Women's Basketball February 22, 2017

Women’s Basketball Looks To Extend Winning Streak Friday

Milwaukee heads to Northern Kentucky to start final weekend

MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee women's basketball team will look to make it five in a row Friday when they head to Highland Heights, Ky. for a 4 pm (Central) contest against Northern Kentucky. Heading into the final weekend of the league season, the Panthers currently sit in a tie for third place and can finish anywhere from second to fifth. Meanwhile, the banged up Norse are looking for a late push to improve their seeding in next weekend's conference tournament in Detroit.

THE FIRST TIME AROUND
Milwaukee used a 32-8 run that spanned over 15 minutes to build an insurmountable lead on its way to a 72-44 win over NKU back on Dec. 31 from the Klotsche Center.

LOOKING AT THE NORSE
NKU has been dealt a harsh hand under first-year head coach Camryn Whitaker with a slew of injuries limiting options for an already young squad. Kasey Uetrecht is the team's top shooter and averages 11.1 ppg, while Rebecca Lyttle has proven to be a force down low all season for the Norse, averaging 10.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY
The Panthers will look to remain perfect in the all time series with the Horizon League's newest institution. Milwaukee swept Northern Kentucky last season in a pair of high-scoring affairs before a 72-44 win earlier this year to make it 3-0 all time against the Norse.

UP NEXT
UWM will close out the regular season with a rematch of its first league game of the year. Milwaukee heads to Wright State to close out the year Sunday, having last played the Raiders nearly two months earlier.

LAST GAME
The Milwaukee women's basketball turned a five-point deficit at the half into an eight-point lead in the blink of an eye on its way to an 80-64 win over Valparaiso Monday evening from the Klotsche Center.

UWM (19-8, 11-5 Horizon) not only had the 13-0 to start the third but used an 11-0 early in the fourth to blow this one open in a big win on "Senior Day".

"I'm really proud of where our team is at right now," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "To win four in a row, and Valpo is playing excellent basketball. We knew this was not going to be an easy win. They started off very strong and I was very proud of how our team came out in the second half. Just the refocus, the energy and intensity to finally put them away was tremendous by our entire group."

Sierra Ford-Washington had a monster game, again flirting with a triple double. The senior scored 16 points to go with eight assists, six rebounds and four steals to lead the way.

"I thought (Sierra) put our team on her back from start to finish," Rechlicz said. "She played an excellent game. When we couldn't get anything going on the offensive side in the first half, she was finding ways to score in very difficult situations. She hit some long shots in the first half, and then in the second half, she really started commanding the defense and started finding open holes. She played an excellent game and really played like she was a senior on senior night."

Jenny Lindner was nearly perfect from the floor in this one, leading all players with 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor – including a perfect 5-for-5 from behind the arc in just 25 minutes.

Bailey Farley and Steph Kostowicz both also scored in double figures Monday, each netting 11.

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 448 games in a row heading into the game against the Norse.

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 five 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 have made a case for themselves as one of the top teams within the Badger State this season. Milwaukee started its in-state rivalries this season with a big 80-63 win over Wisconsin before Friday's 72-60 handling of conference foe Green Bay. 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 - the Panthers would own wins over all three fellow D-I foes for the first time in program history.

PILING UP THE WINS
For the past two seasons, Milwaukee has been racking up the total in the win column. With at least three games left on the schedule, the Panthers have already tied last year's mark with 19 wins on the season - good for a tie for third most in program history. In fact, it marks the first time UWM has had back-to-back 16+ win seasons since doing so in three-straight years from 99-2000 through 00-02.

OFFENSIVE OUTBURST
Milwaukee has gotten things going offensively over this four-game home stand. First, the Panthers connected on 55.2 percent (32-58) of its attempts against Youngstown State Feb. 9 for an 86-82 win. That marked the best shooting percentage of the year for the Panthers.

Then, eight days later, UWM one-upped that performance with a 58.1 percent (25-43) shooting effort in the 72-60 win over Green Bay. That marked the best shooting effort by the Black & Gold since going an eye-popping 27-42 from the floor against Wright State back on March 8, 2008 for a mark of .643.

Finally, in its home finale, the Panthers again shot better than 50 percent from the floor - including going 13-15 (.867 percent) in the third quarter alone - in an 80-64 win over Valparaiso on "Senior Day".

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
With its win over Valparaiso on Monday, the Panthers closed out the regular season with an 11-3 record inside the Klotsche Center this season. That marks the first time the team has reached double-digit home wins since the 05-06 team went 13-3 on campus.

LOOKING AT THE LEAGUE
Entering the final week of the regular season, Milwaukee sits in the top-half of the standings. UWM boasts an 11-5 league record and currently sits in a tie with Detroit Mercy for third place. Plenty of changes can still happen between now and Sunday's finale, with possibilities ranging for Milwaukee from second to fifth.

WELCOME TO THE CLUB
With her three-pointer with 2:06 remaining in the first half in the Jan. 13 against Detroit Mercy, Jenny Lindner became just the 20th player in program history to score 1,000 points for her career. Lindner was able to reach the milestone in just her 79th game, making her the seventh-fastest to 1,000 points in Panther history.

Then, just nine games later, Steph Kostowicz netted her 1,000th career point on a free throw late in the first half in the Feb. 17 win over Green Bay. Oddly enough, Kostowicz also reached the milestone in her 79th game as she battled injuries during her freshman campaign.

With both reaching the 1,000-point mark in the junior season, they become the first duo to do so 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 two-plus 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 this season, as well. 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. Lindner then joined the club Feb. 7 with her final rebound in the first half in the 86-82 win over Youngstown State. 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.

THREE POINT ASSASSINS
Both Alexis Lindstrom and Bailey Farley have proven all season long to be the best three-point threats for Milwaukee. Now, late into the season, the duo are ranked two of the top four for the top three-point-shooting percentage in the entire Horizon League. Farley is leading the way at .438 percent, while Lindstrom is right behind at .410 for fourth. In conference play, the two have combined for 70 made threes - highlighted by a combined 20-for-34 (.588) long-range attack in the last three games alone.

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 this season. Two weeks ago was a prime example, with Milwaukee outrebounding its two opponents 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. + 17 vs. Northern Kentucky (41-24)
6. + 16 - two times (Loyola/LIU-Brooklyn)

BIG SHOT BAILEY
Bailey Farley has a career day against Cleveland State Feb. 11, going off for a career-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-8 from behind the arc. Not only did she pour in the points, but she did so at the game's biggest moment. Up by just one with just over 60 seconds left, Farley connected on a three-pointer from the top of the key to give UWM a four-point cushion in what proved to be the game's winning basket.

A NEAR TRIPLE DOUBLE
Sierra Ford-Washington had quite the remarkable stat line Jan. 13 against Detroit Mercy. The senior point guard finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists - awfully close to a triple double. Not only would that have been her first triple-double, but it would have been just the second in program history. The first and only in Milwaukee history came on March 9, 2007 when Jody Crumble finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in a Horizon League Semifinal contest at No. 22 Green Bay.

DOUBLING DOWN
The Panthers have had quite a number of big performances this season. In fact, UWM has turned out an impressive 14 double-doubles on the season. Steph Kostowicz leads the way with nine - two shy of the league lead entering Monday's game. Jenny Lindner also has four such performances on the season, while Sierra Ford-Washington had 18 points and 11 rebounds at Northern Illinois earlier this year.

BLOCK PARTY
It's no wonder Youngstown State shot so many threes against Milwaukee Jan. 28, as Steph Kostowicz was a force down low defensively. Kostowicz tied her career-high with six blocks in the game. The junior also achieved that feat at the end of her freshman season to mark the second time she finished one shy of Traci Edwards' program record of seven blocks in one game. Not only that, Kostowicz now has 101 blocks for her career, making her the fifth player in program history to reach that milestone. She now ranks 67 shy of the school record and just 11 away from third place all time.

OH SO CLOSE
While the Panthers' 19-8 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 against Oakland the first time around.

LEAGUE LEADERS
It has been a busy season but UWM has quietly once again established themselves as on the best in the league with their statistics ranking quite high in the conference standings. Milwaukee leads the league in free throw percentage (.775) and three-point shooting (.355) and ranks second in the league in scoring offense (74.9 points/game), rebound margin (+6.9) and field goal percentage (.441).

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 373-481 of their shots from the charity stripe heading into the game against Northern Kentucky. That is good for a .775 percentage - just below the school-record mark of .790 set back in the 2010-11 season.

Not only that, the Panthers' free throw shooting ranks 11th in the entire nation after 27 games. South Dakota leads the NCAA at .811 (369-455).

Individually, Jenny Lindner stands ninth in the nation with a rate of 90.4 percent from the line, missing just 11 (104-115) from the line all season.

AWARD-WINNING PLAY
People have taken plenty of notice of the Panthers' play on the court thus far this season.

Most recently, Jenny Lindner was named Horizon League Player of the Week after helping lead Milwaukee to a pair of home wins two weeks ago. The junior combined for 42 points on 14-of-20 shooting from the floor - including going 4-8 from behind the arc and a perfect 10-10 from the free-throw line.

That marks the second time this season Lindner has been recognized as the league's top player for the week. Steph Kostowicz also earned the honor earlier this year on Dec. 5.

Meanwhile, Lizzie Odegard has been named Horizon League Freshman of the Week three times (Nov. 14, Nov. 28, Jan. 9) already in her young career.

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.

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 19 wins compared to its eight losses:

                                    W's       L's
FG%                             .465      .390
Def FG%                       .411      .481
Rebound Margin            +9.9      -0.4
PPG                              78.1      67.2
PPG Against                   62.7      81.4

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.

CRACKING THE POLLS
Earlier this season, 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 considerably lower at .568 percent, with the big three combining for 61 double-digit scoring performances and 14 double-doubles in just 27 games.

STREAK SNAPPERS
The Panthers have already put a number 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. Moving into conference play, with its win at Youngstown Sate Jan. 28, the Panthers stopped an eight-game skid against the Penguins, notching their first win in the series under head coach Kyle Rechlicz. Finally, with its win over Green Bay last Friday, UWM ended an eight-game slide against their in-state rival.

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.

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 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.

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 Spectrum Sports (formerly 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' Spectrum Sports 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

#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

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