MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Milwaukee women's basketball team was granted a win on Saturday due to forfeit and will see its first game action of 2022 on Thursday at UIC. The Panthers have won 12 straight games against the Flames, dating back to the 2015-16 season. The 6:30 pm game can be found on ESPN+ and will also feature live stats and live audio with Matt Menzl on the call on MKEPanthers.com.
 
In accordance with the city of Chicago, UIC requires proof of vaccination for attendees age five and older at Credit Union 1 Arena for Flames basketball games. At IUPUI, fans will be required to wear a face covering indoors, regardless of vaccination.
 
SCOUTING THE FLAMES
Due to COVID-related matters within the UIC Tier 1 personnel, the Flames have been inactive since December 20. UIC was forced to cancel its final non-conference game against Kansas State as well as the last two Horizon League games against Wright State and Northern Kentucky. Both of those league games were deemed no contests by the Horizon League and they will not be rescheduled.
 
The Flames opened the league slate falling to Purdue Fort Wayne and Cleveland State before splitting a weekend in Michigan. UIC earned a 68-64 victory at Detroit Mercy and sit at 1-3 in league play.
 
Fourth-year head coach Tasha Pointer's squad is led by Jaida McCloud, who earned a spot on the Horizon League All-Freshman team a year ago. McCloud is currently third in the league with 18.2 points per game. The sophomore is shooting 48 percent from the floor and 73.6 percent from the free throw line. 
 
Fellow sophomore Kristian Young has also been solid for the Flames, ranking second on the team with 9.2 points per game and second in the league with 4.3 assists per game. Keona Schenck is UIC's deep-threat option, hitting 20 triples at a 37.7 percent clip.
 
LAST TIME THEY MET
Milwaukee locked down on defense on February 20 to clinch a share of the Horizon League regular title. The Panthers rolled out to a 36-17 halftime advantage and cruised to the victory from there.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Panthers own a 39-21 all-time advantage over UIC thanks to a current 12-game winning streak over the Flames. During that stretch, Milwaukee has held UIC to just 51.6 points per game. The gap is tighter on the road, with Milwaukee holding a slim 17-14 advantage in Chicago.
 
WHATS ON TAP?
The Panthers will head to Indiana on Saturday, January 8 to take on preseason favorites IUPUI.
 
LAST TIME OUT
McKaela Schmelzer scored 13 of her team-high 18 points in the third quarter to help Milwaukee rally from a double-digit deficit, but the Panthers ran out of steam in the fourth and fell to Oakland 66-53 on Thursday night.
 
RACKING UP THE REBOUNDS
With six boards on December 30 against Oakland, Megan Walstad eclipsed 500 for her career, becoming the 28th player in program history to reach that milestone.
 
It marks the third straight season a Panthers' player reached 500 with Brandi Bisping accomplishing the feat in 2020-21 and Lizzie Odegard hitting the mark in 2019-20. Bisping finished with 597 for her career while Odegard totaled 578 rebounds.
 
Walstad reached 500 in her 70th game and is averaging 7.2 per contest for her career, which would rank fourth all-time in MKE history.
 
MILESTONE WATCH
In addition to reaching 500 career rebounds, Megan Walstad is just 179 points away from becoming the 22nd player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. Walstad is averaging 11.7 points per game in her three seasons so far.
 
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 130 career games while Staver has 119 under her belt.
 
Schemlzer is also six games started away from the program record as well as 61 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 and is averaging 3.1 per game in her career.
 
D-FENSE... D-FENSE
Defense is picking up for the Panthers as Milwaukee leads the Horizon League in scoring defense, allowing just 53.4 points per game in five league contests.
 
MKE is holding the opposition to 38 percent from the floor as well as a league-best 25.5 percent from three-point range.
 
The Panthers are also allowing just 27.4 rebounds per game which leads the league. The +10.4-rebounding margin is second among Horizon League opponents behind IUPUI (+12.0).
 
SCHMELZER TAKEOVER
Trailing by 14 at the half on December 30 against Oakland, McKaela Schmelzer turned it on after the break.
 
The graduate dominated the third quarter, pouring in 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting on her way to a 16-point second half. Schmelzer finished the game 7-for-14 from the floor and 2-for-6 from three-point range for a team-high 18 points. She added a team-best seven rebounds, three assists, and three steals against the Golden Grizzlies.
 
Schmelzer is averaging career-bests in points per game (8.6) and rebounds per game (4.7) this season while leading the team with 2.7 assists per game.
 
WALSTAD WORKIN'
Despite behind in early foul trouble, Megan Walstad battled back to record nine points and six rebounds on December 30 against Oakland.
 
She finished 3-for-6 from the floor and 2-for-2 from the free throw line.
 
Walstad has reached double figures in nine contests this year. She has been held to single digits in three contests with seven or fewer field goal attempts in each.
 
The redshirt sophomore currently ranks ninth in the Horizon League in scoring (12.2 ppg), third in rebounding (9.4 rpg) and fifth in blocks (1.2).
 
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 138-for-166 (83.1 percent) from the charity stripe through 12 games.
 
The Panthers' free throws percentage currently leads the league and ranks second in NCAA Division I behind only Iowa (83.7 percent).
 
CLEANING UP THE OFFENSIVE GLASS
For the 10th time in 12 games, Milwaukee reached double figures on the offensive glass as the Panthers grabbed 12 against Oakland.
 
In league play, the Panthers rank second with 12.6 offensive rebounds per contest. Milwaukee has turned those boards into 117 second-chance points.
 
A STRETCH OF FOUR STRAIGHT
With Megan Walstad's 18-point, 11-rebound double-double against Northern Illinois, the Panthers had at least one double-double in four consecutive games.
 
McKaela Schmelzer began the streak with 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds against Wright State. Walstad followed with a 13-point, 12-rebound performance in a win over Northern Kentucky on November 20.
 
Emma Wittmershaus then totaled 15 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Wisconsin before Walstad's second double-double of the season at NIU.
 
The last time Milwaukee had four straight games with a double-double was last season when Walstad and Brandi Bisping combined for six double-doubles in a four-game stretch from January 8 to January 16.
 
BENCH SPARK
Against Oakland, Kendall Nead came off the bench to score eight points including a pair of three-pointers. She added three rebounds in 25 minutes.
 
Nead has been solid for the Panthers in reserve, averaging 7.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in eight games off of the bench.
 
Nead is developing into one of the best three-point options for Milwaukee as she leads the team with 12 triples and a 35.3 three-point percentage.
 
DISPLAYING DISCIPLINE
In the 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.
 
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.
 
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)

MAGIC NUMBER
In college basketball, there is no perfect recipe for a win but for Milwaukee, field goal percentage has been a pretty good baseline. In the last five years, when the Panthers hit at least 40 percent of their shots from the floor, MKE is 73-20 (.785). Bump that field goal percentage to 43 percent and MKE is 55-9 (.859) over the last five seasons.
 
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.