Box Score

Milwaukee UWM 21-11

UNI UNI 19-14

Milwaukee UWM

21-11

Final

Mar. 15, 2018

UNI UNI

19-14

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Milwaukee UWM	21	21	21	18	81
UNI UNI	16	14	23	14	67

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | March 15, 2018

Panthers Shoot Lights Out To Win 81-67 In WNIT Opener

Milwaukee to play at Indiana Sunday at 1pm Central

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Jamie Reit scored a career-high 21 points to lead the hot-shooting Milwaukee women's basketball team to an 81-67 win over Northern Iowa Thursday evening in the first round of the WNIT from the McLeod Center.

UWM (21-11) set a program record by connecting on 69.4 percent (34-49) of its shots Thursday and dominated the rebounding battle in the second half to win a postseason game for the second-straight season.

The Panthers now advance to the second round, where they will take on Indiana University (18-14) Sunday at 1pm Central from Assembly Hall.

"First off, I'd like to thank the WNIT for allowing us the opportunity to play in the postseason," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "I think that's a great honor to get that second chance.

"Coming into this, we had taken a number of days off to rest our bodies. That could have played out two ways; one, we would be out of shape and not ready to shoot or we felt like it could make our team refreshed. Thankfully for us, it was the backend and we were really refreshed today. I thought our team came out with an incredible amount of energy and leadership.

"I'm just really proud. I'm a proud coach right now because we have the opportunity to continue playing together as a family."

Reit led all players with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including a blistering 5-of-8 from behind the arc.

Jenny Lindner did not miss a single shot (8-for-8 overall and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line) to finish with 19 points and eight rebounds in 29 minutes.

Steph Kostowicz flirted with a triple-double Thursday, finishing with 13 points, a career-high 12 assists and seven rebounds. That marks the 31^st career double-double for the senior, but her first of the point-assists variety. Kostowicz also finished with a season-high four steals to go with two blocks.

McKaela Schmelzer finished with eight points, six assists and four rebounds, while Bailey Farley also shot well and finished with eight points.

Lizzie Odegard came off the bench in the second half and finished with six points and eight rebounds – tying her career high – in just 15 minutes.

As a team, the Panthers set a season-high with 24 assists and shattered the school field-goal percentage for a game, breaking the previous record of 64.3 percent (27-42) set back on March 8, 2008 against Wright State.

Northern Iowa was led by Rose Simon-Ressler with 15 points and Megan Maahs with 14 points.

UWM opened the game strong, going on a 9-2 run late in the first to hold a 21-16 edge after one quarter.

In the second, Milwaukee was nearly perfect. They finished the frame shooting 9-for-10 from the floor, with three different players hitting clutch threes to head into the locker room up 42-30 and shooting an eye-popping 75 percent (18-for-24).

"Our team has a natural ability to feed off one another," Rechlicz said. "Once we started hitting a few shots, I knew that people were just going to loosen up and feel a little bit more free…and Jamie Reit was a huge part of that. She came in and hit some shots right off the bat for us."

Reit opened the second half with a three right out of the gates, followed by another triple from Farley to give the visiting Panthers their largest lead of the game at 48-32 with 8:53 left in the third, forcing an early UNI timeout.

The home Panthers would fight back, going on an 11-3 run of their own to close things back to 51-43 at the 6:20 mark in the third.

Rechlicz's squad never wavered, responding to UNI's physical play with tough baskets down low and maintaining that eight-point edge going into the fourth.

From there, Milwaukee lowered the hammer, getting clutch buckets late in the shot clock on multiple possessions to ice the game away for their first WNIT win in just their second appearance in the prestigious tournament.

In a game that featured two of the best rebounding teams in the country, UWM finished with a 33-25 edge in that column, including a decisive 18-8 margin in the second half. Milwaukee also finished with 34 points in the paint and held Northern Iowa to just 18.

Also with the win, it gives this year's senior class of Kelsey Cunningham, Bailey Farley, Steph Kostowicz and Jenny Lindner a total of 72 wins so far over their four-year careers - the most by a graduating class in program history.

Up next, Milwaukee will head to Bloomington, Ind. to take on the Hoosiers. Indiana won their WNIT opener, 74-50, over UT-Martin Thursday. UWM and IU are schedule to tip off at 1pm Central Sunday afternoon from Assembly Hall.

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