Women's Basketball November 09, 2017

Panthers Open 2017-18 Season With Preseason WNIT Showdown

Milwaukee opens prestigious tournament at Drake

MILWAUKEE – Fresh off back-to-back postseason appearances, the Milwaukee women's basketball team will kick off the 2017-18 season with a big match up Friday, taking on Drake University as part of the Preseason WNIT at 7 pm from the Knapp Center. The showdown will feature two of the more dominant mid-major programs in the region, with the two programs combining for a whopping 92 wins over the past two seasons. The winner of Friday's game will take on the winner of Oregon and CSUN early next week.

LOOKING AT THE BULLDOGS
Drake is coming off an impressive campaign where they finished the season 28-5 overall, including a perfect 18-0 record in the Missouri Valley and a perfect 13-0 mark at home. The Bulldogs earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament before falling in the opening round to No. 24 Kansas State.

DU graduates All-American Lizzy Wendell and MVC Tournament MVP Caitlin Ingle from last year's team, but still return conference freshman of the year Becca Hittner, as well as sophomore Sammie Bachrodt, who averaged over 10 points/game last year as a freshman.

SERIES HISTORY
Despite being just a few hours apart, Milwaukee and Drake have squared off just seven times before Friday night's opener. The Bulldogs own all seven wins, with the last coming in 2013 from the Knapp Center.

UP NEXT
The winner of Friday's contest will take on the winner of Oregon-CSUN. The loser will enter other side of the bracket, with opponent and location to be determined.

LAST GAME
The Milwaukee women's basketball postseason run came to an end Thursday night in the WBI Semifinals with a 59-49 loss to UNCG from Fleming Gym.

UWM (22-12), which came into the game averaging nearly eight made threes per game, connected on just one and shot an uncharacteristically low 32-percent from the floor in the postseason loss.

The loss closes out the Panthers remarkable season that saw them tie the school record with 22 wins and had them playing the latest calendar game in school history.

"I give a lot of credit to Greensboro. I thought that they were the more physically tough team tonight," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "Anytime you play on the road you need to hit shots and unfortunately for us, the ball wasn't falling like it normally is. We're consistently used to knocking down the threes. So, they were able to pack it in, which put our team in a little bit of a different position.

"I'm really proud of our season. I'm proud of how we represented our university and I really believe that the four seniors on this year's team have changed the culture and really put Milwaukee - as a women's basketball program - on the map; both within the state and also within the Midwest. I thank them for choosing to be Panthers and for making that choice to trust and believe in us and for helping us turn this program around."

Steph Kostowicz led Milwaukee with 15 points, 14 rebounds, four steals and two blocks in just 28 minutes. That marks the third-straight double-double for the junior – all in the WBI.

Alexis Lindstrom also reached double figures in scoring with 10 points, while Sierra Ford-Washington added another nine points, three rebounds and two steals in both their final games as Panthers.

ABOUT THE PRESEASON WNIT
The Women's National Invitational Tournament is an annual invitation-only tournament featuring 16 of the nation's top women's Division I basketball teams. The event features a three-game guarantee format, with the first-round winners continuing on in traditional bracket play. The eight teams that lose their first-round game will be re-grouped in "consolation bracket quads", which will be two four-team pools.

FOR OPENERS
The Panthers hold a 10-17 record in season-openers at the NCAA Division I level (dating back to 1990-91). A year ago, UWM put together an impressive performance with a 76-68 victory over Western Illinois - one of just seven losses the Leathernecks would experience all of last year. Jenny Lindner led all players in that one with 23 points, while Steph Kostowicz turned in a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds. Head coach Kyle Rechlicz is now 4-1 in openers, as UWM ran away with an 82-58 win over Chicago State in Rechlicz's debut contest five years ago.

BEST EVER
Ashley Green netted 36 points in Milwaukee's season-opening win at North Dakota State to start the 2014-15 season, marking the most points by a Panther to start the season in program history. That eclipsed Traci Edwards' previous mark of 30 set back in 2007-08.

PRESEASON RANKS
The Horizon League released its preseason rankings as voted on by coaches, media members and SIDs, with the Panthers picked to once again battle for the top this season. Milwaukee was tabbed fourth overall this year with 129 points, behind only Green Bay (246), Wright State (204) and Oakland (139). Steph Kostowicz was once again recognized when the votes were announced, earning preseason first-team all-league honors for the second-straight year.

EXHIBITION REWIND
UWM put together a total team performance to the tune of an 80-35 win over Cornell College this past Sunday. The three-leading scorers were new to Panther fans as redshirt transfer Ryaen Johnson led all players with 15 points, while redshirt freshman McKaela Schmelzer had 11, as did true freshman Sydney Staver. In all, the Milwaukee bench churned out 47 points, while the Panther defense limited the Rams to just single digits in each of the first three quarters.

PILING UP THE WINS
Over the past two seasons, Milwaukee has been racking up the total in the win column. With the win over Oakland in the conference tournament last year, the Panthers eclipsed the 20-win mark for just the third time in program history. UWM ran that total to 22 last year, tying program record for most wins in a season. previously by the 2005-06 squad. Additionally, that marked the first time UWM has had back-to-back seasons with at least 16 wins since doing so in three-straight years from 99-2000 through 00-02.

INTO THE RECORD BOOKS
Last year was another memorable season for Milwaukee, with quite a number of team records being surpassed by the offensive powerhouse of a squad. The Panthers nearly re-wrote the whole record book last season, with some of the notable marks including:

-For the second-straight year, Milwaukee shattered the school's scoring record with 2,463 points last season, besting the 2015-16 mark of 2,131.

-While they racked up the points, the Panthers did so with an extremely effective shot selection. Last year's squad shot .434 overall on the season - fifth best in program history.

-Milwaukee also continued its trend of lighting up the nets from behind the arc, connecting on 247 triples on the year. That is the second most all time. In fact, five of the top-six years in that category have come with head coach Kyle Rechlicz at the helm.

-The Panthers were also one of the best in the country from the charity stripe last year, sinking 78.4 percent of their free throws. That mark now ranks second in program history, and was eighth best in the entire nation.

400 AND COUNTING!
The Panthers have been on fire from behind the arc of late, headlined by hitting 14 threes against Valparaiso Jan. 7 of last season. 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 455 games in a row heading into the game against the Bulldogs.

In fact, when Alexis Lindstrom hit her first three pointer against Green Bay on Feb. 17, the Panthers broke the league record for consecutive games with a made three. That topped the previous mark of 446 set by Loyola, halted six years ago when they went 0-11 against Butler. It's still a ways to go for the NCAA record, however, which is held by Canisius at 510 in a row (1994-2011). For comparison, the NBA's longest streak is the Dallas Mavericks at 1,108 in a row.

BEST IN THE BADGER STATE
The Panthers made a case for themselves as one of the top teams within the Badger State last season. Milwaukee started its in-state rivalries a year ago with a big 80-63 win over Wisconsin before the 72-60 handling of conference foe Green Bay on Feb. 17. Had it not been for a woeful first quarter against Marquette - a game in which UWM drew back to within three late in the fourth before running out of gas in the final minutes - the Panthers would have claimed wins over all three fellow D-I foes within state lines for the first time in program history.

THE W's AND THE L's
As one might expect, there were certainly some statistical categories that stood out as the difference between Milwaukee's 22 wins compared to its 12 losses last season:

                                    W's      L's
FG%                            .469     .385
Def FG%                      .407     .481
Rebound Margin         +10.4   +1.5
PPG                             78.4     64.1
PPG Against                62.2     78.5

MILESTONE MEMORIES
Yet another notable moment from last year's run was marked by both Steph Kostowicz and Jenny Lindner surpassing the 1,000-point mark for their careers - both doing so during big wins at home.

With both reaching the 1,000-point mark in their junior seasons, they become the first duo to reach the century mark during the same season for the Black & Gold and just third pair of classmates to add their names to the prestigious list. The other two:

-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.

THE BIG 5-0...0
The same duo that has been lighting up the scoreboard for Milwaukee the past three seasons has also been getting things done on the glass. Not only have Steph Kostowicz and Jenny Linder both reached 1,000 career points, but both also cracked the 500-rebound list last season, as well. Not only are they two of the 25 players in program history with 500 rebounds to their name, but they are just the 13th and 14th in Milwaukee history to do so while also scoring 1,000 career points.

WORKING THE GLASS
Milwaukee has prided itself in its ability to control the boards over the past few years, with that standing out in a number of games last season. The Panthers' final home stand was a prime example, with Milwaukee outrebounding its two opponents over the weekend by a combined 84-45. In fact, against Youngstown State, the Panthers had 38 rebounds to YSU's 17 - a difference of +21, with UWM limiting the Penguins to just one offensive rebound for the whole game - the Panthers best showing of the year.

Here's a look at some of the largest rebounding margins for Milwaukee thus far this season:

1. +25 vs. Detroit Mercy (47-22)
2. +23 at Vermont (45-22)
3. +21 vs. Youngstown State (38-17)
4. + 19 vs. Chicago State (48-29)
5. + 18 at St. Francis (50-32)
6. + 17 - two times (N. Kentucky/S. Illinois)
8. + 16 - two times (Loyola/LIU-Brooklyn)

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 second 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. She followed that up with an impressive 22 wins in 2016-17, tying the school record in that category and helping guide the team to its second consecutive postseason berth in program history.

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Players Mentioned

#25 Ryaen Johnson: F; 6' 2"; Redshirt Junior

#32 Steph Kostowicz: F; 6' 2"; Senior

#20 Jenny Lindner: G; 6' 0"; Senior

#3 McKaela Schmelzer: G; 5' 7"; Redshirt Freshman

#1 Sydney Staver: G; 5' 11"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#25 Ryaen Johnson
: 6' 2"; Redshirt Junior
: F

#32 Steph Kostowicz
: 6' 2"; Senior
: F

#20 Jenny Lindner
: 6' 0"; Senior
: G

#3 McKaela Schmelzer
: 5' 7"; Redshirt Freshman
: G

#1 Sydney Staver
: 5' 11"; Freshman
: G