DEKALB, Ill. – First-half offensive struggles hurt the Milwaukee women's basketball team on Sunday afternoon as the Panthers fell 69-50 to Northern Illinois in DeKalb.
"We had some great opportunities, and our goal was to go to our post players," head coach
Kyle Rechlicz commented. "The first half wasn't as much of our defense as it was our offense. We were getting beat up in there and just not responding."
The Panthers (3-4) shot 45.5 percent after the half, but a 17-point halftime deficit was too much to overcome for Milwaukee on Sunday. MKE hit just two three-pointers in 22 attempts.
"We didn't have some of our three-point shooters that we normally have clicking tonight," Rechlicz commented. "We just didn't look like the same team. This is one of the best teams we will have played in our non-conference, and we weren't fully locked into that."
Working from behind, Milwaukee came out with some fire in the second half, as
Megan Walstad,
Miquela Santoro, and
Emma Wittmershaus each connected for a basket for a 6-0 run.
Northern Illinois (3-1) had a response for nearly every Panthers' basket, however, as the Huskies continued to keep space.
Milwaukee again pushed behind a pair of baskets from Walstad, but NIU hit two three-pointers after forcing MKE turnovers and the deficit quickly reached 21 with 2:58 left in the third.
Walstad finished the quarter 5-for7 from the field with 10 points and three rebounds as Milwaukee shot nearly 60 percent.
Behind eight points from Wittmershaus in the fourth, Milwaukee continued to fight as the Panthers once again cut the NIU lead to 12, but seven straight points off of three MKE turnovers helped the Huskies regain momentum.
Walstad recorded a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds while Wittmershaus (14 points) and
Kendall Nead (10 points) also reached double figures.
Milwaukee will return to Horizon League action with a road trip to Youngstown State (Dec. 2) and Robert Morris (Dec. 4).
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