 vs. IPFW (50-26)
2. +21 at Youngstown State (46-25)
3. +20 at Chicago State (42-22)
4. +17 vs. La Salle (53-36)
5. +14 vs. Valparaiso (42-28)
 
THE W'S AND THE L'S
As one might expect, there are certainly some stark statistical differences in Milwaukee's 13 wins compared to its nine losses:
 
                                  W's        L's
FG%                            .432       .329
Def FG%                        .338        .451
3FG%                           .381        .251
3FG's Made/GM               7.4        5.6
PPG                             71.1       57.2
PPG Against                     56.8       73.6
 
FAST STARTS
One other notable stat from Milwaukee's 13 wins is how fast the team gets out of the starting blocks. The Panthers are outscoring their opponents 478-323 in the opening half when they win, including a 273-166 edge in the second quarter.
 
DE-FENSE
Milwaukee has been posting some impressive defensive numbers over the last month. In its last 14 games, the Panthers are averaging giving up just over 60 points against per contest. There have been quite a few standout performances during that stretch, as well.
 
In it's 62-46 win over Cleveland State on Jan. 9, UWM held the Vikings to just 12 made field goals - just one shy of the school record. The 14 first-half points also marked the lowest total of the season and the third lowest in school history. In fact, the Panthers held CSU without a field goal for over 10 minutes between the first and second half.
 
Then, one game later against UIC, the Panthers overcame a rough second quarter to limit the Flames to just 11 and 12 points in each of the final two periods to claim a 54-53 win.
 
Finally, in back-to-back 82-60 wins over Valparaiso and Wright State, Milwaukee held its opponents to single digits in scoring in three of the eight quarters in those two games. That's even more impressive considering WSU came into that game averaging 80.4 ppg - the 11th best total in the nation.
 
MIDTERM GRADES
After its 77-64 win over Oakland on Jan. 30, Milwaukee finished the first half of the league season with a 6-3 record in Horizon League play. The 6-3 start marked the best start through the first nine league games under head coach Kyle Rechlicz. In fact, UWM hasn't posted a winning record in league play since 2007-08 when it went 11-7.
 
CLOSING OUT THE NON-CONFERENCE
With Milwaukee's 55-48 win over Chicago State on Jan. 3, it finished out its non-conference schedule with a winning record of 6-5. While it has been close plenty of times, UWM has not finished with a winning out-of-conference mark since the 2001-02 season when it went 6-5. Ironically, the sixth win in that season also came on the road against Chicago State.
 
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 412 games in a row heading into the game against the Crusaders. 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 four 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.
SHARP SHOOTER
Milwaukee's Alexis Lindstrom has hit some big shots this season; quite of few of which have come from behind the arc. Playing her first season in Milwaukee, the junior has connected on at least one three pointer in all 23 games this season, hitting three or more six different times and netting a season-high five twice (La Salle Nov. 28./Northern Kentucky Jan. 23). That marks the most games with a made three to start the season on record - topping Angela Rodriguez's mark of 19 games with a three to start the 2012-13 season.
 
In fact, Lindstrom hasn't gone a full game without a made three pointer since going 0-for-1 March 8, 2014 while she was playing at Northern Illinois. One game after that performance, Lindstrom drained a career-high nine triples in the first game of the MAC conference tournament.
 
THE PERFECT GAME
The Panthers have had quite a few notable shooting performances this season. Despite playing in a season-low 19 minutes, Steph Kostowicz still made quite the impact in Milwaukee's 73-60 win over IPFW Dec. 28. She a perfect 5-for-5 from the field in the game, the first time a Panther has finished without a miss in a game with a minimum of five attempts since Ashlee Imperial's 6-for-6 performance against Loyola back on Jan. 24, 2009.
 
A pair of Panthers have also been perfect from the charity stripe this season with at least 10 attempts.
 
Jenny Lindner drained all 10 of her attempts from the line against IPFW, the first Panther to do so since Angela Rodriquez also went 10-for-10 at New Mexico State Nov. 30, 2013. Sierra Ford-Washington than did one better, going 11-for-11 as part of her 24 points against Oakland Jan. 30.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Ashley Green

#4 Ashley Green

G/F
5' 11"
Senior
Steph Kostowicz

#32 Steph Kostowicz

F
6' 2"
Sophomore
Jenny Lindner

#20 Jenny Lindner

G
6' 0"
Sophomore
Alexis Lindstrom

#5 Alexis Lindstrom

G
5' 7"
Junior
Emma Roenneburg

#24 Emma Roenneburg

F
6' 2"
Freshman
Sierra Ford-Washington

#30 Sierra Ford-Washington

G
5' 8"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Ashley Green

#4 Ashley Green

5' 11"
Senior
G/F
Steph Kostowicz

#32 Steph Kostowicz

6' 2"
Sophomore
F
Jenny Lindner

#20 Jenny Lindner

6' 0"
Sophomore
G
Alexis Lindstrom

#5 Alexis Lindstrom

5' 7"
Junior
G
Emma Roenneburg

#24 Emma Roenneburg

6' 2"
Freshman
F
Sierra Ford-Washington

#30 Sierra Ford-Washington

5' 8"
Junior
G