MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Milwaukee women's basketball team gears up for its third game in five days with a trip to in-state rival, Green Bay. Tipoff from the Kress Center is scheduled for 7:00 pm. 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.
 
SCOUTING THE PHOENIX
Green Bay has caught fire as of late, winning five straight games dating back to January 8. Most recently, the Phoenix took down Youngstown State in double overtime and Robert Morris to get to 8-3 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 85.7 percent (54-for-63) of her attempts.
 
Freshman Maddy Schreiber has been a solid piece for Green Bay and has earned seven starts in her first year. She is averaging 7.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 41.7 percent from three-point range. 
 
LAST TIME THEY MET
Down one entering the final 10 minutes, the Panthers caught fire early in the fourth and rattled off a 17-2 run to help seal a 59-51 victory over Green Bay on December 13, 2020. Megan Walstad finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds for MKE.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Green Bay has dominated the all-time series 52-15 over Milwaukee but it has been all Panthers as of late with MKE winning the last three matchups. Two of those victories were last season in the Kress Center on back-to-back nights.
 
WHATS ON TAP?
Milwaukee hits the road for Michigan to take on Detroit Mercy and Oakland beginning on Thursday, February 10.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Youngstown State used a 15-0 run in the third quarter and the Milwaukee women's basketball team could not complete the comeback as the Panthers fell 60-56 on Saturday afternoon.
 
BENCH SPARK
Jada Donaldson was impressive off the bench for the Panthers, going 3-for-5 from the floor with a career-high eight points in 17 minutes.
 
Donaldson hit two three-pointers and added two rebounds and an assist.
 
WALSTAD WORKIN'
It was another impressive outing for Megan Walstad, who totaled 17 points, nine rebounds, two assists, and three blocks against Youngstown State. The redshirt sophomore averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds over the weekend.
 
Walstad is on fire as of late, reaching double figures in seven straight games.  She's put together another impressive season for the Panthers and is among the league leaders in multiple categories.

• 14.5 points per game (7th)
• 9.0 rebounds per game (4th)
• 48.1 field goal percentage (3rd)
• 87.9 free throw percentage (3rd)
• 1.6 blocks per game (3rd)

FINDING THE RANGE
Sydney Staver has been dialed in as of late as she reached double figures for the second straight game. The graduate scored 15 points on 5-for-13 shooting.
 
Staver has hit at least two triples in five of the last six games, going 14-for-31 during that stretch.
 
She has hit at least one three-pointer in 15 games including each of the last eight contests and leads MKE with 26 triples.
 
CATCHING FIRE
Milwaukee could not miss on Thursday night, hitting 65.9 percent of its shots which sits as the second-best mark in program history.
 
The Panthers were 13-for-20 (65 percent) in the first half and 16-for-24 (66.7 percent) after the break in the win over the Colonials.
 
The Panthers set the school record 111 games ago, knocking down 69.4 percent of their shots in a WNIT win over Northern Iowa on March 15, 2018.
 
LEAVING NO DOUBT
With the huge win on Thursday, the Panthers now have back-to-back victories of at least 20 points.
 
MKE topped Wright State by 25 points before taking down RMU by 20 on Thursday.
 
It marks the first time since January of 2021 that the Panthers have won consecutive games by at least 20 points. That stretch reached four games for MKE, who opened the New Year with wins over Detroit Mercy and Purdue Fort Wayne by an average of 27.8 points per game. The Panthers totaled seven victories by at least 20 points a season ago.
 
NEAR PERFECT
McKaela Schmelzer knocked down all three of her attempts on Thursday and has been incredibly efficient over the last two games.
 
In the last two victories, Schmelzer is 10-for-11 including 6-for-7 from three-point range. She is averaging 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in that stretch.
 
Schmelzer is currently averaging 8.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, both career highs.
 
A HELPING HAND
The Panthers set a new season-high with 20 assists in the win over Robert Morris on Thursday.
 
Milwaukee now has at least 19 assists in three of the last four games and at least 12 in seven games straight.
 
The Panthers are averaging 16.7 assists during that stretch, nearly three more than the full season average.
 
MKE ranks third in the league with 13.8 assists per game.
 
BALANCED SCORING
Milwaukee had four players reach double figures for the sixth time this season on January 29 with Miquela Santoro (19), McKaela Schmelzer (17), Emma Wittmershaus (12), and Megan Walstad (11) each accomplishing the feat against Wright State.
 
The six 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.
 
SANTORO SENSATION
In Saturday's victory over Wright State, Miquela Santoro matched a career-high with 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting. It was a homecoming for the Ohio native, who finished 3-for-6 from long range and added two assists and three steals against the Raiders.
 
The graduate student also scored 19 points in a win over Wisconsin earlier this season.
 
Santoro has reached another level this year and is on pace for a career year, averaging 9.1 points, 2.6 assists, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game.
 
After scoring in double figures just two times last season, Santoro has put up at least 10 points in seven games this year.
 
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 6-2 this season when hitting at least 40 percent of their shots from the floor. The only loss came at IUPUI on January 8.
 
In the last six seasons (including this year), Milwaukee is 79-22 (.782) when hitting at least 40 percent from the field. Bump that field goal percentage to 43 percent and the Panthers are 61-10 (.859).
 
When shooting under 40 percent since 2016-17, Milwaukee is just 22-53 (.293).
 
CASHING IN AT THE CHARITY STRIPE
Milwaukee continues to rank among the best free throw shooting teams in the nation, currently sitting fourth in NCAA Division I.
 
The Panthers are 205-for-256 at the charity stripe this season, a percentage of 79.7 which ranks sixth in the nation.
 
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
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.
 
In addition to reaching 500 career rebounds, Walstad is just 54 points away from becoming the 22nd player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. Walstad is averaging 11.9 points per game in her three seasons so far.
 
McKaela Schmelzer now holds the program record for games played with 138, surpassing Alyssa Fischer, who appeared in 134 games from 2015-20. Sydney Staver is also moving up on that list, having appeared in 127 career contests.
 
Schmelzer also became the program's all-time leader for games started with 126, surpassing Jenny Lindner (2014-18). With 34 more assists, Schmelzer could surpass Pam Bartnik (1990-94) for most career assists in Panthers' history.
 
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.
 
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.