Women's Basketball March 13, 2016

Panthers, Phoenix Battle For League Title On ESPNU

Two teams met for conference tournament title at noon Sunday

MILWAUKEE - After a 68-60 win over Wright State in the semifinals, the Milwaukee women's basketball team is headed to the Horizon League Tournament Championship on Sunday against Green Bay. The two teams are scheduled to tip off at noon from the Kress Events Center live on ESPNU. That broadcast will also be streamed live online on ESPN3. The Panthers, who are already guaranteed a berth to the postseason, are looking for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006.

PANTHER BITS
• Milwaukee won its semifinal game, 68-60, over Wright State Saturday to advance to Sunday's championship against Green Bay.

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

• The Panthers were picked ninth in the 2015-16 preseason coaches' poll after finishing in eighth place a year ago.

• In her fourth season at the helm, Kyle Rechlicz was named Horizon League Coach of the Year this season, becoming just the second coach in school history to earn that distinction.

• Steph Kostowicz was also honored by the Horizon League, earning first-team all-conference honors.

• The Panthers will play in the postseason for the first time since the 2005-06 season when it went to the NCAA Tournament, falling to Michigan State, 65-46.

LOOKING AT GREEN BAY
Green Bay has long established itself as the leaders of the Horizon League, and this year has been no different. The Phoenix has now won at least a share of 18-straight league regular season titles.

Allie LeClaire leads the team with 12.6 points per game, while Mehryn Kraker and Kaili Lukan were both named second team all-league last week, with Lukan being named the league's defensive player of the year. Sophomore Jessica Lindstrom was also named to the conference's all-defensive team.

Green Bay ranks 10th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 52.6 points per game against.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET...
Tesha Buck scored a game-high 23 points to lead Green Bay to a 69-46 win over Milwaukee Feb. 6.

The league-leading Phoenix – which was ranked in the national top-25 poll just one week ago – used a 22-2 run to start the second quarter to take control of this one and would never look back.

"We knew going into this game we were going to get outside looks and that we would have to knock down some shots tonight and we just didn't do well with that today," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "We were very hesitant today and you just can't do that against a team like Green Bay."

SERIES HISTORY
Green Bay leads the all time record against Milwaukee, 44-11, including a pair of wins this season. The two teams have met in the league tournament six times, with GB winners in five of those contests. This marks the 3rd time UWM and Green Bay will play for the NCAA Tournament berth, going 1-1.

UP NEXT
Milwaukee will prepare for postseason play for the first time since the 2005-06 season. The Panthers are guaranteed at least a berth to the WNIT, if they do not see their name on selection Monday for the NCAA Tournament.

LAST GAME
Green Bay, Wis. – Jenny Lindner poured in a game-high 31 points and the Milwaukee women's basketball team got a big 68-60 win over Wright State Saturday evening from the Kress Center to advance to Sunday's Horizon League Tournament Championship at noon.

While Lindner was dominant, this was a total team effort for Milwaukee (19-11); taking down the Raiders (24-10) for the third time this season.

UWM will now make its first appearance to the league tournament championship since the 2008-09 season. The Panthers will face Green Bay, who narrowly edged Northern Kentucky in the other semifinal, 80-78, in double overtime.

"Wright State is an unbelievable team and a great program. We knew it wouldn't be easy coming in. The standards are so much higher when you have this opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament. We just knew we had to bring a full effort game.

"We came out so much focus; so much intensity. We just have a team that is really bought it and they really want to win.

"It's exciting. But, as we said when we entered this tournament, we really want to win it all. We want to go for that championship and we know our team is going to be ready for that."

Milwaukee outrebounded WSU, 44-41; the third time this season they have achieved that against the No. 2 rebounding team in the nation.

The Panthers got contributions from up and down the lineup, with eight of the nine players who saw the court tallying at least two points.

Emma Roenneburg had career highs in rebounds (12), assists (six) and blocks (three). Steph Kostowicz was held to a quiet seven points but added 10 rebounds and six assists.

Lindner once again stole the headlines with her 31 points on an incredibly efficient 11-15 shooting – 3-5 from behind the arc – while going 6-8 from the free throw line. Lindner also added seven rebounds in tonight's contest.

TO THE 'SHIP
Milwaukee advanced to the Horizon League Tournament title game for the fourth time in program history. The last time UWM made it to the conference championship was back in 2007-08 when it nearly ran the gamut as the No. 7 seed, winning three games in three different cities before running out of gas against Green Bay. Milwaukee won its other two league title contests, beating Green Bay, 77-62, back in 2000-01 and taking down UIC, 71-63, during the 2005-06 season.

POSTSEASON AWARDS
The Horizon League handed out its annual postseason awards earlier this week and Milwaukee was very well represented this season. Head coach Kyle Rechlicz was named league coach of the year - just the second UWM coach to earn the honor from the Horizon League and first since Sandy Botham did so in 2005-06. Steph Kostowicz was also recognized, being named first team all-league after being one of the key pieces for Milwaukee all season long.

TOURNAMENT TIME
The Panthers entered this year's Horizon League Tournament as the No. 2 seed. That marks the highest ranking for the team entering the league tournament in head coach Kyle Rechlicz's four years and the first time they've finished that high since the 2005-06 team won the regular season and tournament titles on their way to the big dance.

While the going has not been easy for UWM in the postseason over the past decade, a win on Sunday would improve the team's record to .500 with an 8-9 record entering the day over the last 10 seasons.

Its last trip to the conference championship came during an incredible run in the 2008-09 season. Entering that year's tournament as the No. 7 seed, Milwaukee rattled off wins over Youngstown State, second-seeded Butler and Cleveland State before coming up just short to Green Bay in the championship game.

MARCHING ON
With its win over Wright State in the league tournament semifinal, the Panthers guaranteed themselves a place in one of the postseason tournaments. Should the Panthers not win the automatic bid to the NCAA Championships with a victory Sunday in the league tournament final, the Panthers would likely be headed to the WNIT, which takes the top team not to make the big dance from each league based on conference tournament seeding.

IN THE BOOKS
Milwaukee wrapped up its best regular season in a decade this season with quite a few remarkable accomplishments achieved by this 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 since also since the 05-06 season.

• Milwaukee also now has 10 wins away from home, just one shy of the record 11 non-home wins set by the 2001-02 team.
• The Panthers also finished their home season with a 9-5 mark - the first home winning season since 2010-11 (7-6). In fact, this season's home winning percentage of .643 is the highest since the 05-06 team went 13-3 for an .813 mark.

• This marks 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.

THE BIG 2-0
The Panthers have a chance this season to do something only a handful of others have done in program history - reach the notable 20 win plateau. Entering Sunday's game with a 19-11 overall mark, Milwaukee has a chance to join the 2005-06 (22-9) and the 2001-02 (20-8) teams as the only others to reach 20 wins since joining the Division I ranks.

STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM...
With its 98-95 win at Oakland on March 3, Milwaukee officially clinched a second-place finish in the league standings and a double bye in this week's conference tournament in Green Bay. That is quite the remarkable turnaround from last year, when UWM finished eighth of nine. With the regular season officially in the books, the Panthers have become just the third team in Horizon League history to finish in the bottom two one season and follow that up with a top-two finish the very next year. The other two?

-Youngstown State finished last (4-14) in the 2011-12 season before jumping up to second (11-5) in 12-13, making it to the WNIT.

-Butler placed seventh of eight (3-11) in 1988-89 before leaping up to second (12-4) the next year, losing to Notre Dame by just one point in the conference tournament championship.

LINDNER DOWN THE STRETCH
While Jenny Lindner's career-high 32-point effort at Oakland is impressive for a variety of reasons, it's worth taking note that 16 of those 32 points came in the final 10 minutes of action. It's not the first time she has taken over in the fourth quarter either. In her previous season-high performance at Eastern Illinois on Dec. 10, Lindner netted 14 of her 25 points in the final quarter to help secure that win, as well.

Not only that, she also had a monster third quarter in Milwaukee's narrow loss at Detroit in the regular season finale. Lindner scored a team-high 20, with 14 coming in the third quarter.

Finally, Lindner poured in another 31 points in the Horizon League Tournament semifinal against Wright State. She was once again big late, netting 21 of those points after halftime to help seal the Panther win.

WHAT A WIN
Milwaukee clinched a second-place finish in the league standings with a memorable, 98-95 win at Oakland on March 3. Quite a few notable stats came out of that big win.

• Steph Kostowicz and Jenny Lindner each scored 32 points in that win, marking the first time in the D-I era that two Panthers each scored 30+ points in a single game.

• Kostowicz did so on 13-14 shooting from the floor, including 2-2 from three and 4-4 from the free throw line. That shooting percentage of .929 is the highest in program history for a single game, besting Nicole Drummond's .909 (10-11) performance Feb. 11, 2006.

• Lindner got her 32 points on 14-24 shooting. That marks the second-most attempts in a game for Milwaukee, short of only Traci Edwards' 33 attempts in 2007.

DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY
Milwaukee has racked up 19 wins this season and has gotten to that impressive total in a variety of ways.

During its first five-game win streak of the season, UWM blew the doors off quite a few opponents, winning three-straight at one points, all by at least 22 points. The Panthers have also had some grind-em-out wins (most recently at Valpo and at UIC) and have shown they can win both low-scoring (54-53 vs. UIC) and high-scoring (98-95) affairs.

AWARD-WINNING PLAY
The Panthers have posted some prolific performances this season, and the league office has taken notice. Steph Kostowicz was named league player of the week twice already this season, Sierra Ford-Washington's earned the award once and this past week it was Jenny Lindner's turn. The sophomore led UWM in scoring in both games, averaging 26 points on the final road swing. Lindner netter a career-high 32 points - including 16 in the final quarter - to help spark UWM past Oakland, 98-95, and clinch the No. 2 seed. She was also big defensively with six rebounds and three steals. Then, two days later, she scored a team-high 20 points to go with seven rebounds and another three steals in a narrow loss at Detroit.

THERE'S NO DEBATING IT
With debates from Presidential hopefuls taking hold of the national spotlight these days, the Panthers have shown they are up to the task when paired up against Washington's big wigs, going 2-0 when playing in the same city a debate is being held on the same day. Milwaukee beat Cleveland State, 59-58, on Feb. 11, the same day of the Democratic debate on the UWM campus. Then, the Panthers won at Oakland, 98-95, while the Republican nominees duked it out just down the road in Detroit on March 3.

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 18 wins with at least one more game 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 18 games in a season since the 2005-06 team won 22.

THE W'S AND THE L'S
As one might expect, there are certainly some stark statistical differences in Milwaukee's 19 wins compared to its 11 losses:

                          W's    L's
FG%                  .440   .333
Def FG%             .348   .453
3FG%                 .369   .253
3FG's Made/GM 6.8     5.7
PPG                   72.0   59.2
PPG Against         59.9   74.0

HOW SWEEP IT IS
With its win over Oakland on March 3, the Panthers completed their sixth sweep of a team this year (UIC, Cleveland State, Northern Kentucky, Wright State and Valparaiso being the other five). That is significant as Milwaukee has had just two season sweeps in the past three years combined. In fact, UWM has not swept six or more season series since the 2005-06 team reached that same mark.

A LOT OF NAIL BITERS
Milwaukee's last second win at Oakland has been just part of the norm for the Horizon League this season. During the regular season, 24 games played within the conference were decided by five points or less, with five of those being decided by just one point.

AN OLD, OLD WOODEN SHIP
Milwaukee's offense has been the definition of diversity 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 29 games this season. Jenny Lindner has done so 12 times, while Steph Kostowicz has done so 10 times and Sierra Ford-Washington is right behind with nine.

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 73.4 percent clip after sinking 392-of-534 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. Sierra Ford-Washington - who twice has gone 8-for-8 in a game this year and was 11-for-11 against Oakland the first time around - ranks third in the league and 35th in the country at 85.0. Meanwhile, Jenny Lindner - who went 10-for-10 once this season - is fourth in the conference and is 40th in the nation at 83.8 percent this year.

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 out-rebounding league foe Wright State - a team that came into all three contests games ranked second in the nation in rebounding - a remarkable three times. In fact, UWM is averaging six more boards than its opponents in wins (41.0-34.8), and still has the edge in losses, though the margin is much closer (39.5-37.5).

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)

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 27 of the Panthers' 30 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 one game left on the schedule, Lindstrom has already knocked in 60 shots from deep this season, tying her with Angela Rodriguez for ninth place in school history.

FAST STARTS
One other notable stat from Milwaukee's 19 wins is how fast the team gets out of the starting blocks. The Panthers are outscoring their opponents 696-506 in the opening half when they win, including a 399-255 edge in the second quarter.

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 1.4 blocks per game. That number ranks fourth in the conference and 117th in the nation.

Not only that, her 43 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 one more to move into a tie for seventh place all time.

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 419 games in a row heading into the game against the Phoenix. 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.

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

#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

#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