Women's Basketball March 14, 2017

Panthers Host Southern Illinois In Opening Round Of WBI

Milwaukee returns to postseason for second-straight year

MILWAUKEE - With 20 wins already in the books, the Milwaukee women's basketball team will look for more as they begin postseason play Wednesday night at 7 pm from the Klotsche Center when they host Southern Illinois in the opening round of the Women's Basketball Invitational. Wednesday's home game will be streamed live on ESPN3 and will be broadcast with Matt Menzl on the call online on the Black & Gold Network.

LOOKING AT THE SALUKIS
SIU enters the WBI with a 16-14 overall record. The fourth-seeded Salukis were upset in the first game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, falling to fifth-seeded Wichita State, 73-60. This year marks the second-straight trip to the WBI for Southern Illinois, after falling 99-97 to Western Illinois last year in an opening-round thriller.

Junior forward Kylie Giebelhausen and redshirt senior point guard Rishonda Napier do the heavy lifting for SIU, averaging a combined 17.2 points/game over the season, with both playing over 32 minutes per contest.

SERIES HISTORY
Oddly enough, Wednesday's meeting will be the first between Milwaukee and Southern Illinois all time. Despite being in neighboring states, the two schools are still separated by nearly seven hours of drive time.

UP NEXT
The winner of Wednesday's game will advance to the second round of the WBI, taking on either Campbell or St. Francis (PA). Campbell - located about an hour south of Raleigh, N.C. - is the host of that first round game. Milwaukee has never played either school.

LAST GAME
A one possession game until the final seconds, Green Bay was able to do just enough in the closing moments to fend off the Milwaukee women's basketball team upset bid, 66-59, Monday afternoon in the Horizon League Tournament Semifinals from Joe Louis Arena.

Milwaukee (20-11) was neck-and-neck with the two-time defending champion Phoenix (26-5) right to the end before GB went 5-for-6 from the charity stripe in the waning moments to advance to Tuesday's tournament championship.

"We knew this was going to be a very physical game," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "A lot of credit goes to Green Bay and a lot of credit goes to (Green Bay guard) Jen Wellnitz. I thought she was incredible and the best player on the court today. She made things happen.

"The cause of the loss really comes down to our turnovers. It was such a close game and we allowed 29 points off our turnovers. I'm not sure there's a team in our league we can beat when doing that.

"I'm trying not to let the emotion come into it right now. I think when you have a 20-win season that there is definitely hope for the postseason, whether that's the WNIT or the WBI. I'm really trying to channel all my energy into the fact that hopefully some committee sees us as a valuable program."

Jenny Lindner posted her second-straight double-double in the league tournament with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Steph Kostowicz led all scorers with 16 points and Alexis Lindstrom also scored in double digits with 10 points to go with four rebounds.

ABOUT THE WBI
The Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) is a 16-team postseason tournament played on campus sites. This year marks the first trip for Milwaukee and the second-straight for Southern Illinois in this tournament. The Horizon League has had quite a bit of success in the WBI over the years, with both UIC (2014) and Detroit Mercy (2013) winning the whole thing. All time, the Horizon League is 12-4 in six total trips to the WBI.

PANTHER POSTSEASON HISTORY
Milwaukee will be looking for its first postseason tournament victory in program history Wednesday. The Panthers nearly pulled off that feat one year ago in the WNIT first round at Minnesota. UWM led the heavily favored Gophers by one at the half before a heroic individual performance by First Team All-American Rachel Banham helped Minnesota escape with a seven-point win inside "The Barn" last March. Milwaukee has made two other postseason appearances in its Division I history, going all the way to the Big Dance in both 2001 and 2006.

THE REST OF THE FIELD
Milwaukee will have to travel a decent ways should it hit the road at any point of this year's WBI, as the Panthers and Salukis are the only two teams hailing from the Midwest. The majority of the field is comprised of schools along the East Coast, while five schools are from the state of Texas and another three in the Northwest. Milwaukee is one of four teams with 20+ wins entering the tournament, with Campbell (21), Lamar (22) and Stephen F. Austin (25) also cracking the notable win total.

PILING UP THE WINS
For the past two seasons, Milwaukee has been racking up the total in the win column. Now, with last week's win over Oakland, the Panthers eclipsed the 20-win mark for just the third time in program history. That ties the same number of wins from the 2001-02 season and is second only to the school record of 22 wins set by the 2005-06 squad. Additionally, this marks 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.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
With its win over Valparaiso on Feb. 20, 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. Now, UWM has a chance to add to that win total at home, where they have typically shot extremely well all season long.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
For the second-straight year, Jenny Lindner was named to the Horizon League All-Tournament Team. The junior tallied double-doubles in both contests, leading Milwaukee with 19 points and a season-high 14 rebounds in the 22-point win over Oakland in the quarterfinals before adding another 11 points and 10 rebounds in the narrow loss to top-seeded Green Bay in the semifinals.

ALL-LEAGUE HONORS
The Horizon League unveiled its annual all-league teams as voted on by coaches, sports information directors and local media, and the Panthers had a pair of honorees on this year's list. Steph Kostowicz - a preseason all-league selection - was named second team all league after leading the team in both scoring (15.2 ppg) and rebounding (7.9 rpg) on the season. Lizzie Odegard also was recognized, being named to the league's all-freshman team after consistently proving to be Milwaukee's first player off the bench all season long in her first year on campus.

SUCCESS IN THE CLASSROOM, TOO
Not only did Milwaukee have a pair of student-athletes recognized on the all-league lists, but the Panthers were also represented on the academic all-league squad, as well. as Steph Kostowicz was named to the prestigious five-person list earlier this week.

INTO THE RECORD BOOKS
It has been another memorable season for Milwaukee, with quite a number of team records either already broken or in jeopardy of being surpassed. Wednesday will mark the 32nd game of the year - tying last year's team for second most in school history. Other notable marks so far:

-For the second-straight year, Milwaukee has shattered the school's scoring record with 2,266 points this season, besting last year's mark of 2,131.

-While they have been racking up the points, the Panthers have been doing so with an extremely effective shot selection. This year's squad is shooting .435 overall on the season - fifth best in program history.

-Milwaukee has also continued its trend of lighting up the nets from behind the arc, connecting on 231 triples on the year. That's good for third most all time. In fact, five of the top-six years in that category have come with head coach Kyle Rechlicz's at the helm.

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 452 games in a row heading into the game against the Salukis.

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 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 own wins over all three fellow D-I foes within state lines for the first time in program history.

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
Not only has Milwaukee continued its long run of consecutive games with a made three pointer, it has some of the best marksmen in the league. In fact, heading into the postseason, three of the top four shooters from long range wear the Black & Gold of UWM. Bailey Farley leads the way with a rate of .436 (48-110) from outside the arc, while Jenny Lindner sits third at .405 (32-79) and Alexis Lindstrom is fourth at .392 (62-158). Additionally, freshman Lizzie Odegard has connected on nearly half of her three-point attempts this season and is hitting at .447 (21-47) but does not meet the league minimum qualifications to qualify in the rankings.

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. 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. + 17 vs. Northern Kentucky (41-24)
6. + 16 - two times (Loyola/LIU-Brooklyn)

BIG SHOT BAILEY
Bailey Farley had 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 17 double-doubles on the season. Steph Kostowicz leads the way with 10. Jenny Lindner also has had six 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 110 blocks for her career, making her the fifth player in program history to reach the 100-block milestone. She now ranks 57 shy of the school record and just one away from third place all time.

OH SO CLOSE
While the Panthers' 20-11 record is certainly impressive, Milwaukee is just a few shots away from an even more outstanding season. 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 (.784) and ranks second in the league in three-point shooting (.345), scoring offense (73.1 points/game), rebound margin (+6.6) and field goal percentage (.435).

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 20 wins compared to its 11 losses:

W's       L's
FG%                             .463      .385
Def FG% .408      .481
Rebound Margin         +10.0    +1.5
PPG 78.3      64.1
PPG Against 62.5      78.5

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 409-522 of their shots from the charity stripe heading into the game against Southern Illinois. That is good for a .784 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 ninth in the entire nation after 31 games. South Dakota leads the NCAA at .816 (395-484).

Individually, Jenny Lindner stands sixth in the nation with a rate of 90.5 percent from the line, missing just 12 (114-126) from the line all season.

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

Most recently, Jenny Lindner was named Horizon League Player of the Week after helping lead Milwaukee to a pair of home late in the regular season. 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.

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 69 double-digit scoring performances and 17 double-doubles in just 31 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 late in the regular season, UWM ended an eight-game slide against their in-state rival.

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.

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.

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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