MILWAUKEE, Wis. - It has been a warm welcome back to the Klotsche Center for the Milwaukee women's basketball team, who has won two in a row at home with victories over Horizon League foes Wright State and Northern Kentucky. The Panthers look to make it a third straight as they host in-state rival Wisconsin on Wednesday evening. Live audio will be available for the contest with Matt Menzl on the call along with a link for live stats can be found on MKEPanthers.com.
 
The Milwaukee Athletic Department recently announced that fans will be allowed at all home events this year. In accordance with current Milwaukee Public Health and CDC recommendations, fans will be required to wear a face covering indoors, regardless of vaccination status.
 
SCOUTING THE BADGERS
After opening the season with a win over St. Thomas, Wisconsin has dropped three straight contests including a 71-63 overtime setback at home against Chicago State.
 
Head Coach Marisa Moseley is in her first year for the Badgers after three seasons at Boston University, where she went 45-29 and was named 2018-19 Patriot League Coach of the Year. Moseley also spent nine seasons as an assistant coach at UConn, winning five National Championships.
 
Sydney Hilliard has done it all for Wisconsin, leading the team with an average of 18.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Julie Pospisilova has also provided a nice offensive spark since returning the last two games, scoring 32 points in those contests.
 
Coming from Boston with Coach Moseley, Katie Nelson has taken the reigns of starting point guard. She is averaging 6.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 5.3 assists in over 40 minutes of action per game.
 
LAST TIME THEY MET
The Panthers were plagued by early turnovers and could not get anything going from long range as they fell 71-40 against the Badgers on November 17 from the Kohl Center. MKE went just 2-for-23 from three-point range in the loss.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Wisconsin has dominated the all-time series, winning 21 of 24 matchups, but in the last four contests, the two have split. Milwaukee last topped Wisconsin on December 14, 2017 behind four players in double figures.
 
WHATS ON TAP?
The Panthers hit the road for three straight, taking on Northern Illinois on Sunday before diving back into the Horizon League schedule against Youngstown State and Robert Morris.
LAST TIME OUT
Behind a 22-point third quarter and solid second-half defensive effort, Milwaukee moved to 2-0 in Horizon League play with a 61-49 win over Northern Kentucky. The win over NKU snapped a streak of five straight losses against the Norse.
 
HOT START IN HORIZON LEAGUE
For the second consecutive year, the Panthers are off to a 2-0 start against the Horizon League. It is just the third time since 2006-07 that Milwaukee has won each of its first two Horizon League contests.
 
It also marks the first time since 2017-18 that Milwaukee recorded a win over Northern Kentucky and Wright State in the same season.
 
Megan Walstad put up some impressive numbers in the 2-0 start, averaging 16.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks. The redshirt sophomore shot 52 percent from the floor and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line in the two wins.
 
LOCKING DOWN ON DEFENSE
Last year, a big key to success for Milwaukee was the defense. The Panthers' defense struggled in the first few games of the season but in the last two, Milwaukee has started to clamp down.
 
MKE is allowing just 48 points per game, holding the opposition to 17.9 percent from three-point range in the last two contests. Additionally, Milwaukee owns a positive rebounding margin of 12.5 and has forced 41 turnovers in the wins.
 
BENCH SPARK
Kendall Nead played nearly 20 minutes off the bench in the win over Northern Kentucky and provided a nice spark, finishing with 10 points, two rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Nead cashed in twice from long range and finished 4-for-9 from the floor to record her first double-digit outing this season.
 
BALANCED SCORING
Milwaukee had four players reach double figures for the third time this season with McKaela Schmelzer (15 points), Sydney Staver (15), Megan Walstad (13), and Kendall Nead (10) all scoring at least 10 points in the win over Northern Kentucky.
 
The three games with four in double digits already matches last season's output just five games into the schedule.
 
CLEANING UP THE OFFENSIVE GLASS
With 12 more offensive rebounds on Sunday, the Panthers have at least 10 in each of the first five contests this season. MKE is averaging 12.4 offensive rebounds per game this year and has totaled 56 second-chance points.
 
CONTINUING THE TREND
Last year, Milwaukee was phenomenal from the line and set a new NCAA Division I record in free throw percentage with a mark of 83.8 percent. That number knocked off Idaho State's 83.2 percent clip in 2008 and also topped the men's record of 82.2 percent which was set by Harvard in 1984.
 
This year has been a similar story as the Panthers are currently 58-for-65 (89.2 percent) from the charity stripe through three games.
 
The Panthers' 58 made free throws are currently 82nd in NCAA Division I while their percentage of 89.2 leads the league and ranks second in the nation.
 
STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
Thursday's win over Wright State marked the third consecutive season that Milwaukee has started the Horizon League schedule with a win. Last year, the Panthers took down Green Bay 61-58 at the Kress Center.
 
It also marks the second time in three years that Milwaukee has sent Wright State home with a loss in the league opener.
 
DISPLAYING DISCIPLINE
In Thursday's win over Wright State, the Panthers committed just five fouls after averaging nearly 20 per game in the first three contests.
 
It marked the first time the Panthers had less than 10 fouls in a game since November 24, 2018 against UC Riverside. In fact, the Panthers had only eight fouls in two games that season.
 
The five fouls against Wright State are the fewest committed by the Panthers in the last 17 seasons.
 
The two free throws allowed are the fewest since December 21, 2014 when Chicago State finished 1-for-1 from the charity stripe in a 69-47 Panthers' victory.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
Milwaukee continues a stretch of three straight at the Klotsche Center, where they have had plenty of success through the years. The Panthers are 359-218 all-time at home and have had six straight winning seasons on their home floor.
 
HIGH EXPECTATIONS
Following a 20-win season which led to a trip to the postseason WNIT, the Milwaukee women's basketball team was selected to finish second in the Horizon League Preseason Poll, announced by the league office. MKE totaled 125 poll points, trailing only IUPUI, who was tabbed as the preseason favorite with 11 of 12 first place votes and 139 total poll points.
 
PRESEASON HONORS FOR WALSTAD
Megan Walstad was named to the Preseason All-Horizon League First Team following an impressive campaign in 2020-21. After being sidelined the year prior, Walstad returned to the floor and dominated down low as she collected a First Team All-League award last season. The redshirt sophomore led the team in scoring (12.0 points per game) field goal percentage (50.0) and blocks (50) while ranking second in rebounds (8.7 per game).
 
Additionally, Walstad was one of 25 players to be named to the 2022 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Watch List.
 
MILESTONE WATCH
With the additional year of eligibility granted to winter athletes in NCAA, the Panthers will be on milestone watch this season.
 
McKaela Schmelzer and Sydney Staver are within reach of the games played record, which is held by Alyssa Fischer from 2015-20 (134). Schmelzer has played in 123 career games while Staver has 112 under her belt.
 
Schemlzer is also 13 games started away from the program record as well as 77 assists away from first place on the all-time list. The Loves Park, Ill. native has reached at least 95 assists in three of the past four seasons.
 
EXPERIENCE IS KEY IN 2021-22
Despite graduating a pair of important starters in Brandi Bisping and Bre Cera, Milwaukee returns a solid core of experience for the upcoming season.
 
Graduates Miquela Santoro, McKaela Schmelzer, and Sydney Staver are back for another season after averaging over 20 minutes per game each. Schmelzer started all 28 contests and has led the team in assists in each of the last three seasons. Staver finished third on the team with 9.2 points per game and Santoro was the first off the bench and averaged 4.8 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in her first year with the Panthers. In total, Milwaukee has 13 returners from a year ago.
 
REWRITING RECORDS
Milwaukee saw its 2020-21 season into the program record book's top five on multiple occasions after the impressive 20-8 finish.

• 20 wins (4th)
• 12 consecutive wins (t-1st)
• .714 winning pct. (t-1st)
• .769 road winning pct. (2nd)
• +8.4 scoring margin (2nd)
• 83.8 free throw pct. (1st)
• +7.5 rebounding margin (3rd)
• 3.5 blocks per game (t-3rd)
• 494 turnovers (6th fewest) 

TAKING ON TOP TALENT
Milwaukee will face a tough non-conference schedule in 2021-22, taking on three teams that reached the NCAA Tournament a season ago. In fact, just one of the seven non-conference opponents for this season did not have a winning record in 2021-22.
 
POSTSEASON PANTHERS
Milwaukee reached the postseason WNIT for the third time in program history last season and added another postseason win to the resume. The Panthers reached the second round of the tournament for the first time since the 2017-18 season. Overall, Milwaukee is 2-3 at the postseason WNIT.
 
CATCH ALL THE ACTION
Thanks to ESPN+, Milwaukee basketball fans will have the opportunity to watch the Panthers all season long. All of Milwaukee's home games will be carried live online at ESPN+. The Horizon League and ESPN have an agreement that includes ESPN hosting the league's digital network on the ESPN+ platform.
 
ESPN+ offers fans thousands of live events, on-demand content, and original programming not available on ESPN's linear TV or digital networks. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for just $6.99 a month (or $69.99 per year) and cancel at any time.
 
For road games, visit MKEPanthers.com for live coverage links.
 
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.