Skip To Main Content

Milwaukee Athletics

Skip Ad
recap purdue fort wayne
48
Purdue Fort Wayne PFW 3-6
70
Winner Milwaukee MKE 3-5
Purdue Fort Wayne PFW
3-6
48
Final
70
Milwaukee MKE
3-5
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Purdue Fort Wayne PFW 3 19 9 17 48
Milwaukee MKE 22 11 20 17 70

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Panthers Cruise To 22-Point Home Win

Defense holds Mastodons to less than 25 percent shooting

MILWAUKEE – All 13 players saw the court in a total team defensive effort Saturday as the Milwaukee women's basketball team held Purdue Fort Wayne to just 24.1 percent shooting for the game in a 70-48 win from the Klotsche Center.
 
MKE (3-5) held the Mastodons without a field goal for the first 13 minutes of the game and jumped out to a 22-3 lead after just 10 minutes of action and never looked back in the decisive win.
 
"We really locked in today," Panther head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "I really credit our team for following the game plan. We've been trying some different things defensively and they were really focused on that. They really want to get better and they want to play together as a team.
 
"It was fun to get out on the court and play again. Anytime you're playing after a loss you want those next games to come as quickly as possible, so it was great to have another home game and an opportunity to get a win before we head on the road again."
 
Megan Walstad led all players with 12 points on a near-perfect 6-7 shooting performance, also bringing in seven rebounds. Fellow freshman Sydney Levy finished with 11 points and four rebounds in just nine minutes off the bench.
 
Brandi Bisping netted eight points on the night, while McKaela Schmelzer finished with seven points and six assists. Jamie Reit and Akaylah Hayes each also scored seven Saturday, while Ryaen Johnson added six points, three blocks and a game-high nine rebounds.
 
Kierstyn Repp scored 12 points to lead the way for Purdue Fort Wayne (3-6).
 
Milwaukee came out of the gates completely dialed in a near-perfect first quarter. Walstad started the game with two points on the Panthers' first possession and MKE held the lead for the final 39:39 of the game. Bre Cera then recorded one of her two blocks on the day on Milwaukee's first defensive possession, turning defense into offense with a bucket the next trip down the court.
 
A three-pointer by Reit just 3:48 into the game made it a 9-0 start, forcing a Mastodon timeout.
 
Levy continued her hot shooting from Wednesday with an early three to make it 20-2 and hit a jumper in the paint to close out the quarter with MKE leading 22-3, holding Purdue Fort Wayne to 0-12 shooting from the floor and just three made free throws over the first 10 minutes of play.
 
The Mastodons were finally able to break through Milwaukee's stout defense in the second with some impressive shooting from deep, going 4-5 from behind the arc in the quarter, but the Panthers still held a 33-22 lead at the break.
 
That was as close as it would get the rest of the way as an early 11-0 run in the third blew things back open for Milwaukee, en route to the convincing home win.
 
In addition to the Panthers impressive defensive performance, they also turned in their best shooting day of the season so far, connecting on nearly 50 percent (28-58) of their shots.
 
MKE also finished with a season-high 19 assists and outrebounded their opponents, 42-33.
 
Saturday's game was also an important game for coach Rechlicz and Panther freshman Tahlia Walton, both of whom deal with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS).
 
"To be able to have some fans in the stands who aren't necessarily able to exercise at this level or compete, I told my team in the pregame talk to go out there and play for them," Rechlicz said. "We are very fortunate to be Division I athletes and have functioning hearts and functioning bodies, and I think our team did that tonight.
 
"It was a really special game for me. I'm very appreciative of everybody that came out and supported and people can still go online and make donations, which would be great to continue to see that number grow."
 
The fundraiser at Saturday's game tallied close to $1,000 dollars.
 
Up next, the Panthers head to North Dakota for a pair of games next weekend, starting Friday with an 11:30 am contest at North Dakota, a game that will be streamed live online on Fox Sports Go.
 
 
Print Friendly Version