Women's Basketball March 02, 2016

Milwaukee Looks For Big Finish On Final Road Trip

Panthers take on Oakland Thursday night

MILWAUKEE - With two games left on the schedule, the Milwaukee women's basketball team enters its final road trip able to control its own path into the postseason. The Panthers start the week with a 6 p.m. (Central Time) tip off at Oakland. UWM took down the Golden Grizzlies, 77-64, from the Klotsche Center to close out the month of January. Meanwhile, Oakland is coming off a heartbreaking overtime loss to Detroit in the Metro Series rivalry.

LOOKING AT OAKLAND
The Golden Grizzlies are coming off a heartbreaking, 82-77 overtime loss to rival Detroit last week and sit at 14-13 overall and 6-10 in league play. The loss was the third-straight for an OU team that sits seventh in league standings heading into the final weekend.

Oakland is the lone team in the Horizon League with four players averaging 10.0+ points per game heading into Thursday's contest. Olivia Nash leads the way with 16.3 ppg and 8.4 rebounds per contest. Meanwhile, freshman phenom Taylor Jones is second on the team with 13.4 ppg despite making only eight starts on the year.

On paper, this might be a high-scoring affair as Oakland scores the second-most points in the league while giving up the second-most points.

THE FIRST MEETING...
Five players scored in double figures and Milwaukee got back on track with a 77-64 win over Oakland in front of 698 in the Klotsche Center.

Less than 48 hours after their first loss in six games, UWM (12-8, 6-3 Horizon) started slow but used a pair of big scoring runs to bridge the halftime intermission to go from down four to up 14.

The Panthers would never trail in the second half and recorded their sixth win in their last seven games.

Sierra Ford-Washington led all players Saturday with 24 points – the third-straight game with at least 20 points for the junior.

SERIES HISTORY
With its win in Milwaukee earlier this year, the Panthers claimed a 4-3 edge in the all time series with Oakland. A UWM win on Thursday would move the series to 3-3 since the Golden Grizzlies joined the Horizon League. The Panthers are just 1-2 all time at Oakland, with their lone win coming in Dec. of 2004 (69-64).

UP NEXT
Milwaukee wraps up the regular season at Detroit. Tip off is scheduled for noon Central Time.

LAST GAME
Sierra Ford-Washington scored a season-high 26 points to go with her nine rebounds to lead the Milwaukee women's basketball team to a 68-57 win over Wright State Saturday from inside the Klotsche Center.

The win is another big one for the Panthers (17-10, 11-5 Horizon), who now claim sole possession of second place in the league standings with just two games left in the regular season.

The 17 regular season wins and the 11 league W's mark the most for the team since the 2007-08 team finished the year 17-14 overall and 11-7 in league play.

"I'm just proud," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said after the win. "We use that word a lot – Panther pride. It's something that we say in our huddles a lot.

"Our team is fighting for something. They're fighting to represent our university and that makes me really proud as a coach.

"I'm very confident in who we are right now. I like the edge that we have to us and I know our team is extremely focused, which is what it's going to take in order to be successful the rest of the way."

Sydney Howard also came up big on Saturday. The lone senior scored 15 points on senior day, closing out her home career in style.

"She's our leader; she's our energy. Everything we do revolves around Syd," Rechlicz said. "She's the one that challenges us in practice and challenges us in games. She's really been consistent for us all year."

LOCK IT IN
With its win over Wright State on Saturday, Milwaukee has already guaranteed quite a few notable achievements on the season.

• With a 17-10 record and just two 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 11-5 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.
• 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.

STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM...
With two games to go, Milwaukee currently finds itself sitting in sole possession of second place in the league standings. That is quite the remarkable turnaround from last year, when UWM finished eighth of nine. If the Panthers can finish strong, they would 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.

A PEEK AT THE LEAGUE STANDING
This weekend is a big one for where Milwaukee finishes in the league standings. With just two games left, the Panthers - who were picked ninth of 10 in league preseason poll - control their own destiny in pursuit of the No. 2 seed in the Horizon League Tournament next week in Green Bay. There are quite a few scenarios still in play, but if the Panthers can win two games in the Motor City this weekend, they will earn themselves a double bye straight into the tournament semifinals.

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.

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 and this week it was Sierra Ford-Washington's turn. The junior led UWM to a pair of huge home wins, taking down Northern Kentucky and Wright State while averaging 25 points in the two victories. Not only that, she netted a season-high 26 points on 9-17 shooting to go with nine rebounds and five assists in the win over WSU on Saturday to put Milwaukee into sole possession of second place in the league standings.

SENIOR SALUTE
Sydney Howard played her final two games from inside the Klotsche Center last week and what a week it was for Milwaukee's lone senior. The Milwaukee native poured in a season-high 15 points against both Northern Kentucky and Wright State and shot over .500 for the week, including draining a season-high three three-pointers in each win.

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 17 wins with at least three 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 17 games in a season since the 2005-06 team won 22.

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 26 games this season. Jenny Lindner, Steph Kostowicz and Sierra Ford-Washington have all led the team in scoring nine times each so far this season.

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 over the last two weeks. During Milwaukee's current four-game win streak, Kostowicz is nearly averaging a double-double with 18.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. That includes a 27-point, 12-rebound performance at Valpo Feb. 18.

HOW SWEEP IT IS
With its win over Wright State on Feb. 27, the Panthers completed their fifth season sweep of a team this season (UIC, Cleveland State, Northern Kentucky and Valparaiso being the other four). That is significant as Milwaukee has had just two season sweeps in the past three years combined. In fact, UWM has not swept five or more season series since the 2005-06 team recorded six.

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, 23 games played within the conference have been decided by five points or less, with five of those being decided by just one point.

THE W'S AND THE L'S
As one might expect, there are certainly some stark statistical differences in Milwaukee's 17 wins compared to its 10 losses:

                          W's    L's
FG%                  .431   .329
Def FG%             .338   .451
3FG%                 .367   .250
3FG's Made/GM 7.0     5.6
PPG                   70.7   57.5
PPG Against         57.8   73.4

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 26 of the Panthers' 27 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 three games left on the schedule, Lindstrom has already knocked in 59 shots from deep this season, tying her with Jen Greger for 10th place in school history.

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 73.0 percent clip after sinking 348-of-477 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 six free throws in 2016 - is third in the conference and is 31st in the nation at 85.2 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 the first time around - ranks fourth in the league and 36th in the country at 84.9.

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 twice out-rebounding league foe Wright State - a team that came into both games ranked second in the nation in rebounding. In fact, UWM is averaging six more boards than its opponents in wins (41.1-35.1), 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)

FAST STARTS
One other notable stat from Milwaukee's 17 wins is how fast the team gets out of the starting blocks. The Panthers are outscoring their opponents 611-433 in the opening half when they win, including a 346-221 edge in the second quarter.

DOUBLING DOWN
Steph Kostowicz was at it again against Northern Kentucky Feb. 25. 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 40 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 four more to move into a tie for seventh place all time.

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 has improved its shooting to .411 from the floor and .333 from three.

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.

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.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE
It's no secret Milwaukee has had plenty of success so far this season. UWM got its 17th win of the year on Feb. 27 against Wright State - the fastest calendar date Milwaukee has gotten to 17 wins since the 2005-06 season when they reached that mark on Feb. 18. 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

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 416 games in a row heading into the game against the Golden Grizzlies. 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.

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.

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