Women's Basketball February 26, 2016

Panthers, Raiders Battle For Second Place Saturday

Milwaukee looking for its fourth-straight win

MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee women's basketball team will look to keep the winning streak going Saturday when they host Wright State University at 2 p.m. from inside the Klotsche Center. UWM and WSU are both tied for second in the league standings with 10-5 records. A win would give the Panthers a season-sweep of the Raiders for the first time since the 2004-05 season after claiming an 82-60 win in Dayton earlier this year.

LOOKING AT WRIGHT STATE
The Raiders are having another very successful season under head coach Mike Bradbury. Entering Saturday's game with a record of 20-8, WSU has its third-straight 20-win season.

Wright State is nationally ranked in a slew categories, including being second in the NCAA in rebounding at 47.4 per game. The Raiders also score the 15th most points per game in the nation at 78.5.

Leading the WSU attack is senior Kim Demmings. Demmings is 22nd in the country with 20.5 ppg and broke the all time career points mark in the Horizon League earlier this year.

THE FIRST MEETING...
The Milwaukee women's basketball team broke open a close game early en route to an emphatic 82-60 road win over league-leading Wright State from the Nutter Center.

UWM dominated the Raiders in handing them their first league loss of the year.

Milwaukee's 82 points is the second most allowed by Wright State this season and it is just the second home loss for WSU this year.

In fact, the Raiders came into the game averaging 80.4 points per game – the 11th highest total in the nation. Wright State also was second in the country this year in rebounds per game and Milwaukee limited them to just 32 for the game while UWM hauled in 44.

SERIES HISTORY
With its win in Dayton earlier this season, the Panthers closed the overall series with Wright State to 24-26 all time. Milwaukee dominated the series early, winning 15-straight from 1999-2006 before WSU got hot and took 13 of 14 until Milwaukee's win at Wright State earlier this year.

UP NEXT
The Panthers hit the road for the final regular-season weekend road trip of the year, start Thursday evening at Oakland for a 6 pm contest.

LAST GAME
Sierra Ford-Washington scored a game-high 24 points as the Milwaukee women's basketball team notched a big 78-71 win over a red-hot Northern Kentucky team Thursday night from the Klotsche Center.

The win is a huge one for Milwaukee (16-10, 10-5 Horizon), moving them into a tie for second place in the league standings with three games left in the regular season. UWM is tied in the league standings with Wright State, with the two teams set to square off Saturday.

The loss is just the second in the last eight games for Northern Kentucky (16-10, 8-7).

"They (Northern Kentucky) are a good team and their coach has them playing very good basketball coming down to tournament time so we knew this was going to be a tough game from the start," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "The first half was pretty much all offense – it was an offensive clinic for everybody to see. And I knew that once we started figuring out what offense they were running and how to defend it with our defense, we would be able to make some plays with our defense down the stretch."

The win guarantees Milwaukee a winning season in both the regular season and in the Horizon League – the first time either has happened since the 2007-08 season.

Ford-Washington led the way for Milwaukee with 24 points, with 11 of those from the free-throw line.

Steph Kostowicz continued her string of strong showings, netting 19 points to go with 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season.

Sydney Howard also was huge for Milwaukee in this one. The senior scored a season-high 15 points of 6-10 shooting (3-6 from behind the arc), while running the offense for the Panthers.

LOCK IT IN
With its win over NKU on Thursday, Milwaukee guaranteed quite a few notable achievements on the season.

• With a 16-10 record and just three regular-season games left, Milwaukee is guaranteed to have its first winning season since the 2007-08 team went 17-14 and finished tied for second in league play.

• The 10-5 record in league play also means Milwaukee will have its first winning record in the Horizon League since the 07-08 season.

• UWM also has reached double-digit wins in league play for the first time since the 07-08 team went 11-7 in the conference.

SENIOR SALUTE
The Panthers will be paying tribute to their lone senior on this year's staff before Saturday's game. Sydney Howard has been an important piece of this puzzle the last four years for UWM, closing out her home career Saturday.

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 16 wins with at least four 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 16 games in a season since the 2007-08 team won 17.

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 26 games this season. Jenny Lindner and Steph Kostowicz have led the way in nine games a piece thus far, while Sierra Ford-Washington has done so eight times.

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.

THE KOST OF ADMISSION
Steph Kostowicz was a big part of Milwaukee's five-game winning streak earlier this year and she returned to that form in the last three. At Valparaiso, the sophomore forward poured in a career-best 27 points to go with 12 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the year. It also marked the most points by a Panther this season and is the most since Ashley Green's 30 points against Cleveland State late last season.

Then, at UIC, Kostowicz was nearly perfect in Milwaukee's 62-56 win. She put the team on her back in the second half with 20 of her 24 points coming after the intermission on 8-10 shoot - including 1-1 from three - and a perfect 7-7 effort from the charity stripe. Kostowicz also led the team with seven rebounds.

Finally, against NKU on Thursday, she once again notched a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds to play a big part in the home win.

AWARD-WINNING PLAY
For the second time this season, Steph Kostowicz has gotten quite a bit of attention for her efforts on the court. And rightfully so. The sophomore was named Horizon League Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 25.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in Milwaukee's two road wins last week. Kostowicz was also named best in the league by College Sports Madness. This marks the second time she has swept both weekly honors, doing so earlier this season on Jan. 25. That week she was also named to the NCAA's "Starting 5" for the week as one of the top-five players in the nation.

HOW SWEEP IT IS
With its win over NKU on Feb. 25, the Panthers completed their fourth season sweep of a team this season (UIC, Cleveland State and Valparaiso being the other three). That is significant as Milwaukee has had just two season sweeps in the past three years combined. In fact, UWM has not swept four or more season series since the 2007-08 team did so.

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 point in 25 of the Panthers' 26 games so far this season. In fact, Lindstrom started the season with at least one triple in the first 24 games - topping Jess Wilhite's mark of 20 games with a three to start the 2000-01 season.

With at least four games left on the schedule, Lindstrom has already knocked in 58 shots from deep this season. One more would tie her with Jen Greger for 10th place in school history.

A LOT OF NAIL BITERS
Milwaukee's one-point, last second win against Cleveland State has been just part of the norm for the Horizon League this season. Heading into Saturday's action, 22 league-only games have been decided by five points or less, with five of those being decided by just one point.

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.

DOUBLING DOWN
Steph Kostowicz was at it again on Thursday against NKU. With 19 points and 10 rebounds, the sophomore notched her sixth double-double of the year.

That marked the 11th double-double by a Panther this season. Impressively, those 11 different outings have come by four different players (Kostowicz, Jenny Lindner, Emma Roenneburg and 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 110th in the nation.

Not only that, her 39 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 already stands eighth in UWM history and needs just five more to move into a tie for seventh 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 tie for second place in 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 .413 from the floor and .335 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 having an impressive season from the free throw line, currently near the lead in the Horizon League with a 72.9 percent clip after sinking 341-of-468 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 four free throws in 2016 - is third in the conference and is 23rd in the nation at 86.8 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 fourth in the league and 58th in the country at 84.3.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE
It's no secret Milwaukee has had plenty of success so far this season. UWM got its 16th win of the year on Feb. 25 against NKU - the fastest calendar date Milwaukee has gotten to 16 wins since the 2005-06 season when they reached that mark on Feb. 16. 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

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 4.5 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 six more boards than its opponents in wins (40.6-34.6), and still has the edge in losses, though the margin is much closer (39.4-37.4).

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 16 wins compared to its 10 losses:

                                  W's        L's
FG%                            .435       .329
Def FG%                        .338        .451
3FG%                           .372       .250
3FG's Made/GM               6.9        5.6
PPG                             70.9       57.5
PPG Against                     57.9       73.4

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 415 games in a row heading into the game against the Raiders. 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.

FAST STARTS
One other notable stat from Milwaukee's 15 wins is how fast the team gets out of the starting blocks. The Panthers are outscoring their opponents 570-404 in the opening half when they win, including a 322-205 edge in the second quarter.

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.

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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

#24 Emma Roenneburg: F; 6' 2"; 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

#24 Emma Roenneburg
: 6' 2"; Freshman
: F

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