Women's Basketball November 19, 2018

Milwaukee Starts West Coast Trip Tuesday At Fresno State

Panthers look to build off Friday’s win over Columbia

MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee women's basketball team will head west, starting a six-day trip in California on Tuesday with a 9 pm Central game at Fresno State. MKE then heads to the Bay Area for a two-day tournament, hosted by Saint Mary's, starting Friday. Fans can catch Tuesday's action with Matt Menzl's live broadcast streaming on the Black & Gold Network. The game will also be televised on the Mountain West Network, with live stats also available. All links can be found online at the home of Milwaukee Athletics - MKEPanthers.com.

LOOKING AT THE BULLDOGS
Coming off a 17-15 season and a trip to the second round of the WBI, Fresno State has high hopes heading into the 2018-19 season. The Bulldogs were picked third in the Mountain West preseason poll. Senior Candice White was named to the conference's preseason all-league squad, finishing last year averaging 18.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. White has upped that scoring average to 21.5 through the Bulldogs' first two games. Sophomore forward Maddi Utti also has had a strong start to the year, averaging 17.5 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds/game, thus far.

Tuesday's contest will be the third of the year for the 'Dogs, falling on the road at Northern Arizona in the opener before racking up 34 points in the second quarter of a home-opening win over Cal Poly this past Wednesday from the Save Mart Center.

SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday's meeting will be the first ever between Milwaukee and Fresno State on the hardwood. In fact, Milwaukee and Fresno State have squared off just once across all head-to-head sports in MKE's history - doing so in a neutral-site volleyball match back in 1997. The Bulldogs won that match, 3-1.

Additionally, Milwaukee's game on Tuesday will mark just the seventh ever against the current Mountain West, going 3-3 all time with wins against Air Force (2006 & 08) and San Jose State (2006).

UP NEXT
Milwaukee's West Coast swing continues with a two-day tournament hosted by Saint Mary's Friday and Saturday. The Panthers will take on the host Gaels on Friday at 4 pm Central before a 2 pm Central contest the following day against UC Riverside.

LAST GAME
Akaylah Hayes and Megan Walstad combined for 35 points in a 78-65 win for the Milwaukee women's basketball team over Columbia Friday night from the Klotsche Center.

A total of 11 different Panthers (1-2) scored to help hand the Lions (2-1) their first loss of the season.

"It's nice for this young team to get a feeling of what (winning) feels like early on," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "We knew this was going to be a tough and scrappy game. Those Ivy-League players don't quit and I definitely commend their (Columbia's) coaching staff – they came in and gave us a really good fight."

Walstad had a big showing in just her third game of her young collegiate career, finishing with a game-high 18 points on 6-10 shooting in just 21 minutes of action.

Hayes doubled up her previous career high with 17 points on the night, going 7-8 from the free-throw line and 5-10 from the field. Hayes also hauled in six rebounds, one shy of her previous high. She also added a game-high three blocks, two assists and one steal in a stat-stuffing 24 minutes of action.

Bre Cera, McKaela Schmelzer and Alyssa Fischer each chipped in with eight points, while Lizzie Odegard made her first start of the season and finished with seven points and a career-high 10 rebounds.

GO WEST, YOUNG MAN
The Panthers start nearly a week-long trip in the state of California on Tuesday when they take on Fresno State. Trips out west are not common for the Panthers, with Milwaukee's last trip more than five hours west of campus coming back in the start of the 2014-15 season with games in North Dakota and Kansas City. MKE played three games in New Mexico one year earlier, and its last trip to the West Coast came way back in November of 2009 with a tournament in Seattle. In fact, this trip marks just the second time the Panthers will play in the state of California, playing at Saint Mary's and San Francisco in January of the 2000-01 season.

OK AKAYLAH!
Senior Akaylah Hayes has stepped up her game in the early going of her senior year, notching career-highs each of the last two games. Against Wisconsin, Hayes made the most of her minutes with eight points off the bench before exploding for 17 points, six rebounds, three blocks, two assists and a steal in just 24 minutes against Columbia this past Friday. Hayes tied or set a career high in five different categories in that win over Columbia.

STARTING FIVE
MKE head coach Kyle Rechlicz has already shown just three games into the season how deep her team can be - using three different starting lineups through the first three games. Sydney Staver, Bre Cera, Megan Walstad, Jamie Reit and Brandi Bisping got the nod on opening night at Indiana. McKaela Schmelzer's return from postseason play with the soccer team slotted her back into her starting spot from a year ago against Wisconsin, before Rechlicz went with an added post presence with Ryaen Johnson and Lizzie Odegard opening the game on the court Friday against Columbia. In fact, if you include the exhibition game against Parkside, the Panthers have used four different starting lineups through their first four times on the court this season.

FROM DOWNTOWN
After relying on the three-pointer the least amount in Kyle Rechlicz's tenure a season ago, the Panthers have been back to their M-O of lighting it up from behind the arc in the early going this season. MKE hit nine triples in the season opener at Indiana. They one-upped that total with 10 in the Nov. 13 game against Wisconsin, including an impressive six in the opening quarter. Milwaukee then hit another seven from deep in their win over Columbia on Friday.

Just as impressive, the Panthers early hot shooting has come from a wide variety of players with 10 players already connecting on at least one triple this season, and eight players sinking at least two threes so far.

TAKING THEIR TALENTS...EVERYWHERE
Milwaukee has traveled all over the country over the past few seasons and had a large amount of success. In addition to the traditional Midwest trips against area power-five schools and conference foes, the Panthers have made a large number of long trips recently. Last year's Preseason WNIT sent MKE to New Orleans, going 1-1 in the Big Easy. That came one year after taking the tournament title at a Thanksgiving tournament held by Vermont. A 2015 trip to Miami and this year's three games in California and Milwaukee's roster will have seen a large amount of the countryside just for team travel.

FOR STARTERS
Megan Walstad inked her name into the Panther record book before her first collegiate game even ended. That's because the highly touted freshman was in the starting lineup in her first collegiate game, becoming the fourth freshmen to achieve that feat in the last seven years. McKaela Schmelzer and Sydney Staver both started last year's opener, while Kelsey Cunningham did so in her debut in 2014. Walstad didn't disappoint either, finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and one steal in 19 minutes at Indiana.

REIT OUT OF THE GATES
Jamie Reit wasted no time in putting together an incredible performance to start her junior year. The 5-9 guard went off for 21 points on 8-13 shooting - including a red-hot 4-5 performance from behind the arc. Milwaukee has a history of big performances in its season openers of late, with at least one 20-point performance coming in each of the last five seasons now after Reit's big night. Ashley Green started that five-year run with 36 points in the first game of the 2014-15 season - a record for Milwaukee openers.

EXCUSED ABSENCE
McKaela Schmelzer missed Milwaukee's season opener at Indiana, but had an awfully good reason. The redshirt sophomore who played in every basketball game last season was off in California with the MKE soccer team as they were set to take on No. 7 Santa Clara in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Tied at 1-1 with 21 minutes to go, the Panthers had a hard-luck loss to end their season with a 16-2-1 record.

PRESEASON RANKS
The Horizon League released its preseason rankings as voted on by coaches, media members and SIDs, with the Panthers once again picked to finish in the top half of the conference. Milwaukee was tabbed fifth in this year's poll despite graduating 65-percent of their scoring and their winningest class in program history.

AGAINST THE B1G
Milwaukee's strong showing at Indiana last week should come as no surprise as the Panthers have had a fair amount of success against Big Ten opponents the past few seasons. MKE nearly finished perfect in three contests against the midwestern power-five foes last year, notching road wins at Wisconsin (67-64) and Northwestern (66-57) before falling to Indiana in the Postseason WNIT Second Round. That marked the second consecutive win over the Badgers by Milwaukee, taking down their in-state rival 80-63 back in 2016-17. The Panthers also came up just short of an upset bid in the Postseason WNIT First Round in 2015-16 at Minnesota, with the Gophers getting a herculean effort from Big Ten Player of the Year Rachel Banham in an 87-80 thriller from historic Williams Arena.

EXHIBITION REWIND
All 13 players scored as Milwaukee put together a total team performance in an 84-69 win over Parkside this past Thursday. Panther fans got to see a blend of new players with veterans as both seniors as well as two newcomers scored in double figures to lead the way. Freshman Megan Walstad led all scorers with 18 points in just 16 minutes, while senior Akaylah Hayes was an awfully efficient 6-for-8 from the floor for 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocks in 19 minutes.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
With a 9-3 non-conference record a year ago, Milwaukee wrapped up its early going with the best non-conference performance in Division-I history. Last year's squad surpassed the 2016-17 team's 8-3 mark and the 1997-98 team's 8-4 record.

RISING HORIZON
The Horizon League made its case as one of the top mid-major conferences in the country last year. In addition to Milwaukee's advancement into the Postseason WNIT Second Round, Wright State and IUPUI also both qualified for the Postseason WNIT - marking a conference record for number of qualifiers. Not to mention league-leading Green Bay's narrow loss in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, and four league teams competed in the top-two national postseason tournaments last spring.

TAKING ON THE TOP TALENT
Milwaukee has put together one of its most challenging schedules in recent memory with this year's ledger. The Panthers will play a total of 10 contests against teams that won at least 20 games from a year ago and 11 total against teams that participated in the postseason.

PILING UP THE WINS
Over the past three seasons, Milwaukee has been piling up the total in the win column. The Panthers eclipsed the 20-win mark for the second straight season and the fourth time in program history last year, racking up 21 wins and advancing to the Postseason WNIT Second Round. That came after tying the program record with 22 wins on their way to the WBI Semifinals one year earlier. That, piled on top of going 19-13 and advancing to the Postseason WNIT in 2015-16, and Milwaukee has tallied an impressive 62 wins over the past three seasons. That is by far the most in a three-year span in Milwaukee's DI history.

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

-Winning was once again a key theme for MKE last year, with its 21 victories now standing second-most in the Division-I history. Last year's squad also now ranks second in road-winning percentage (.706/12-5), fourth in overall win percentage (.636/21-12) and is tied for the third-longest win streak with a run of eight straight in the early going of last year.

-Milwaukee destroyed the program record for blocks in a single season last year with 124 rejections in all, easily surpassing the previous mark of 109 set back in 2008-09.

-Once again, MKE finished as one of the top free-throw shooting teams in the country a year ago. Milwaukee finished with a .772 shooting clip from the charity stripe, good for third all time.

-The Panthers also nearly broke the school record for margin of victory last year, taking down league foe Detroit Mercy 90-45 late in the season. The 45-point win now ranks third in program history.

SPECIAL SENIORS
Milwaukee's four graduating seniors from last season of Kelsey Cunningham, Bailey Farley, Steph Kostowicz and Jenny Lindner certainly left their mark on the program and went out in style. The foursome broke the program record for most wins by a four-year class when they recorded the 72nd win of their careers in the WNIT First Round. That surpassed the 2003-04 class' previous standard of 71 career wins.

SPECIAL FRESHMEN?
Milwaukee is welcoming in one of its most decorated incoming freshman classes ever with this year's group of newcomers. Megan Walstad leads the way with high honors, being named Miss Minnesota as the top senior in the state last year. Sydney Levy was a McDonald's All-American nominee and guided her team to its second-straight state title last year. In fact, Walstad, Levy and Emma Wittmershaus all led their prep squads to state championships last year. All told, the combined freshman class of Anaiah Moore, Tahlia Walton, Levy, Walstad and Wittmershaus tallied a remarkable combined 119 wins in their final high school seasons compared to just 25 losses.

QUE CERA CERA
MKE fans will get to see transfer Bre Cera in action this season, after sitting out last year due to NCAA transfer rules. Cera was a prep standout at Mukwonago High School before playing for Iowa as a freshman. Cera started 18 games with the Hawkeyes and helped them to a deep Postseason WNIT run as a true freshman before transferring to Milwaukee.

SHØT BLØCKERS
Milwaukee established an impressive knack for blocking shots last season. MKE racked up 124 blocks on the year - breaking the program record of 109 set back during the 2008-09 season.

Individually, Steph Kostowicz was a force with a league-leading 2.0 blocks per game. She broke Maria Viall's single season block record with swat number 54 on the year on her Senior Day and is now the career record holder after tallying block No. 168 in the league tournament before extending that total to 174 before closing the book on her impressive career.

DISHING IT OUT
McKaela Schmelzer played in every game last season and made the most of her time on the court. The redshirt freshman racked up an impressive 95 assists on the season - fourth most for a freshman in Milwaukee history. Also noteworthy, Schmelzer's 3.3 assists/game in conference-only play ranked her sixth in the Horizon League.

A LOT OF CHARITY WORK
Kyle Rechlicz's teams have increasingly improved on their free-throw shooting, with the last two seasons now ranked second and third in program history. Milwaukee shot 78.4 percent from the charity stripe in 2016-17 to rank second all-time, before nearly duplicating that mark last year with an impressive .772 clip from the line - now ranking third in Panther history.

A pair of Panthers cracked the national rankings on the individual level, as well, last year. Jenny Lindner - one of the top free-throw shooters in the nation in 2016-17 - ranked 66th (.831). Bailey Farley (not ranked due to number of attempts) was been nearly automatic from the line late in the season to up her percentage to .824 (75-91) - just ahead of Steph Kostowicz at 114th (.793) in the country after hitting on 92 of her 116 from the line.

400 AND COUNTING!
Despite relying on the three-pointer much less last season, the Panthers have continued their impressive streak of games with at least one made shot from behind the arc. In fact, Milwaukee has 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 491 games in a row heading into the game against the Bulldogs.

That run stands as a new league standard, after Alexis Lindstrom hit her first three pointer against Green Bay on Feb. 17 of the 2016-17 season, topping the previous mark of 446 set by Loyola. It's still a ways to go for the NCAA record, however, which is held by Iowa State. Their run was still active at the start of the of the 2018-19 season at 735 in a row (1995-present).

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. 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 before another postseason berth and 21 more wins last year. In fact, the 62 wins by Rechlicz's Panthers over the past three seasons is the most over that span in program history.

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/ESPN+, 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 return to TV on FOX Sports Wisconsin this season when they host Wisconsin inside the Klotsche Center on Nov. 13, with Bob Brainerd and former Milwaukee 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 29 regular season contests, as well as 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

#12 Kelsey Cunningham: G; 5' 9"; Senior

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

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

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

#13 Brandi Bisping: G; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#23 Bre Cera: G; 5' 10"; Redshirt Sophomore

#21 Alyssa Fischer: G; 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior

#2 Akaylah Hayes: G; 5' 11"; Senior

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

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

Players Mentioned

#12 Kelsey Cunningham
: 5' 9"; Senior
: G

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

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

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

#13 Brandi Bisping
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: G

#23 Bre Cera
: 5' 10"; Redshirt Sophomore
: G

#21 Alyssa Fischer
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior
: G

#2 Akaylah Hayes
: 5' 11"; Senior
: G

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

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