MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Milwaukee women's basketball team wraps up the regular season home schedule on Monday, hosting in-state rival Green Bay for a 7:00 pm tipoff. The game can be found on ESPN+ and will also feature live stats and live audio with
Matt Menzl on the call 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 FLAMES
Green Bay is the hottest team in the Horizon League, winning 10 straight games dating back to January 8. On Thursday, the Phoenix knocked off IUPUI to move to 17-5 overall and 13-3 in Horizon League action.
Head Coach Kevin Borseth has a very young roster with a redshirt senior, two juniors and the rest underclassmen.
Hailey Oskey is the only Phoenix player averaging double figures as she is putting up 12.7 points per contest. Oskey is fourth in the Horizon League in free throw shooting, knocking down 85.9 percent (61-for-71) of her attempts.
Freshman Maddy Schreiber has been a solid piece for Green Bay and has earned 12 starts in her first year. She is averaging 6.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while shooting 48.6 percent from the floor.
LAST TIME THEY MET
Milwaukee battled to 10 ties and 12 lead changes with Green Bay, but seven fourth-quarter turnovers haunted the Panthers down the stretch as they fell 65-56 on the road on February 7.
SERIES HISTORY
Green Bay halted a three-game winning streak by the Panthers in the all-time series with a win earlier this season to improve to 53-15 against MKE. The last time the two teams met in the Klotsche Center, MKE won 65-60 on February 8, 2020.
WHATS ON TAP?
The Panthers close the regular season on the road, taking on Cleveland State on February 24 followed by Purdue Fort Wayne on February 26.
LAST TIME OUT
Four players reached double digits on Saturday to help lead the Milwaukee women's basketball team to a 65-57 win over UIC on Senior Day.
BLOCK PARTY
Milwaukee matched a season-high with seven blocks on Saturday, a number they also hit on February 5 against Youngstown State.
Emma Wittmershaus set a new career-high with four blocks.
This comes one game after teammate
Megan Walstad also matched her career-high in blocks, totaling five against IUPUI on Thursday.
A LOOK AT THE LEAGUE
With just three regular season games remaining, the Panthers have their eyes on the Horizon League standings.
Milwaukee has climbed up to sixth and is tied with Northern Kentucky with 11victories. The Panthers are alos just ahead of Oakland, who sits at 10-8 in league play.
The top four in the standings will receive a bye for the Horizon League Tournament which begins on Tuesday, March 1.
The final four teams will head to Indiana Farmers Coliseum on March 7-8 for a chance to hoist the Horizon League Championship trophy.
BALANCED SCORING
Milwaukee had four players reach double figures for the eighth time this season in the win over UIC.
Megan Walstad (18 points),
Sydney Staver (12),
Miquela Santoro (12), and
Emma Wittmershaus (11) all scored at least 10 points.
MKE is 6-2 when at least four players score in double figures.
The eight games with at least four players in double figures already surpasses last season's output and is the most games with at least four in double digits since the Panthers accomplished the feat in nine games in 2017-18.
WALSTAD WORKIN'
Once again,
Megan Walstad tore it up in the second half as she scored 12 points after the break. The redshirt sophomore finished with a team-high 18 points on 6-for-13 shooting in the win over UIC.
Walstad has totaled 25 second-half points in the last two games alone.
It marks the 12th straight double-digit performance for Walstad, who has been outstanding as of late. She has put together another impressive season for the Panthers and is among the league leaders in multiple categories.
- 15.1 points per game (7th)
- 8.5 rebounds per game (4th)
- 50.0 field goal percentage (3rd)
- 88.2 free throw percentage (3rd)
- 1.6 blocks per game (3rd)
HEATING UP DOWN THE STRETCH
The Milwaukee offense has been heating up, shooting at least 42 percent in each of the last eight games.
Prior to that, the Panthers had shot better than 42 percent just five times out of 17 games.
In this eight-game swing, Milwaukee is shooting 51.0 percent from the floor and 37.0 percent from three-point range while averaging 63.9 points per game.
BIG BENCH SPARK
The Panthers bench stood out on Thursday night, accounting for 26 points.
Kendall Nead led the group, matching a career-high with 12 points on 6-for-9 shooting. She added four rebounds and a pair of steals.
Angie Cera knocked down a three-point attempt and chipped in three assists and a rebound in 15 minutes.
Macy McGlone stepped up and went 3-for-3 from the floor and 1-for-1 from the free throw line in just 10 minutes of action.
POWERFUL IN THE PAINT
Milwaukee once again cashed in down low, pouring in 36 points in the paint on Thursday. The Panthers have outscored their opponent in the paint in three consecutive games, averaging 32.7 points per game inside during that stretch.
MKE finished 11-for-17 (65 percent) in the restricted area and 18-for-27 (66.7) in the paint overall against IUPUI.
1K CLUB COMPLETE
With a season-high 26 points against Oakland,
Megan Walstad became the 22nd player in program history to reach 1,000 for her career.
The redshirt sophomore did it in just 81 games which sits as the ninth-fastest of those to reach the milestone.
It marks Milwaukee's first 1,000-point scorer since Steph Kostowicz (2014-18) who accomplished the feat in 2017.
Earlier this season, Walstad also became the 28th player in program history to reach 500 career rebounds.
She is just the 13th player in program history to record at least 1,000 points and 500 rebounds for her career.
GOODNESS GRACIOUS, GRADUATES
The graduate trio of
Miquela Santoro,
McKaela Schmelzer, and
Sydney Staver have laid it all on the line in their final year of collegiate hoops.
The three have each started at least 23 games and combine for 25.1 points, 8.6 rebounds, 7.2 assists, and 3.3 steals per game.
BACK ON TRACK
After an uncharacteristic three-game stretch of shooting 58.3 percent from February 3-7, the Panthers have bounced back at the charity stripe.
Milwaukee is 33-for-38 (86.8 percent) from the line the last three games, improving the season percentage to 79.9 (250-for-313).
That number pushes the Panthers to third in the Horizon League and seventh in the nation. The league has three of the top seven free throw shooting teams in the nation in Purdue Fort Wayne (80.5), Green Bay (80.2), and MKE (79.9)
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.
MILESTONE WATCH
After starting every game this season,
McKaela Schmelzer now holds the program record for games played with 143 and games started with 132.
Additionally, Schmelzer is just 23 assists from becoming the Panthers' all-time leader. Pam Bartnik (1990-94) holds the current Milwaukee record with 469 assists.
DOMINANT DOWN LOW
Milwaukee put together one of its best performances in the paint on Thursday, outscoring Detroit Mercy 38-26 down low.
The 38 points are the most since MKE also had 38 points in the paint in the season opener on November 8 against Ball State.
Milwaukee finished 14-for-19 (73.7 percent) in the restricted area.
The Panthers also outrebounded the Titans 36-23, recording their best rebounding margin since +18 in the win over Wright State on January 29. The +13 is the fifth-best rebounding margin this season for Milwaukee.
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.
The Panthers are 8-4 this season when hitting at least 40 percent of their shots from the floor.
In the last six seasons (including this year), Milwaukee is 82-24 (.771) when hitting at least 40 percent from the field. Bump that field goal percentage to 43 percent and the Panthers are 64-12 (.840).
When shooting under 40 percent since 2016-17, Milwaukee is just 22-53 (.293).
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.
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.
