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recap nku
60
Winner Northern Kentucky NKU 6-17 (4-8 HL)
57
Milwaukee UWM 17-7 (8-4 HL)
Winner
Northern Kentucky NKU
6-17 (4-8 HL)
60
Final
57
Milwaukee UWM
17-7 (8-4 HL)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Northern Kentucky NKU 12 17 12 19 60
Milwaukee UWM 6 9 19 23 57

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Second-Half Comeback Falls Just Short

Reit tallies career-high 18 points in close loss

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee women's basketball team nearly erased an 18-point second-half deficit but needed one more minute to complete the comeback in a 60-57 loss to Northern Kentucky Saturday afternoon from the Klotsche Center.
 
After an ice-cold first half, the Panthers (17-7, 8-4 Horizon) went back to their impressive shooting ways, connecting on a season-high 10 three-pointers to cut the gap all the way to two points late in the game. But, Milwaukee – playing without preseason all-league selection Steph Kostowicz out with injury – needed just one more possession to pull off what would have been one of the largest comebacks in program history.
 
"A lot of credit to NKU," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "We knew it would be a physical game, a toughness game and we just weren't awake in the first half.
 
"That's one of the first times I've had to lay into our team a little bit, but they responded. I am proud of how they responded. They came out in the second half with a different attitude; a different sense about them. There was just not enough time."
 
Jamie Reit scored a career and game-high 18 points – with 15 coming in the second half.
 
Bailey Farley finished with 14 points, Alyssa Fischer was big off the bench with nine points and Jenny Lindner battled down low for eight points, nine rebounds and three assists.
 
Molly Glick was the difference maker in the fourth quarter for NKU (6-17, 4-8 Horizon), finishing with 15 points – 11 of which came in a six-minute span in the final period.
 
After a brutal start to the game that saw UWM shoot just 14.8 percent (4-27) in the opening frame and trail 29-15 at the break, Milwaukee responded in a big way in the second half.
 
NKU took its largest lead of the game in the opening moments for the third at 33-15. Farley and Fischer connected on three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to quickly force a Norse timeout. Fischer drilled another triple on Milwaukee's next possession before a Lindner layup and another bomb – this time from Reit – to suddenly make it a 10-point game.
 
Fischer closed out the quarter with another three after a nice shimmy to fake her defender before a pair of Ryaen Johnson free throws to close the third at 41-34.
 
The Panthers comeback effort continued into the fourth with a 7-0 run capped by a Kelsey Cunningham jumper to close the gap to 46-41 with 6:10 to play.
 
After Glick's hot shooting put NKU back up by seven with 2:45 left, Milwaukee again continued to find answers. Farley picked off a pass at the top of the key and went the whole way for the lay in to draw within four.
 
After a few Northern Kentucky free throws put the road team back up seven with just 18 seconds left, Milwaukee continued to show belief in themselves. Reit drilled another triple – her fourth of the game – to make it a 58-54 game with 12.5 seconds to go.
 
The Norse went 1-of-2 at the line to go back up five but fouled Reit on her next three-point attempt – which just rimmed out – with 5.4 left. Reit hit all three of her freebies and Milwaukee whittled NKU's 18-point lead down to just two.
 
After another 1-for-2 showing by Northern Kentucky at the line and UWM had one last chance but a contested three-pointer at the buzzer was blocked as the comeback effort just ran out of time in this one.
 
"We're always just trying to get better," Rechlicz said. "We want to get the highest seed we possibly can going into the conference tournament, but it's more than that. It's about learning and trying to grow as a program.
 
"We've got a week to prepare for our next game. We're definitely going to watch this, we're going to learn from it and we're going to move on."
 
UWM took care of the ball well in this one, finishing with just 11 turnovers while forcing six steals. The two teams finished the game tied in the rebounding category at 33 apiece.
 
Milwaukee now has a week to prepare for its fifth and final game of its current home stand, playing host to #20 Green Bay next Saturday at 2pm from the Klotsche Center.
 
 
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