Women's Basketball December 29, 2017

Milwaukee Battles Fellow Mid-Major Top-25 Foe Saturday

Panthers and Raiders square off at 12:30pm Central

MILWAUKEE – After erasing a 15-point deficit in their conference opener, the Milwaukee women's basketball team will look to go 2-0 on the weekend when they take on Wright State Saturday at 12:30pm Central from the Nutter Center. Saturday's game will be a showdown of a pair of the Mid-Major Top-25 teams, as Wright State checked in at No. 11 this week, while Milwaukee found itself in the rankings for the third straight week at No. 24.

LOOKING AT THE RAIDERS
Continuing their run of success that has seen them in either the NCAA or WNIT postseason tournaments the last four years, Wright State is once again off to a strong start at 9-4 thus far. The Raiders found themselves up to No. 11 in this week's Mid-Major Top-25, but fell to Green Bay in a close battle to open conference play on Thursday.

WSU boasts the highest scoring offense in the Horizon League heading into Saturday's game with 79.6 points/game and nearly a +18 scoring margin. The Raiders have had quite a bit of success from behind the arc, connecting on a league best 37 percent of their threes through their first 13 contests.

Senior Chelsea Welch - the defending league player of the week - leads the entire league in scoring with 21.3 points/game and assists/game at 5.1.

SERIES HISTORY
After three straight Panther wins evened the series up at 26-26, the Raiders reclaimed the overall lead with a regular-season sweep last year.

UP NEXT
The Panthers have just one game next week - a Saturday showdown with in-state rival Green Bay at 1pm from the Kress Center.

LAST GAME
Milwaukee erased a 15-point deficit to pull out a 52-49 win on the road over Northern Kentucky in the Horizon League opener Thursday afternoon from BB&T Arena.

Milwaukee (10-3, 1-0 Horizon) – playing without a pair of senior starters out with injury – saved its best for last with an impressive fourth-quarter performance, scoring the first nine points of the final frame and holding NKU (2-10, 0-1 Horizon) to just five points over the final 10 minutes.

"I'm really proud of our resiliency," Panther head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "It's really tough to go on the road, especially right after break. But having two of our senior starters out is a tremendous feat for some of our young kids to step in and play as tough and as hard as they did. I was really proud of how hard we fought.

"We've been in situations like this before. We just kept trying to remind them of that throughout the game."

Steph Kostowicz led all players with 17 points – eight of which came in the fourth quarter – to go with a team-high five rebounds.

Jamie Reit had the hot hand early and finished with 11 points and a pair of steals, while McKaela Schmelzer was big down the stretch, finishing with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.

ON FIRE OUT OF THE BLOCKS
With its win at Northern Kentucky on Thursday, the Panthers recorded their 10th win of the season in just their 13th overall game. That marks the fastest to double-digit wins in the program's 28-year Division-I history, surpassing last year's 10-4 start to the season.

CRACKING THE POLLS
The Panthers once again find themselves ranked in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll, as voted on by Division I Women's Basketball coaches this week. Milwaukee - which received its first ever ranking in the same poll one year ago - broke into the poll two weeks at No. 25 before moving up to No. 24 this week.

FOR STARTERS
The Panthers opened their 24th Horizon League campaign Thursday with a big road win. That improves UWM to 11-13 all-time in conference openers. It actually marks the first win in a league opener in the last three years for Milwaukee, despite going a combined 23-13 in the Horizon League over the past two seasons.

ROAD WARRIORS
UWM is in the midst of yet another road trip - a familiar story for the Panthers, who will play 17 of their 30 regular season games away from the Klotsche Center this season. Milwaukee has proven to feel right at home on the road so far this year, with a 7-2 record in road/neutral games. One more win and they will match last year's regular season total of eight before even reaching the midway point of the schedule.

COMEBACK KIDS
Milwaukee's 15-point comeback over Northern Kentucky Dec. 28 isn't a program record, but it certainly is a memorable one. It marks the largest come-from-behind win since the Panthers turned a 44-28 deficit (16 points) in a 60-57 win over Toledo back in 2011.

That marks the third time this season UWM has erased double-digit deficits, trailing at Western Illinois by 13 in the second half Nov. 26 before winning by 10. Milwaukee also trailed Illinois State by 10 Dec. 7 before claiming an overtime win.

Fans shouldn't be too surprised by Milwaukee's comeback wins though. UWM set a program record with seven come-from-behind (trailing at halftime) wins last season, besting the previous mark of six set back in the 2006-07 season.

GETTING EVERYONE INVOLVED
Coach Rechlicz has a much deeper bench this season compared to years past, as evident to just how many different people can score for UWM this year. Milwaukee has had at least 10 different players score in a single game six times already this year, with five of those six featuring 11 or more scorers. The season high came against North Dakota State when 12 different players got in on the fun. The six games already matches last year's season total with at least 18 games left on the schedule.

MORE B1G WINS
With wins over both Northwestern (Dec. 3) and Wisconsin (Dec. 14) this season, the Panthers now own two wins over Big Ten foes in the same season for the first time in program history. While it marks just the eighth and ninth wins all-time against the current Big Ten schools, the success should come as no surprise. Milwaukee thumped the Badgers, 80-63, at home a year ago and dropped a 65-63 heartbreaker to NU a few weeks later. That came one year after nearly upsetting Minnesota in the WNIT to close out the 2015-16 season.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
With a 9-3 non-conference record, Milwaukee wrapped up this season's early going with the best non-conference start in Division-I history. This year's squad surpassed last year's 8-3 mark and the 1997-98 team's 8-4 record.

FARLEY CATCHING FIRE
Bailey Farley has been a big part of Milwaukee's offense of late. The senior guard - who was a game-time decision at Northwestern - went off for a career-high 24 points on near-perfect shooting against the Wildcats. Farley finished 8-11 from the floor and a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line. She was also vital down the stretch, netting 11 of her 24 points in the fourth quarter to help put the game out of reach.

That hot shooting has carried over for the month of December, with Farley now finishing in double figures in scoring in five of the last seven games - a new career best.

DE-FENSE
Milwaukee has put together some lock-down showings on the defensive side of the ball recently, including the Dec. 1 performance against North Dakota State. The Panthers limited the Bison to just 38 total points - the ninth time over the past two-plus seasons UWM has held an opponent to 50 points or less in a game. In fact, that marks the fewest points allowed by Milwaukee since head coach Kyle Rechlicz took over the program in 2012 and the third-fewest points allowed in the program's Division-I history. The Panthers also held Bison to just 29-percent shooting for the game - the second time this season UWM has held its opponent below 30 percent for four quarters.

UWM has also held teams to single digits in the scoring column for an entire quarter 10 times now this season (excluding overtime), including in both the second and fourth quarters against both NDSU and Illinois State.

The Panthers head into Saturday's game against Wright State with their defense boasting some impressive national rankings, checking in at 61st in scoring defense (58.9 points/game against) and 66th in field-goal percentage defense (36.9%).

SHE SHOOTS, SHE SCORES
Steph Kostowicz has come out of the gates on fire to start her senior season. The 6-2 forward opened the season with 26 points on 9-14 shooting from the floor and a perfect 8-8 showing from the free throw line. Then, in the Nov. 21 home opener, Kostowicz racked up another 19 points while going 8-10 from the floor. She then duplicated that feat Dec. 10 at Fort Wayne, again finishing 8-10 from the floor with 19 points. Kostowicz enters this Saturday's game with a sparkling .614 percentage from the field - 17th best in the entire NCAA.

GOING STREAKING
The Dec. 17 loss to Marquette brought Milwaukee's eight-game win streak to a close. The impressive run finishes tied as the fourth longest in the Division-I history of the program, with only a pair of nine-game runs and the school-record 12-game streak longer than this year's early season start. It also marks the fourth time in the last two-plus seasons the Panthers have put together at least five consecutive wins, with this year's run setting the new mark for the longest under head coach Kyle Rechlicz.

WORKING THE GLASS
Milwaukee has prided itself in its ability to control the boards over the past few years. Last season, the Panthers won the rebounding battle in 26 of their 34 games. That dominance has carried over into this season, with Milwaukee claiming the rebounding edge in 12 of the first 13 games to start the season. In fact, seven of those 13 games have finished with a double-digit advantage by UWM, with the season high so far coming in the Dec. 1 drubbing of NDSU as Milwaukee finished that game with a 53-28 edge on the boards.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
The Panthers have certainly enjoyed playing in front of their home fans recently. Milwaukee went an impressive 12-3 at home last season and is already 3-1 at the Klotsche Center this season with a pair of emphatic wins. UWM is now 24-9 in the last two-plus seasons when playing in front of their home fans.

In fact, the Panthers just closed out a 10-game home winning streak with the win over Illinois State Dec. 7. That finishes as the fourth-longest home win streak in the team's Division I history.

WINNING BIG
The Panthers have made a habit lately of posting some rather lopsided wins. Milwaukee put together nine 20-plus-point wins a season ago and has already done so three times this season. It started in the home opener with a 22-point smothering of Loyola (63-41) Nov. 21 before steamrolling North Dakota State by a whopping 36 points (74-38) Dec. 1 and a 25-point (84-59) handling of Chicago State Dec. 21.

Milwaukee's big win over NDSU marked the fifth-largest margin of victory for UWM since they moved to Division I heading into the 1990-91 season. Milwaukee only has two bigger wins in the last 15 years - the 38-point handling of LIU-Brooklyn last year and the school-record 54-point victory over Youngstown State back on Feb. 2, 2002.

WHAT A WIN
Milwaukee's 77-67 win over Western Illinois Nov. 26 was significant for a number of reasons:

-The Panthers trailed by 13 points with just over five minutes left in the third quarter and finished with a 10-point win; a 23-point swing over the final 15:20.

-The home loss was the first for WIU in nearly 10 months (12/31/17) after going 13-1 at Western Hall last year.

-The Leathernecks entered that game ranked in the mid-major top-25. That marks the second win for Milwaukee over a mid-major-ranked team in a short span, taking down highly ranked Green Bay late last year, 72-60.

A CAREER PERFORMANCE
Jenny Lindner turned in one of her best performances to date in Milwaukee's road win at Western Illinois Nov. 26. The senior poured in a career-high 34 points - 21 of which came in the second half - to go with 10 rebounds to lead all players in both categories. That marks the third time in her career Lindner has finished with 30+ and it surpasses her previous high of 32 set late in her sophomore season in a win at Oakland.

In fact, her 34 points were the most by a Panther since Courtney Lindfors netted 35 in a road win over Chicago State Nov. 16, 2010.

EARLY HONORS
Just four weeks into the 2017-18 season, Milwaukee has already turned in some of the top performances in the entire Horizon League. Steph Kostowicz was named Horizon League Player of the Week after just the first week of the season, going off for 26 points, 12 rebounds, two blocks, two assists and one steal at perennial power Drake in the Preseason WNIT. Then, Jenny Lindner was named player of the week by the conference after pouring in a career-high 34 points to go with 10 rebounds in the road win at Western Illinois Nov. 26.

DOUBLE VISION
After turning in two double-doubles as a freshman, Steph Kostowicz has been a machine at putting together 10+ performances in points and rebounds. With her 17-point, 13-rebound performance on Dec. 7 against Illinois State, Kostowicz now has 26 double-doubles in her collegiate career. That already ranks her fourth in program history and is just one shy of Lindsay Laur for third place all-time.

Teammate Jenny Lindner is also steadily climbing that chart in this season's early going. The senior turned in a 19-point, 11-rebound performance in the win over CSUN Nov. 18 before exploding for 34 points and 10 rebounds in the comeback win over Western Illinois eight days later. Those marked Lindner's 13th and 14th career double-doubles, ranking eighth in program history and just three shy of sixth place.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
It's no secret Jenny Lindner and Steph Kostowicz have already left their mark on this program heading into their senior year. The duo both eclipsed both the 1000-point and 500-rebound milestones as juniors and have continued to climb up the statistical charts. Entering Sunday's game, Lindner ranks seventh in scoring (1,393 points), eighth in rebounding (647), eighth in double-doubles (14) and fifth in games started (104). Meanwhile, Kostowicz sits at ninth in career scoring (1,338 points), fifth in rebounding (776), third in blocks (138) and fourth in double-doubles (26).

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.

PILING UP THE WINS
Over the past two seasons, Milwaukee has been racking up the total in the win column. The Panthers eclipsed the 20-win mark for just the third time in program history last season, finishing with a program-record-tying 22 wins on their way to the WBI Semifinals. 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 01-02.

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

In fact, when Alexis Lindstrom hit her first three pointer against Green Bay on Feb. 17 of last season, 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.

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 that 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.

CATCH ALL THE ACTION
Fans will have the opportunity to watch the Panthers all season long. All 13 of Milwaukee's home games will be carried live online at ESPN3, with 10 road contests also streaming live through ESPN, as well as the entirety of the Horizon League Tournament. An additional six games this season will be streamed through various opponent platforms. Milwaukee women's basketball will also make its TV debut on FOX Sports Wisconsin this season when they host Marquette inside the Klotsche Center on Dec. 17, with Bob Brainerd and former UWM great Maria Viall once again calling the action.

Panther fans will also be able to listen to this year's games everywhere they go, as Matt Menzl calls all the action on the Black & Gold Network. Menzl will be courtside for all 30 regular season contests, as well as the exhibition game against Cornell and all postseason action. The Black & Gold Network is streaming live online and can be accessed at MKEPanthers.com.

BLACK & GOLD ON DEMAND
Panther fans can also re-live all of the action by listening to archived games on the Black & Gold Radio Network. All games are chronicled at mixlr.com/milwaukee-panthers/showreel, where fans can re-live Matt Menzl's broadcast in its entirety.

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Players Mentioned

#4 Bailey Farley: G; 5' 10"; Redshirt Senior

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

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

#10 Jamie Reit: G; 5' 9"; Sophomore

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

Players Mentioned

#4 Bailey Farley
: 5' 10"; Redshirt Senior
: G

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

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

#10 Jamie Reit
: 5' 9"; Sophomore
: G

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