Women's Basketball January 25, 2019

Panthers, Flames Square Off Saturday

Alumni Day festivities begin at 10 am

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee women's basketball team will look to start a new win streak Saturday when they take on UIC from the Klotsche Center at 2 pm. Saturday is also Alumni Day for the Panthers, with an alumni scrimmage scheduled for 10:30 am. Saturday's contest is the first for MKE that will be televised live locally on My24 Sports. Fans can also stream Matt Menzl's radio broadcast online at MKEpanthers.com.

LOOKING AT THE FLAMES
Things haven't come easy for first-year Flames coach Tasha Pointer. The league's newest head coach is off to a 3-16 start overall, posting wins over Valparaiso (75-65) in the season opener, at Evansville (62-54) and against Oakland (69-65) in overtime.

Senior guards Brittany Byrd and Taylor Toney both were named to the Horizon League Preseason All-League squad. While those two have continued to find ways to lead the team in scoring, it's the play of sophomore Jada Nneji that is drawing most of the attention. The Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada native has racked up 59 blocks already this season - with 49 of those coming in the Flames first eight league games.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET
Milwaukee's defense was on full display Sunday afternoon as the Panthers smothered visiting UIC all game long for a 59-44 win from the Klotsche Center.

A close game at the break, the Panthers (16-6, 7-3 Horizon) regrouped and played lockdown defense nearly the entirety of the final 20 minutes for their second sizeable win over UIC (7-14, 0-10 Horizon) in a 13-day span.

Bailey Farley again led the team in scoring with 16 points to go with four rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal.

SERIES HISTORY
The Panthers have had UIC's number of late, claiming the last six in the series to up their lead to 33-21. In fact, MKE's average margin of victory over the last four wins over the Flames is an impressive 22 points, with the closest contest coming last year at the Klotsche Center - a 59-44 Milwaukee victory.

UP NEXT
MKE has just one game on the schedule next week - a return trip to in-state rival Green Bay. That one is scheduled for a 1 pm start inside the Kress Center.

LAST GAME
Macee Williams' second free throw attempt bounced around the rim four times before falling with 0.7 seconds left on the clock to give IUPUI a 67-66 overtime win over the Milwaukee women's basketball team Thursday evening from the Klotsche Center.

Megan Walstad, McKaela Schmelzer and Sydney Staver all tallied career highs in the scoring column for Milwaukee (9-10, 4-4 Horizon), but the Jaguars (12-7, 6-2 Horizon) were able to get the friendly roll to end MKE's win streak at four.

Walstad led all players with 21 points on 9-14 shooting. The freshman also brought it four rebounds and had a pair of blocks, steals and assists.

Schmelzer flirted with a triple-double for a little while before finishing with 14 points – a career high – six rebounds and five assists.

Staver provided a big spark off the bench early for Milwaukee, bringing their offense to life after a slow first quarter before finishing with a career-best 10 points. The sophomore also had three rebounds and three steals.

OH SO CLOSE
The Panthers sit at 9-10 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 Jan. 5, the Panthers were within one with under a minute to go before WSU earned a four-point win after sinking its free throws late. Most recently, IUPUI's free throw bounced around the rim four times before falling with 0.7 left on the clock in overtime for another painfully close defeat for the young Panthers.

MILESTONE MARK FOR COACH RECHLICZ
Kyle Rechlicz is quickly closing in on a significant coaching milestone - win No. 100 as a head coach. After three years of turning the culture back around at MKE, Rechlicz has rattled off an incredible 62 wins over the last three seasons - the most for a Panther coach over a three-year span - and heads into Saturday's game with 98 wins to her name. She will be just the third coach in program history to reach the century mark, joining M.A. Kelling (1978-95) and Sandy Botham (1996-2012).

SURGING STAVER
After missing a full month due to illness, sophomore Sydney Staver appears to as close to full health as she was when she started the season opener at Indiana. That was never more evident than Thursday when the Mineral Point native made the most of a season-high 19 minutes, sinking a pair of threes and finishing with a career-high 10 points. Staver also hauled in three rebounds and tied her career high with three steals against IUPUI.

A CASE OF THE RUNS
Milwaukee has proven all season long that it is capable of scoring in a variety of ways and - coupled with its strong defense - can quickly make a big run against its opponents.

That was extremely evident on the Panthers most recent road trip. Starting in their win at Oakland Jan. 18, Milwaukee rattled off runs of 18-0, 15-6, 10-0 and 15-3 en route to a 79-52 victory. Then, just two days later, MKE put Detroit Mercy away with a 20-5 run to end the game for an 18-point road win. The Panthers also blasted off a 25-5 run against IUPUI in Thursday's narrow loss.

DEFENSE IN LEAGUE PLAY
It is no secret that Milwaukee has been consistently playing strong defense once again this season. The Panthers have held their opponents under 60 points eight times already this season while conceding 70-plus points just three times - two of which came against nationally-ranked Florida State and Marquette.

But, since the start of conference play, Milwaukee's defense has been locked in - holding opponents to a stingy 59.5 points/game. In fact, over the last four games, MKE is averaging allowing just 54 points - including a 62-44 win at Detroit Mercy.

WE OVER ME
The Panthers have taken pride in sharing the basketball this season. Thus far, MKE has handed out an average of 14.3 assists/game on the season - second most in the Horizon League. Their 21 assists at Oakland on Jan. 18 equaled a new season high and marked the most in a game for Milwaukee since they dropped 24 dimes in the Postseason WNIT win at UNI last March. MKE has had 15 or more assists in five of its last six contests.

SECOND-HALF SHUT DOWN
After trailing by three at the break against Cleveland State Jan. 12, Milwaukee turned in another outstanding defensive performance to flip the script for a 59-53 win over the Vikings. The Panthers held CSU to just five made field goals over the final 20 minutes, limiting their opponent to just 5-30 overall shooting (16.7 percent), while forcing a season-best 20 turnovers to go with 14 steals and another seven blocks.

DROVE THE CHEVY TO THE LEVY
Sydney Levy has turned in a number of head-turning performances thus far during her freshman campaign - with the most recent coming just last weekend at Detroit Mercy. After a Titans run closed MKE's lead to just three midway through the fourth quarter, Levy erupted with 11 points over the final six minutes to help the Panthers to an 18-point win. The freshman finished that game with a season-high 23 points on 8-13 shooting, including seven three-pointers. That ties Alyssa Fischer for the team high in made threes this season, ranking them both tied for third in program history for a single game performance.

AWFULLY EFFICIENT
Freshman Megan Walstad has been quickly making a name for herself at the college ranks - specifically for her impressive shot selection in the early going of her career. The 6-2 forward has used her soft-touch shot to connect on 56.9 percent (99-174) of her attempts on the season - good for 28th best in the country going into Saturday's game. In fact, in league-only play, her numbers have gotten even better with a 60.8 clip (48-79) - ranking her third in the conference.

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 ranks second in the Horizon League with 45 blocks so far this season - already 17 more than all of last year - and has scored 95 points (compared to 44 last season) and hauled in 99 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 10 different starting lineups through the first 19 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 11 different starting lineups through their first 20 times on the court this season.

Heading into Saturday's contest, MKE's primary starting five has been Schmelzer, Reit, Cera, Johnson and Walstad. That has been the opening combination six times so far this season for Rechlicz.

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.

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 a pair of early honors from the league office. The Apple Valley, Minn., native first 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. The newcomer was again honored as the league's top freshman Jan. 14 after helping MKE to a pair of home wins after averaging 16 and 6 while recording her first collegiate double-double.

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 7.8 threes per game - a total that ranks 54th in the nation.

Just as impressive, the Panthers early hot shooting has come from a wide variety of players with 13 players already connecting on at least one triple this season, and 10 players sinking at least four threes so far.

As a team, MKE is shooting 33.6 percent from behind the arc - good for 81st best in the NCAA and tops in the Horizon League.

Additionally, Milwaukee has three of the top 10 deep-ball shooters percentage-wise in the conference (Alyssa Fischer - 2nd at .409 [18-44], Sydney Levy - 3rd at .408 [28-69] and Jamie Reit - 10th at .350 [36-103] heading into Saturday.

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 4.2 assists/game thus far - ranking her first in the Horizon League and 122nd 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 538-291. MKE has scored at least 20 points off the bench in 15 of its first 19 games, with the season high so far coming against Columbia when 47 points came from non-starters.

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL BALANCE
Right around the midway point of the season, 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 season.

SCHOOL DAY SUCCESS
MKE put together yet another memorable performance during its School Day game against Youngstown State Jan. 10. 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.

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.

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 507 games in a row heading into the game against the Flames.

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.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

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

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

#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