MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Milwaukee women's basketball team continues its Big Ten road trip, heading northwest to Minnesota to take on the Gophers at Williams Arena. Last time out, the Panthers were handed their first loss of the season, dropping a 68-55 decision against Purdue University on Sunday. Milwaukee kept it close early, but the Boilermakers hit 66.7 percent of their shots to pull away.
 
After a Thursday noon tipoff against Minnesota, the Panthers will head to in-state opponent Wisconsin on Sunday before returning home on November 19 to face Arkansas Pine Bluff. 
 
SCOUTING THE GOPHERS
After falling 77-69 to Missouri State in its season opener, Minnesota cruised to a 90-58 victory over Vermont at home. As a team, the Gophers are shooting 48.7 percent from three-point range, led by Destiny Pitts, who is 9-for-14 from three-point range.
 
Minnesota was ranked No. 23 in the AP Preseason Poll to open the year and after a 1-1 start, are now receiving votes. 
 
Last season, first-year head coach Lindsay Whalen and company finished 21-11 and reached the second round of the Women's NIT Tournament.
 
The Gophers return three of their top four leading scorers from last season including Pitts, Taiye Bello, and Jasmine Brunson. Redshirt junior Gadiva Hubbard is also poised to make a major impact after missing all of last season with an injury.
 
LAST TIME THEY MET
On March 16, 2016, Milwaukee and Minnesota met in the Women's NIT. The Panthers' Steph Kotsowicz recorded a huge double-double with 30 points and 11 rebounds but was overshadowed by the Gophers' Rachel Banham who poured in 48 points on 18-for33 shooting. 
 
Three others finished in double digits for Milwaukee, who shot 44.4 percent from the floor. The Panthers got to the line just six times but hit all six attempts.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Gophers hold a 2-1 all-time advantage over the Panthers including winning the last two contests. The Panthers took down Minnesota 75-57 at Williams Arena in 1997.
 
LAST GAME
Milwaukee hung in early but fell to Purdue University 68-55 on Sunday afternoon. After the Panthers held the Boilermakers to 33.3 percent shooting in the first half, Purdue connected on 66.7 percent of its shots after the break to pull away.
 
"I thought we played really hard. We had some people that really stepped up," head coach Kyle Rechlicz commented. "Tadri [Heard]played 30 minutes led us in scoring and had some really great passes. I thought she played outstanding. We also had a lot of toughness from our post players. Lizzie Odegard and Brandi Bisping really played tough basketball."
 
Purdue got it rolling early, opening the game on an 8-0 run before Brandi Bisping and Bre Cera each recorded an and-one to get Milwaukee closer. Sydney Levy followed with the Panthers' first triple of the game and with 3:49 to play in the first quarter, MKE cut its deficit to three.
 
The Boilermakers responded with a bucket and carried that into the second quarter, building an eight-point advantage before Tadri Heard stepped in. The freshman knocked down two three-pointers and forced a steal to pull Milwaukee within five.
 
In the second half, Purdue could not seem to miss as it connected on 12 of 14 shots from the field and shut down any attempt at a Milwaukee comeback. Down by 12 with 5:33 in the third, Odegard found the hot hand. The senior buried a triple and followed with a layup later to cut it to eight, but the Boilermakers used an 8-2 run to take a 51-37 lead into the final quarter.
 
Purdue's hot shooting continued, building a 24-point advantage with just under five minutes to play. Brandi Bisping and Heard combined for the next 12 Milwaukee points and Odegard followed with a three-pointer, but the Panthers ran out of time, falling by 13 at Mackey Arena.
 
YOU HEARD RIGHT
Freshman Tadri Heard already proved she will be a big part of the Panthers' success this season after playing nearly 17 minutes in the season opener.
 
Heard followed that performance with a game-high 19 points on 7-for-15 shooting. She connected on four of her six three-point attempts in the game. Additionally, Heard added five rebounds, and assists, and a pair of steals at Purdue.
 
KNOCKING DOWN THE FREE ONES
Milwaukee reached the free throw line just 10 times at Mackey Arena, but kept up their solid shooting. The Panthers knocked down eight of 10 free throws and are 28-35 (.800) from the charity stripe this season.
 
Free throws were clearly a point of emphasis for Milwaukee after shooting just 66.8 percent from the line a year ago.
 
POWERFUL IN THE PAINT
Purdue boasted a tall, experienced roster against Milwaukee, but that was no problem for Lizzie Odegard. The senior recorded her second career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. She drilled a pair of three-pointers and added three more buckets down low.
 
BISPING BRINGING IT
Junior Brandi Bisping reached double figures for the second straight game, scoring 11 points against the Boilermakers. Bisping hit all five of her free throws and finished 3-for-7 from the field. After cashing in for a career-high 17 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Parkside, Bisping ranks second on the team with 14.5 points per game and leads the squad with 6.5 rebounds per contest.
 
MILWAUKEE RUNS DEEP
In just two games, the Panthers have already piled up 45 bench points. Milwaukee has showed that depth with 11 different players earning minutes and nine different players netting points.
 
OUTSTANDING IN THE OPENER
Jamie Reit's cashed in for a career-high 31 points in the season opener, which is not the first time the Panthers got a solid start. Reit's performance marked the sixth consecutive season with a Milwaukee player scoring at least 20 points in the season-opener.
 
Last season, it was also Reit, as she netted 21 points on 8-for-13 shooting in a two-point loss at Indiana.
 
In the opener against Parkside, Reit finished 9-for-16 from the floor including hitting four triples in six attempts. Additionally, she was 9-for-10 at the line. Reit added seven rebounds, four assists, and three steals in the win.
 
The senior's performance marked her 29th game in double digits including her fourth with at least 20 points.
 
The most points in a season-opener for the Panthers is currently 36, scored by Ashley Green in Milwaukee's season-opening victory at North Dakota State to start the 2014-15 season. That eclipsed Traci Edward's 30-point game set in the opener of the 2007-08 season.
 
FOR STARTERS
With the victory over Parkside, Milwaukee improved its record to 11-19 in NCAA Division I season-openers (dating back to 1990-91).
 
Head Coach Kyle Rechlicz is now 5-3 in season openers. In her Milwaukee debut, the Panthers dominated Chicago State 82-58 in 2012-13.
 
Milwaukee has now won three consecutive season-openers at home, the previous two coming in 2016-17 (76-68 over Western Illinois) and 2015-16 (70-48 over UMKC).
 
NEW FACES, SAME GOAL
Head Coach Kyle Rechlicz added two new faces to her staff in DéRonté Polite and Aaliyah Covington. Polite comes to Milwaukee with a plethora of coaching background, most recently at Lincoln College in Illinois for one season as head coach. Covington was hired as a graduate manager and video analyst in the summer of 2019 and is the younger sister of current assistant coach, Anya Covington.
 
EXPERIENCE IS KEY
The Panthers needed just two freshmen to fill their roster, returning 13 players from a season ago. Rechlicz has nine upperclassmen on her roster this season as Milwaukee brings back four of its top five scorers from 2018-19. Four players on the roster started in at least 20 games a season ago including McKaela Schmelzer (28), Megan Walstad (27), Jamie Reit (27), and Bre Cera (23). 
 
With the 13 returners, the Panthers have 81 percent of their scoring and 73 percent of their rebounding back for this year's campaign.
 
This year's group of seniors each have at least 55 appearances for the black and gold.
 
SOMETHING TO PROVE
Milwaukee was predicted to finish fifth in this year's Horizon League preseason poll. The Panthers earned 57 total poll points and were picked to come in behind Green Bay, Wright State, IUPUI, and Youngstown State. In the 2018-19 preseason poll, Milwaukee was also chosen to finish fifth in the Horizon League.
 
NON-CONFERENCE RECAP
Last season, the Panthers picked up five non-conference victories. Milwaukee topped Columbia and Purdue Fort Wayne at home and took down UC Riverside, North Dakota, and North Dakota State on the road. That marks four straight years with at least five non-conference wins for the Panthers.
 
SIZING UP THE BIG TEN
The Panthers have three Big Ten teams on the schedule this season and despite falling twice a year ago, they have found some success in recent years. In 2017-18, Milwaukee edged Wisconsin (67-64) and Northwestern (66-57). That marked the second straight win over the Badgers as Milwaukee took down their in-state rivals 80-63 in 2016-17.
 
TAKING ON TOP TALENT
In addition to three Big Ten teams, Milwaukee also faces Marquette, who finished 27-8 last season. The Golden Eagles topped Rice 58-54 in the first round before narrowly falling to Texas A&M 78-76 in round two. In total, Milwaukee takes on 10 opponents that won at least 15 games from a year ago including seven that tallied 20 victories.
 
ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF
Kyle Rechlicz added a pair of freshman to this year's squad - Grace Crowley and Tadri Heard. Crowley joins the black and gold from nearby Homestead High School. She grabbed headlines statewide this past February after recording a triple-double in a big home win for the Highlanders. Crowley is a proven winner, guiding Homestead to three straight state titles.
 
Heard comes to Milwaukee from Argo Community High School in the Greater Chicago area. The guard joined the 1,000-point club during her junior season and finished the season averaging nearly 16 points, 6.7 assists, 3.1 steals, and 4.3 rebounds.
 
DISHING IT OUT
McKaela Schmelzer continued to distribute the ball at an impressive clip last year, ranking nationally in assists per game (3.9) and assist to turnover ratio (1.9). After dishing out 95 assists in her first season, fourth all-time for a Panthers freshman, Schmelzer added 114 in her sophomore campaign. Last season marked just the 18th time in program history that a Panthers player has cracked the century mark for assists in a season.
 
For her career, Schmelzer has totaled 209 assists and is on the verge of cracking the top-10 for Milwaukee career assists.
 
LOCK DOWN D
The Panthers held opponents to just 36.4 percent from the floor in 2018-19. That number ranked 29th nationally and topped the school record of 37.9 percent set by the 2017-18 squad.
 
Last year marked just the fifth time in program history Milwaukee has held its opponents to a sub-40-percent shooting clip for an entire season.
 
In the 30 games last year, the Panthers allowed the opposition to shoot better than 40 percent just nine times. MKE has held teams under 30 percent shooting an incredible five times.
 
Here's a list of the top defensive seasons thus far:
 
1. 2018-19: 36.4% (615-1690)
2. 2017-18: 37.9% (736-1940)
3. 2015-16: 38.8% (749-1928)
4. 2008-09: 39.0% (758-1942)
5. 2009-10: 39.7% (740-1864)
 
PANTHERS IN THE PROS
The Panthers have had a number of former players go on to play professionally after their time in the Black & Gold. Currently, Angela Rodriguez (Spain) and Steph Kostowicz (Greece) have taken their talents to the next level. Kostowicz is currently averaging 17 points and 13 rebounds for Sporting. Additionally, this summer, both Rodriguez and Kostowicz were members of the Wisconsin GLO, helping the team capture the 2019 Global Women's Basketball Association Championship after an undefeated season.
 
FROM DOWNTOWN
Fans catching the Panthers in action will see no shortage of offense as the top five marks for three-point field goal attempts in a season are during Kylie Rechlicz' tenure. Last season, the Panthers hit 222 triples, fourth most in school history. In fact, during Rechlicz' seven years, Milwaukee has hit at least 200 three-pointers each season. Prior to Rechlicz' tenure, the Panthers reached 200 made three-pointers just three times.
 
Milwaukee has recorded at least one triple in 520 straight contests. Under Rechlicz, the Panthers have recorded 50 games with at least 10 three-pointers and 18 more with nine triples. The run is a new Horizon League standard, topping the previous mark of 446 set by Loyola. The Panthers still have a ways to go for the NCAA record, however, which is held by Iowa State. Their run was still active at the end of the 2018-19 season at 770 (1995-present).
 
The 17 three-pointers against Bradley on December 4, 2012 is both a school and Horizon League record.
 
Last year, 13 different Panthers connected from downtown with seven recording at least 10 three-pointers made. Jamie Reit led the way with 54 triples.
 
As a team, Milwaukee averaged 7.4 three-point field goals per game which ranked second in the Horizon League and 65th in the country.
 
EVERYONE CHIPPING IN
The Panthers had help from everyone last season with 11 different leading scorers in 30 games. Milwaukee had nine different players average at least 15 minutes per game while everyone on roster saw some playing time. Five Panthers appeared in all 30 games while 12 different players saw the court in at least 20 contests.
 
BENCH PLAY
The Panthers' depth was on display not just in minutes, but in production last year. In total, Milwaukee's bench outscored the opposition by a whopping 864-423. MKE scored at least 30 bench points in 15 of the Panthers' 30 contests.
 
DOWN TO THE WIRE
The Panthers finished the year 15-15 but the record does not even begin to tell the full story. Nine of the 15 losses were by less than 10 points including six by less than five points. 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 to the Hoosiers. The Panthers also had a shot at the buzzer in one-possession losses to Saint Mary's and Northern Kentucky. On Jan. 24, IUPUI's free throw bounced around the rim four times before falling with 0.7 left on the clock in overtime. MKE also took league-champion Wright State down to the wire in both matchups falling by four points after WSU hit free throws late in both contests.
 
CATCH ALL THE ACTION
Fans will have the opportunity to watch the Panthers all season long. All 15 of Milwaukee's home games will be carried live online at ESPN3/ESPN+. The three road Big Ten games can be found on the BIG10 Network while other road games will also stream live through ESPN.
 
Panther fans will also be able to listen to this year's games everywhere they go, as Matt Menzl calls all the action on the Black & Gold Network. Menzl will be courtside for all 29 regular season contests, as well as all postseason action. The Black & Gold Network is streaming live online and can be accessed at MKEPanthers.com.
 
BLACK & GOLD ON DEMAND
Panther fans can also re-live all of the action by listening to archived games on the Black & Gold Radio Network. All games are chronicled at mixlr.com/milwaukee-panthers/showreel where fans can re-live Matt Menzl's broadcast in its entirety.