MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Milwaukee women's basketball team is set to open the season against Parkside, welcoming the Rangers to the Klotsche Center. The Panthers cruised to a 106-43 victory in their exhibition opener against Viterbo last Wednesday. The season opener, which is set to tip at 7:00 pm, will air on ESPN+ and will also have Matt Menzl on the call as the play-by-play voice of the Panthers on the Black and Gold Network. Links for audio along with any additional coverage can be found on MKEPanthers.com.

SCOUTING THE RANGERS
Last year, in head coach Jen Conely's first season, Parkside finished 12-15 overall. With just four upperclassmen, the Rangers are a relatively young team, but do return two key starters in Taylor Stephen and Carolina Rahkonen. Stephen started all 27 games last season and led the team with 98 assists and 37 steals. Rahkonen also started every contest for Parkside and ranked second on the team in scoring (12.0 points/game) and rebounding (4.1 rebounds/game).
 
LAST TIME THEY MET
The two teams met last season in an exhibition on November 1 with the Panthers earning an 84-69 victory.
 
Milwaukee dominated the boards holding a 49-30 advantage with Brandi Bisping's nine rebounds leading the way. All 13 players and scored and four different Panthers reached double digits including Megan Walstad (18 points) and Sydney Levy (14 points). As a team, Milwaukee reached the free throw line 27 times, converting 21 of those opportunities.
 
MKE led by as many as 22 in this one before finishing with a 15-point edge in the final scoring column.
 
SERIES HISTORY
MKE holds a 3-0 all-time advantage over Parkside during the regular season. The two teams met three consecutive years from 1990-93.
 
The Panthers have won two of those matchups in the Klotche Center.
 
WHATS ON TAP?
Following the game against Parkside, Milwaukee hits the road for three consecutive Big Ten contests. The Panthers first face Purdue on November 10 before taking on Minnesota (Nov. 14) and Wisconsin (Nov. 17).
 
LAST GAME
Milwaukee took a one-point advantage into halftime against Youngstown State in the Horizon League Tournament, but ultimately fell 64-58 to close the 2018-19 season.
 
The Penguins took advantage of their opportunities from the free throw line, converting 22 of 28 attempts and also owned a 43-25 rebounding advantage in the contest.
 
With the loss, Milwaukee finished the season 15-15 overall.
 
"I'm really proud of our team. When you talk about laying it on the line and playing a tournament game, that's exactly what you expect to see," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "We fought incredibly hard and I'm proud of how we played as a unit with our togetherness. We gave it everything we had, we just didn't quite come out on top."
 
The Panthers dominated in the paint, outscoring YSU 32-18 but could not get anything going from beyond the arc. Milwaukee finished just 2-for-18 from deep.
 
Bre Cera came off the bench to score 13 points for Milwaukee, hitting six of her nine shots. Lizzie Odegard filled up the stat sheet with nine points, six rebounds, three assists, three blocks, and a pair of steals.
 
Milwaukee forced 17 turnovers and held Youngstown State to 36 percent shooting from the floor, but failed to hit free throws down the stretch, going 2-for-7 from the charity stripe in the fourth.
 
PROMISING LATE SURGE
After dropping a pair of Horizon League games in early February, the Panthers found themselves 5-6 in league play and on the outside looking in. Milwaukee responded to win five of its next six contests to get back into the mix. The Panthers fell in the season finale but thanks to the late surge, MKE earned the final seed for the Horizon League Tournament.
 
FOR STARTERS
The Panthers hold a 10-19 record in season openers at the NCAA Division I level, dating back to 1990-91. In last year's opener, Milwaukee nearly knocked off Indiana at Assembly Hall, but fell 68-66 on the road. Jamie Reit poured in a team-high 21 points including four three-pointers.
 
Head Coach Kyle Rechlicz is 4-3 in season openers as Milwaukee dominated Chicago State 82-58 in Rechlicz's debut contest for the Panthers in 2012-13.
 
Wednesday's opener is the first time the Panthers have started the regular season at home since 2016-17 when MKE took down Western Illinois 76-68. Lizzie Odegard recorded five points and five rebounds in her collegiate debut.
 
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.
 
OUTSTANDING IN THE OPENER
Ashley Green poured in 36 points in Milwaukee's season-opening victory at North Dakota State to start the 2014-15 season, marking the most by a Panther to start the year in program history. That eclipsed Traci Edward's 30-point game set in the opener of the 2007-08 season.
 
Since the 2014-15 season, Milwaukee has had someone score at least 20 points in the season opener every season.  Last year, it was Jamie Reit who reached the mark, scoring 21 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the floor. Reit hit four three-pointers in five attempts.
 
EXHIBITION REWIND
After an early back-and-forth with Viterbo, the Panthers cruised to a 106-43 victory, which would be the second most points in school history, were it a regular season contest. The most Milwaukee has ever scored in a game was 116 points in a 116-112 win over Bradley on December 4, 2012. The Panthers also scored 104 two times, most recently on November 16, 2016 against Northern Illinois.
 
In the win over Viterbo, Milwaukee connected on 64.5 percent of its shots including hitting 76.9 percent in the fourth quarter. The Panthers had 11 different players score with five reaching double digits.
 
Emma Wittmershaus put together a dominant performance, recording a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds. The redshirt freshman connected on 10 of her 11 attempts from the floor.
 
Milwaukee also took advantage of its chances at the line, hitting 19 of 21 free throws.
 
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.
 
FAREWELL, SENIORS
Milwaukee has a solid returning core for 2019-20 but did graduate a pair of important seniors. Akaylah Hayes played in all 30 games and finished third on the team with 7.1 points per game. Hayes also totaled 40 assists and 35 steals for the Panthers last season. Ryaen Johnson graduated for Milwaukee after putting together the best statistical year of her career. Johnson shattered the single-season blocks record with 76 swats and was a key piece in the paint for Milwaukee. Hayes and Johnson more than left their mark at Milwaukee, finishing with the most wins by a senior class in program history. The Panthers have off 77 wins in their career.
 
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.
 
WONDERFUL WALSTAD
After earning All-Freshman honors a year ago, Megan Walstad was named to this season's Horizon League Preseason First Team. Walstad led the Panthers in points per game (10.7) and ranked second with 5.0 rebounds per contest. The sophomore appeared in all 30 contests, starting 27 games, and was nationally ranked all season in shooting percentage. Walstad converted field goals at a 54.5 percent clip, which ranks second all-time for a first-year Panthers player behind Traci Edwards (2005-06), who hit 59.9 percent of her shots. Walstad also ranked top-five in Milwaukee freshman history in field goals made (140/third), blocks (28/fourth), and rebounds (151/fifth).
 
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.
 
BLOCK PARTY
Milwaukee put up some impressive block numbers last year, setting a new school  record with 161 blocks which destroyed the previous record of 124 set in 2017-18. That number also set a new Horizon League record. The Panthers checked in at 11th nationally in blocks per game with 5.4.
 
TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK
Teams coached by Kyle Rechlicz have been historically good at taking care of the ball. The top four marks for fewest turnovers in Milwaukee history are all during Rechlicz' tenure including last season's record 429. That number put Milwaukee 44th in the country of 349 schools.
 
Additionally, with 427 assists compared to the 429 turnovers, the Panthers recorded their best assist-to-turnover ratio of all-time. Prior to this season, Milwaukee's best assist-to-turnover was 0.96 in 2016-17 with 513 assists and 535 turnovers.
 
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 518 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.
 
STARTING FIVE
MKE head coach Kyle Rechlicz showed her team's depth last year, using 10 different starting lineups. The most commonly used starting five was McKaela Schmelzer, Jamie Reit, Bre Cera, Ryaen Johnson, and Megan Walstad.
 
With four of those five returning this year, Rechlicz may have a more stable starting rotation but with so many returners with experience, a regular shakeup might also be the case.
 
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.