MILWAUKEE – Emma Wittmershaus had a career-high 25 points, and a career-best 11 field goals made but it was not enough as the Milwaukee Panthers fell to the IUPUI Jaguars by the score of 78-68 inside the Klotsche Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
Wittmershaus previous career-best was 20 points set back in February of 2022 against Green Bay, while her previous career-high in field goals made was seven on several occasions throughout her career.
 
While Wittmershaus led all scorers with 25, Kendall Nead had 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting as she led the Panthers with three three-pointers as she crossed over the 500-point plateau in her 75th career game.
 
Scoring wasn't the issue for the Panthers on Saturday, as Milwaukee scored the most points in a game since its win against Robert Morris on January 20. MKE shot 48.1 percent from the floor and 40.0 percent from three.
 
Defensively, the team allowed its highest total since the its loss at Cleveland State on January 12, as the Jaguars scored on 49.1 percent of their shots, and 34.5 percent from three.
 
"The way IUPUI moves the ball they had scores in every position, and it makes it tough to defend them," said head coach Kyle Rechlicz. "We just didn't seem like we had any energy on defense. We came out in the first quarter and scored 20, but you have to defend."
 
The Panthers and Jaguars were even at 20 after the opening quarter and Milwaukee trailed by just one at the half at 37-36. The Jaguars pulled away late in the second half, outscoring the Panthers 16-11 in the third quarter before capping off the game with a 25-21 fourth period.
 
After Milwaukee scored the first basket in the second half to take the one-point lead, an 11-point run by IUPUI gave the Jaguars a 48-38 lead. The Panthers responded with eight unanswered capped off by a three-pointer from Nead with 1:35 to go to make it 48-46.
 
IUPUI came back with a 5-1 lead down the stretch of the third quarter to take a 53-47 advantage into the fourth stanza.
 
Milwaukee got as close as three points on a jumper by Wittmershaus to pull the Panthers to down 59-56, but an 11-2 run by IUPUI put the game out of reach in the waning minutes before closing out the score at 78-68.
 
Jessi Giles tied her Panther-high with eight points, while Megan Walstad registered a career-high nine assists as she shattered her previous career-high of five.
 
Anna Lutz led the team with three steals and added six points while Jada Donaldson had a team-best seven rebounds and added four assists. Kamy Peppler had eight points including a pair of three-pointers.
 
Milwaukee heads back on the road next weekend for a pair of games beginning on Friday evening at 6 p.m. CST in Rochester, Michigan against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies.