Women's Basketball January 12, 2017

Annual Milwaukee School Day Game This Friday

Over 2,000 students scheduled to be on hand

MILWAUKEE – In another battle of early-season heavyweights, the Milwaukee women's basketball team will host Detroit Mercy at the Klotsche Center at 11 am Friday for its annual School Day game. Over 2,000 students from area schools are expected to be on hand for the big game - the fourth-straight year Milwaukee has hosted local schools for a day game. Both the Panthers and Titans are coming off close conference losses on Wednesday and are looking to bounce back.

LOOKING AT THE TITANS
The Titans are coming off their first league loss of the season - a 60-55 set back at Green Bay Wednesday evening. Detroit Mercy was right at the top of the standings last year despite a short bench and Bernard Scott once again has his team playing at a high level with added depth this season. Redshirt senior Rosanna Reynolds leads UDM with 16.4 points/game, while Brianne Cohen (13.7) and Nicole Urbanick (11.1) both also average in double figures.

SERIES HISTORY
After the series was tied at 24-24 following a Panther win early in league play in the 2014-15 season, Detroit Mercy has won the last three to take a slight edge in the matchup all time. Last year's battles were two close ones, with UDM hitting 12 threes in Milwaukee for a 10-point W before Brianne Cohen went off for 33 in a four-point victory from Detroit in the season finale. A Titan win on Friday would match their longest winning streak in the series at four, done two other times.

UP NEXT
Milwaukee closes out its three-game home stand Tuesday when it hosts UIC at 7 pm from the Klotsche Center.

LAST GAME
The Milwaukee women's basketball team twice erased sizeable deficits in the fourth quarter before coming up just short, 75-73, to Oakland University Wednesday evening from the Klotsche Center.

Milwaukee (11-5, 3-2 Horizon) had a few looks at the basket on the game's final possession, but just couldn't get the ball in the basket in the narrow defeat.

Oakland (9-6, 3-1 Horizon) was hot from the floor all night long, including connecting on 78 percent of their attempts in the fourth quarter and finished the game shooting 51.9 percent in back-and-forth contest.

"I thought we competed, and that's what we need to do game in and game out is put ourselves in a position to win," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "We were there. We just had way too many defensive lapses. We can't let other teams come into our gym and shoot 50 percent - especially inside the paint...and then we didn't shoot as well.

"We had a lot of great looks, especially in the first quarter and I thought we could have blown the game open then. But, a lot of credit to Oakland. They are such a good team and they're well coached. I knew this would be a tough game, for sure."

Jenny Lindner led Milwaukee with 21 points and four rebounds, while Alexis Lindstrom continued her hot shooting with another 18 points (5-8 from behind the arc) to go with her season-high six rebounds.

Steph Kostowicz was battled through a congested post area to finish with 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Sierra Ford-Washington also finished in double figures with 11 points and seven assists.

Leah Somerfield led Oakland with a career-high 25 points.

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.

400 AND COUNTING!
The Panthers have been on fire from behind the arc of late, headlined by hitting 14 threes against Valparaiso Jan. 7. That's nothing new for Milwaukee, though, as they have been lighting it up from three-point range for a while now. In fact, the Panthers have made at least one three-point in every game dating back to an 0-for-4 showing against Marquette back on Nov. 26, 2002. That makes 437 games in a row heading into the game against the Titans.

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.

HEATING UP
While Milwaukee has been hitting threes for quite some time, that has especially been the case of late. After a cold spell early in the season, UWM has connected on eight or more three-pointers and shot .400 or better from long range in six of its last seven contests. Not only that, but the Panthers flirted with their school record of made threes (17) this past Saturday at Valparaiso by hitting seven in the first quarter alone before finishing with 14 for the game.

Not coincidentally, Milwaukee's top marksman - Alexis Lindstrom - has led the charge in hitting 18 shots from deep in the last five games alone, including going 5-for-8 against Oakland on Wednesday.

OUTSIDE-INSIDE
In the Jan. 7 game at Valparaiso, Milwaukee couldn't quite get things going inside in the early going and were forced into firing quite a few shots from outside the arc. The results were awfully impressive, as the Panthers finished the opening quarter going 7-for-13 from three. That accounted for all 21 points for UWM in the first 10 minutes.

Not only that, the seven made threes in one quarter are the most for Milwaukee since the NCAA switched to the new format at the start of last season.

HELPING HAND
Part of the reason Milwaukee has had such hot shooting of late is the ball movement and the play from its two primary guards. On Jan. 5 at UIC, Alexis Lindstrom dished out a career-high eight assists as UWM had a season-best 20 assists as a team in the win. Then, two days later at Valpo, it was Sierra Ford-Washington's turn. The senior recorded a season-best seven of the team's 17 assists in the comeback win. Ford-Washington followed that up with another seven-assist performance on Wednesday against Oakland, while UWM finished with 19 as a team.

LEAGUE LEADERS
While it is still early, UWM has started out much like they played all of last season with their statistics ranking quite high in the league standings in the early going. Milwaukee already leads the conference in free throw percentage (.795), three point percentage (.365), and rebound margin (+8.0) and ranks second in scoring offense (75.8 points/game) and field goal percentage (.426).

OH SO CLOSE
While the Panthers' 11-5 record is certainly impressive, Milwaukee is just a few shots away from one of the best marks in the entire nation. Milwaukee had buzzer-beater attempts against both Northern Illinois and Northwestern fall just short for a pair of extremely close non-conference losses, and had three attempts in the final 10 seconds just miss on Wednesday against Oakland.

A LOT OF CHARITY WORK
Kyle Rechlicz's teams have increasingly improved on their free throw shooting, with last year being the third-best in program history, connecting on .737 percent of their freebies. This year's Panther squad is well above that mark, sinking 237-298 of their shots from the charity stripe heading into the game against Oakland. That is good for a .795 percentage - just ahead of the school-record mark of .790 set back in the 2010-11 season.

Not only that, the Panthers' free throw shooting ranks sixth in the entire nation after 16 games. Stetson leads the NCAA at .824 (230-290).

Individually, Jenny Lindner stands tops in the entire nation with a rate of 94.5 percent from the line, missing just four (69-73) from the line all season.

COMING OUT SWINGING
Last year, Milwaukee made a habit of jumping out quickly on its opponents and building a very sizeable lead before they knew what hit them. That has been a trend once again in the early going this season. UWM is outscoring its first 15 opponents by 67 in the first quarter alone and boasts a 582-479 edge in first halves thus far.

THE COUNTDOWN TO 1,000
Jenny Lindner and Steph Kostowicz have been on a mission since day one in the Black & Gold and it seems only a matter of time until both individuals crack the 1,000-point milestone during this their junior seasons. Milwaukee entered the season with 19 players in program history reaching the historic scoring mark, with Lindner and Kostowicz well on pace to eclipse the barrier shortly. Heading into Friday's game, Lindner sits with 987 points (13 away), while Kostowicz is at 880 points (120 away). Of Milwaukee's 19 players with 1,000+ points in their careers, there have been only two other tandems to achieve the feat as part of the same class:

-Umenia White (1,597 points) and Cammie Nonhoff (1,087 points) from 1985-89

-Jaci Clark (1,830 points) and Marsha Housley (1,491 points) from 1979-83.

...AND THE COUNTDOWN TO 500
The same duo that has been lighting up the scoreboard for Milwaukee the past two-plus seasons has also been getting things done on the glass. Not only are Steph Kostowicz and Jenny Linder closing in on 1,000 career points, but both seem likely to crack the 500-rebound list this season, as well. In fact, Kostowicz achieved that milestone feat in the Dec. 31 win over Northern Kentucky with her first rebound of the game, making her just the 24th player in program history to notch 500 rebounds for her career. Heading into Friday's game, she now has 534 boards to her name. Meanwhile, Lindner isn't far away at 456 (44 away). To date, UWM has 24 players with 500 rebounds all time in program history. Of those 24, only 12 also reached the 1,000-point mark in their careers.

DE-FENSE
The Panthers have been turning up the defensive pressure this season, with the Dec. 31 game against Northern Kentucky just the latest example.

It started early with the Nov. 20 game at Loyola when UWM held the Ramblers to just 15 first-half points and 46 total for the game. That tied the fewest allowed by Kyle Rechlicz-coached Milwaukee team, equal to a 62-46 win at Cleveland State Jan. 9, 2016.

Then, just six days later, Milwaukee one-upped themselves yet again. Going up against tournament host Vermont as part of the TD Bank Classic, the Panthers again cranked things up defensively and limited the Catamounts to just five first-quarter points and just 44 for the game. That trumps both 46-point games as the new standard under Rechlicz.

Milwaukee then duplicated that performance by holding Northern Kentucky to just three points in the second quarter and 44 for the game to equal the benchmark set against Vermont.

In fact, no UWM team has conceded fewer points since the 2011-12 squad posted a 50-31 win over Valparaiso on Feb. 25 at the Klotsche Center.

Additionally, Milwaukee has now held five opponents to 50-or-less points this season (LIU-Brooklyn - 50 points; Chicago State - 49 points). That is two better than last year's squad and hasn't been done since the 2001-02 team limited opponents to 50 points or less an impressive seven times while going 20-8.

THE W's AND THE L's
As one might expect, there are certainly some statistical categories that stand out as the difference between Milwaukee's 11 wins compared to its five losses:

                            W's        L's
FG%                               .444       .391
Def FG%                          .391       .468
Rebound Margi +10.5     +2.2
PPG 77.1       73.0
PPG Against               57.9       81.6

DOUBLING DOWN
Steph Kostowicz has picked up right where she left off last year, recording eight double-doubles in her first 16 games of the season. The preseason first-team all-league honoree has been a monster all year, nearly averaging a double-double thus far with 17.4 points and 8.8 rebounds. Kostowicz's eight double-doubles not only leads the Horizon League, but also ranks tied for 21st in the entire nation. Washington's Chantel Osahor leads the with 14 in 17 games.

CRACKING THE POLLS
A few weeks ago, Milwaukee achieved yet another new feat when they cracked the top-25 in the College Insider Mid-Major poll at No. 20. That marked the first ever ranking of any kind in Milwaukee women's basketball Division-I history.

THREE-HEADED MONSTER
Sierra Ford-Washington, Steph Kostowicz and Jenny Lindner have helped make Milwaukee a force to be reckoned with. The trio attributed for .612 percent of the Panthers' scoring last season and has gotten off to a blazing start to the 2016-17 season. So far, that number is right around the same at .589 percent, with the big three combining for 39 double-digit scoring performances and 12 double-doubles in just 16 games.

AWARD-WINNING PLAY
While Milwaukee is just getting into the conference portion of its season, people have already taken plenty of notice of the Panthers' play on the court thus far.

Most recently, Lizzie Odegard was named Horizon League Freshman of the Week - already the third time she has earned that honor in her young career.

Steph Kostowicz (Dec. 5) and Jenny Lindner (Nov. 28) were both named Horizon League Player of the Week earlier this season.

On top of that, six different players earned various awards after posting three wins in a five-day span. Bailey Farley, Alexis Lindstrom, Sierra Ford-Washington and Steph Kostowicz were all named to the TD Bank Classic All-Tournament Team, with Kostowicz also earning MVP honors.

TURKEY TOURNEY
With its sweep at the TD Bank Classic hosted by Vermont over the Thanksgiving weekend, the Panthers claimed their first in-season tournament title since the 2006 team went 2-0 at the SMU Hoops for the Cure Classic in Dallas, Texas. Milwaukee no only won both games this season in Vermont, but did so dominating fashion - taking the title by an average winning margin of 31. UWM improved its record to 17-10 all time in tournaments over the Thanksgiving holiday and broke the tie to jump up to 27-25 in all in-season tournaments.

YOU'RE IN GOOD HANDS WITH WAKEMAN
Christina Wakeman has been chosen as a nominee of the Allstate WBCA Good Works Team. The award - in its fifth year of existence - honors college basketball players for their community service work - something Wakeman has been no stranger to in her time with the Panthers.

Wakeman is one of 97 student-athletes nominated. A total of 10 will be named to the Allstate WBCA Good Works Team in February, and selected student-athletes will be honored at the 2017 WBCA Convention and at the 2017 NCAA Women's Final Four in Dallas, Texas.

WINNING BIG
The Panthers have made a habit this season with some rather lopsided wins. First, Milwaukee claimed a 27-point win over Loyola (73-46) on Nov. 20 - the biggest win in Kyle Rechlicz's four-plus years as head coach of the Panthers at that time. UWM then took down in-state rival Wisconsin by an impressive 17 points before a 38-point smothering (88-50) of LIU-Brooklyn to start the TD Bank Classic Nov. 25. Milwaukee then closed out that tournament with a 24-point win (68-44) over host Vermont Nov. 26. Most recently, Milwaukee took down Chicago State just Dec. 14 by 22 with a 71-49 win at home.

Not only is the 38-point win the new bench mark for margin of victory under Rechlicz, it's also the fourth-largest win for UWM since they moved to Division I heading into the 1990-91 season. It also marks the biggest win since the school-record 54-point victory (100-46) over Youngstown State back on Feb. 2, 2002.

STREAK SNAPPERS
The Panthers have already put a pair of long losing streaks to bed this season. With its win at Loyola on Nov. 20, UWM ended a six-game win streak by the Ramblers in the series, with the last win coming back in 2011. Then, just two days later, Milwaukee emphatically took down Wisconsin for its first win in that series since Dec. 15, 1992 - a span of 17-straight wins by the Badgers over nearly 25 years.

A B1G WIN
Another notable feat in its win over in-state rival Wisconsin was that it marked just the seventh time the Panthers have taken down a Big Ten foe. That marked the first win over the Big Ten since an 81-73 victory over Northwestern on Jan. 18, 2006. Milwaukee nearly made it 2-for-2 against the Big Ten with its game against Northwestern this season, falling 65-63 in a nail biter of a game that came down to the final shot.

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK
After missing the entire 2015-16 season following a preseason injury, Jordyn Swan returned for her redshirt senior year and made her return to the court with three minutes of action at NIU Nov. 16. Four days later, Swan had a big impact - netting 13 points in just 13 minutes of action. That is significant, as it marks the first time Swan reached double figures in scoring since her junior season when she netted 11 against Youngstown State on Jan. 31, 2015.

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.

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.

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 10+ since Mar. 1, 2007 in an 83-79 win over UIC - a total of 278 games earlier.

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.

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.

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 over the radio waves due to broadcast conflicts, but can still be found online at MKEPanthers.com.

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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

#41 Jordyn Swan: G/F; 6' 0"; Senior

#43 Christina Wakeman: C; 6' 3"; 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

#41 Jordyn Swan
: 6' 0"; Senior
: G/F

#43 Christina Wakeman
: 6' 3"; Senior
: C

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