Women's Basketball January 11, 2019

Panthers Close Homestand Saturday Against Vikings

Milwaukee goes up against another top team in the league rankings

MILWAUKEE – Looking to build off a big win over the league leaders on Thursday, the Milwaukee women's basketball team will wrap up its two-game homestand Saturday with a 2 pm contest against Cleveland State from the Klotsche Center. Saturday's action will be streamed live online through ESPN+. Panther fans can also listen to the radio broadcast of Matt Menzl, with links found at MKEPanthers.com.

LOOKING AT THE VIKINGS
Cleveland State started their Wisconsin swing with a 62-53 loss at Green Bay to fall to 6-10 overall and 3-2 in league play. Junior Jade Ely CSU with 12 points and five steals. As a team, the Vikings lead the Horizon League with an average of 9.4 steals/game.

CSU has four players that list Wisconsin as their home state on this year's roster. Brookfield East grad Mariah Miller is averaging nearly a double-double at 16.0 points and 7.9 rebounds/game, as is freshman Savanna Crocket from Milwaukee Vincent with 10.9 points and 9.7 rebounds/game.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET
Milwaukee erupted for 31 third-quarter points to flip a 10-point halftime deficit into a 69-63 win over Cleveland State Saturday afternoon from the Wolstein Center.

MKE (18-9, 9-6 Horizon) started the third quarter making its first 10 shots, including going 5-for-5 from behind the arc. Jenny Lindner did the majority of the damage in that frame, with 16 of her team-high 24 points coming during that decisive third-quarter run.

The win was a big one for the Panthers, snapping a three-game skid and taking down a CSU (18-9, 10-6 Horizon) team that had won six of its last seven, including an 11-point win over No. 19 Green Bay.

SERIES HISTORY
Milwaukee has had Cleveland State's number of late, claiming the last seven in the series to take a 31-23 lead, all-time. The Panthers and Vikings have had a number of memorable contests, with each of the last five being decided by seven points or less.

UP NEXT
Milwaukee hits the road, heading to the state of Michigan for a weekend series, starting Friday at Oakland.

LAST GAME
Freshman Megan Walstad scored a career-high 20 points and recorded the first career double-double of her young career to help lead the Milwaukee women's basketball team to a 71-68 overtime win over league-leading Youngstown State Thursday afternoon in front of 3,089 fans as part of School Day inside the Klotsche Center.

Milwaukee (6-9, 1-3 Horizon) stymied the Penguins (12-4, 4-1 Horizon) offense for much of the game and built a big lead before fending off a furious YSU run by scoring the final six points in overtime.

With the win, the Panthers have now won their last seven School Day contests. It also marks the first conference loss of the season for Youngstown State, with MKE knocking off another team ranked in the Mid Major Top-25 and ending YSU's five game winning streak.

SCHOOL DAY SUCCESS
MKE put together yet another memorable performance during its School Day game against Youngstown State on Thursday. The Panthers handed the YSU its first league loss of the season with a 71-68 OT win, led by freshman Megan Walstad first double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds in front of 3,089 area students and fans.

That adds to the long list of dramatic finishes for MKE in recent School Day games. Last season, the Panthers erased a 15-point deficit for a 79-72 win over Cleveland State. That came one year after the Panthers finished the game on a 26-10 run to take down Detroit Mercy and again erased a fourth-quarter deficit at the Klotsche Center. In 2015-16, Sierra Ford-Washington's runner in the lane with 6.7 seconds left again sent UWM past Cleveland State.

It's not just home success in front of the youthful crowds as Milwaukee stormed back from down 13 at Cleveland State last year before Steph Kostowicz beat the buzzer to send the Panthers home with yet another school day win.

In all, the Panthers have now won their last seven School Day contests, home or away.

RISING RYAEN
After playing a supporting role off the bench in her first year on the court for Milwaukee last year, Ryaen Johnson has taken a big step for the Black & Gold this year. The redshirt senior notched her first career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds Jan. 5 at Wright State, while also registering five blocks. Johnson leads the Horizon League with 35 blocks so far this season - already seven more than all of last year - and has scored 80 points (compared to 44 last season) and hauled in 75 rebounds (53 last season).

PANTHERS VS. TOP 25
The Jan. 10 win over Youngstown State was just another in recent history of Milwaukee taking down a team ranked in the Mid-Major Top-25 poll. YSU entered the week sitting at No. 24 after winning 12 of its first 15 contests.

Milwaukee has taken on three other teams ranked in this year's poll at the time of their game, dropping close road games at Saint Mary's (73-71) and Wright State (61-57).

Last season, MKE posted six wins over teams that were either ranked or receiving votes in the Mid-Major poll (Western Illinois, Cleveland State [twice], Wright State, IUPUI & Northern Iowa.

STARTING FIVE
MKE head coach Kyle Rechlicz has already shown how deep her team can be - using eight different starting lineups through the first 15 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 against Columbia. In fact, if you include the exhibition game against Parkside, the Panthers have used nine different starting lineups through their first 16 times on the court this season.

DOUBLING DOWN
After graduating Steph Kostowicz and Jenny Lindner, the Panthers have perhaps found their next double-double outputters in their past two games. Senior Ryaen Johnson recorded her first double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds Jan. 5 at Wright State. Just five days later, it was freshman Megan Walstad's turn. The newcomer racked up career highs in points (20) and rebounds (10) to help secure the win over Youngstown State.

OH SO CLOSE
The Panthers sit at 6-9 heading into the Saturday's game but have had a number of close contests go just the other way. Right out of the gates, MKE had the ball for the final shot at Indiana but couldn't find the winner in a two-point loss at Indiana. The Panthers also have had a shot at the buzzer in one-possession losses to Saint Mary's and Northern Kentucky. And, at Wright State last weekend, the Panthers were within one with under a minute to go before WSU earned a four-point win after sinking its free throws late.

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.

THE REIT STUFF
Jamie Reit has put together a number of outstanding offensive performance thus far in her junior season. In the season opener, Reit went off for 21 points on 8-13 shooting - including a red-hot 4-5 performance from behind the arc on the road at Indiana. The 5-foot-9 guard added another 18 against UC Riverside before exploding for six triples and a career-high 24 points against defending champ Green Bay in the conference opener last week. In all, Reit has upped her scoring average to over 10.0 points/game this season for the first time in her career despite being more of a focal point for opposing defenses.

EARLY HONORS
After her career performance against Florida State, junior Lizzie Odegard was named the Horizon League Player of the Week Dec. 23. Odegard finished with a career-high 20 points on 8-15 (.533 percent) shooting in a career-high 29 minutes off the bench.

Newcomer Megan Walstad also has an early honor from the league office. The Apple Valley, Minn., native was named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week Nov. 19 after leading MKE with 18 points and five rebounds in its win over Columbia earlier that week. Walstad followed that up with double-digit points in all three games on Milwaukee's California trip and was named to the Saint Mary's Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team, leading the team with 27 points in the two-day tourney.

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 a season-high 11 against Saint Mary's one day after Thanksgiving and equaled that total again Nov. 28 against No. 22 Marquette. MKE enters Saturday's contest averaging 7.9 threes per game - a total that ranks 49th in the nation.

Just as impressive, the Panthers early hot shooting has come from a wide variety of players with 12 players already connecting on at least one triple this season, and 10 players sinking at least three threes so far.

As a team, MKE is shooting 34.5 percent from behind the arc - good for 64th best in the NCAA and tops in the Horizon League.

Additionally, Milwaukee has four of the top-13 deep-ball shooters percentage-wise in the conference (Alyssa Fischer - 1st at .447 [17-38], Jamie Reit - 6th at .384 [33-86], Sydney Levy - 7th at .380 [19-50] and Lizzie Odegard - 13th at .341 [15-44]) and heading into the Saturday.

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

Despite graduating the school-record-holder for blocks in Steph Kostowicz, the Panthers are right back at their rejecting ways. Ryaen Johnson already has 35 swats on the young season, with Akaylah Hayes (12) and Megan Walstad (10) not far behind, with Johnson's 2.3 blocks/game ranking her 22nd nationally heading into the game against Youngstown State. In all, MKE has already racked up 68 blocks on the season for an average of 4.6/game - which would shatter the school record of 3.8/game, set last year.

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.

So far this season, Schmelzer has stepped up her game with 4.1 assists/game thus far - ranking her fourth in the Horizon League and 147th nationally.

BENCH PLAY
The Panthers have shown great depth so far this season and have proven to have an awfully deep bench. In fact, thus far Milwaukee's bench is outscoring the opposition by a whopping 423-251. MKE has scored at least 20 points off the bench in 12 of its first 15 games, with the season high so far coming against Columbia when 47 points came from non-starters.

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL BALANCE
Through its first 15 games, the Panthers have proven to be an incredibly balanced squad this season. Seven different players (Jamie Reit, Sydney Levy, Megan Walstad, Alyssa Fischer, Bre Cera, Akaylah Hayes and Lizzie Odegard) have led the team in scoring in at least one game. Even more impressively, eight different Panthers (Ryaen Johnson, Brandi Bisping, McKaela Schmelzer, Hayes, Odegard, Cera, Fischer & Walstad) have led the team in rebounding in at least one game on the young season.

GONE FISCH'N
Alyssa Fischer had a career performance in Milwaukee's near comeback against Saint Mary's Nov. 23. The redshirt junior exploded for seven three pointers, finishing with 23 points and eight rebounds - both career highs. Even more impressively, 17 of those points came in the second half with Saint Mary's trying to stop Milwaukee's main offensive threat on the day.

Fischer's seven three pointers are also a career high, are now tied for the third most in program history and are the most by a Panther in a game since Jessica Wilhite sank eight triples back in December of 2002.

So far this season, Fischer's seven made three's rank her tied for 23rd in the NCAA at the D-I level. Thirteen different players have connected on eight triples in a single game so far, while Lamar University senior Moe Kinard sank an NCAA record 13 three pointers in a 117-110 double overtime loss at Denver on Nov. 23.

DE-FENSE
The Panthers turned in one of their best defensive performances in quite some time with its Dec. 1 win over Purdue Fort Wayne. Milwaukee held the Mastodons without a field goal for the first 13 minutes of the game in building a 22-3 first-quarter edge. In fact, that marks the first time that MKE has held a team without a field goal over an entire quarter since the NCAA shifted from halves to quarters entering the 2015-16 season. The three points are tied for the fewest allowed by the Panthers in a quarter, also achieving that feat back on Dec. 31, 2016 in a 72-44 home win over Northern Kentucky.

Another notable stat from Milwaukee's impressive defense day - the Panthers limited the visitors to just 24.1 percent from the floor all game, marking the lowest shooting performance by an opposing team since MKE held Valparaiso to an 11-50 performance (.220) back on Feb. 25, 2012.

Impressively, the Panthers followed that up with yet another outstanding defensive performance on Friday, holding North Dakota to just .235 shooting.

MORE DEFENSIVE NUMBERS
In Milwaukee's back-to-back wins over Purdue-Fort Wayne and North Dakota, they held their opponents to just 48 and 46 points. That marks the first time MKE has held teams to under 50 points in back-to-back contests since doing so back in the 2001-02 season. Milwaukee actually accomplished the feat in three-straight back then, taking down Youngstown State (100-46), Loyola (74-49) and Wright State (64-47) from Feb. 2-7 on their way to a second-place finish in the Horizon League. The Panthers nearly made it three straight this season, with NDSU hitting a three at the buzzer to up their total to 55 points in MKE's road win.

BUZZER BEATERS
Milwaukee has made somewhat of a habit of buzzer-beater wins over the past few seasons. Ryaen Johnson's put back at the horn against UC Riverside brings back memories of Jamie Reit's jumper that just beat the buzzer in a 62-61 home win over Youngstown State last season.

Former Panther Steph Kostowicz had a number of memorable shots in her time in the Black & Gold. Her reverse layup with 0.1 left on the clock gave Milwaukee a big comeback win at Cleveland State for an 80-78 win in the 2016-17 season. Earlier that season, Kostowicz sent MKE into overtime at NIU with a mid-range jumper at the horn in a double-OT thriller.

Sierra Ford-Washington had a pair of buzzer beaters her senior year. The former Panther guard ended things for both conference foes UIC (Jan. 14, 2015) and Cleveland State (Feb. 11, 2015).

Ashley Green also finds her name in this category, hitting a jumper with less than five seconds left on the clock back on Jan. 24, 2015 for a 64-63 win over UIC.

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 Midwestern trips against area power-five schools and conference foes, the Panthers have made a large number of long trips recently. Earlier this December, the Panthers notched their first ever win in the state of California in just their second ever trip to the Golden State, taking down UC Riverside. 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. Couple that with a 2015 trip to Miami and Milwaukee's roster will have seen a large amount of the countryside just for team travel.

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.

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.

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.

500 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 503 games in a row heading into the game against the Vikings.

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).

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Players Mentioned

#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

#10 Jamie Reit: G; 5' 9"; Junior

#3 McKaela Schmelzer: G; 5' 7"; Redshirt Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#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

#10 Jamie Reit
: 5' 9"; Junior
: G

#3 McKaela Schmelzer
: 5' 7"; Redshirt Sophomore
: G