LAKE CHARLES, La. – In a game that saw 20 lead changes through 40 minutes of play, the Milwaukee women's basketball team was able come out on top of the Mississippi Valley State Devilettes on Saturday afternoon at the Legacy Center on the McNeese State campus, winning the matchup by a 67-61 score.
 
The Panthers trailed by one heading into the fourth quarter, but a strong all-around effort helped Milwaukee outscore the Devilettes 23-16 in the final 10 minutes as Milwaukee recorded its second consecutive win.
 
All five of Milwaukee's starters scored at least seven points with the Panthers led by Jorey Buwalda, who recorded the first double-double of her career and first double-double by any Panther this season with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
 
"What a player, we just kept feeding her," said head coach Kyle Rechlicz on Buwalda. "She did her job and went to work and took some big strides this weekend."
 
"It's tough when you play three games in three days," Rechlicz added. "Today we had to play all of our starters over 30-minutes each I couldn't be prouder as their coach about how we competed down the stretch."
 
Kendall Nead had 14 points as she tied Buwalda for the team lead with six field goals apiece. Milwaukee's backcourt of Jada Donaldson and Kamy Peppler each had nine points as they each had a three-pointer. Donaldson and Buwalda each finished the game with a team-best +9 on the court, while Peppler was an assist shy of her career high with eight assists.
 
Angie Cera added seven points and tied her career-best with five assists in the win. Jada Williams had seven points on 2-of-3 from the field, while also adding three from the stripe. Justina Hernandez had three rebounds and a point from the line as well, while finishing behind Buwalda and Donaldson at +8 for the game.
 
The Panthers had an impressive showing as a team from the line as Milwaukee finished the game going 19-for-21, or 90.5 percent, with Buwalda leading the way as she went 8-for-8 from the stripe. As a team, Milwaukee also had 15 offensive rebounds leading to 13 second-chance points and controlled the paint by outscoring the Devilettes by a 26-14 difference in the paint.
 
Buwalda got things going for the Panthers with the first six points, as Milwaukee led early by a 6-3 score. The two sides rallied to regain the lead on several occasions through the first quarter before Peppler scored six-straight points to put Milwaukee ahead by a 12-7 score. The Panthers led 14-11 as the first quarter ended.
 
It took nearly two minutes into the second quarter for a team to score as MVSU scored a free throw followed by a three-pointer to take a one-point lead. Nead connected on a shot to give Milwaukee the lead again as the two teams continued to battle back and forth through the latter stages of the quarter. Nead scored seven of her 14 points in the second period for the Panthers.
 
With the score tied at 22, Cera drained a three off a Williams assist before Donaldson connected on a jumper to close the scoring in the period and give MKE a 27-22 lead at the break.
 
In the third, Mississippi Valley opened the quarter with five unanswered to even the score, but Donaldson converted a key three-pointer on a Peppler feed as Milwaukee regained the lead. MVSU tied the score again with 5:32 to go before taking a 38-35 lead of their own.
 
The Devilettes built up their largest lead of the game at five with 1:22 to go, but the junior duo of Nead and Donaldson closed out the quarter with back-to back shots to get the Panthers within one at 45-44 heading to the fourth.
 
Both teams exchanged the lead on the next five series of plays, including Buwalda's layup with 7:07 left as she drew the foul and completed the three-point play to put Milwaukee ahead 51-49. MVSU hit consecutive threes to take a four-point lead, but the Panthers refused to quit as Williams converted a pair from the line and Cera converted a layup to level the score at 55.
 
The Panthers continued to add on and took their largest lead of the game at six points with 52 seconds left as Buwalda had another basket plus the and-one free throw, while Nead scored a jumper to put MKE up, 64-58.
 
After three points from Mississippi Valley, Donaldson connected on a pair of clutch free throws to ice the game with nine seconds left. Nead added one more free throw with less than a second to go as the Panthers improved to 2-3 on the season with the 67-61 win.
 
Milwaukee returns home to the Klotsche Center for its next three games beginning with the Edgewood Eagles at home on Tuesday evening, November 21 with a 7:00 p.m. scheduled start time.