MILWAUKEE – In a historic performance, the Milwaukee women's basketball team closed out non-conference play with a victory over the Viterbo V-Hawks on Wednesday evening at the Klotsche Center, defeating its opponent by a 100-37 score.
 
The 63-point difference in scoring was the largest margin of victory for a Panther team in program history, eclipsing the previous mark of 54, when Milwaukee downed Youngstown State by a 100-46 score on February 2, 2002.
 
Milwaukee (7-6) led by just a 37-25 score at halftime but blitzed the V-Hawks 63-12 in the final 20 minutes of play. The 12 points scored by Viterbo was tied for the second-lowest point total allowed by a Panther team in a half, most recently on December 2, 2020, against Marquette. The program mark for fewest points allowed in a half was 11, set last season against Purdue Fort Wayne on February 23.
 
On offense, the Panthers converted on 39 field goals as a team to tie the program record for makes in a regulation game, set back on January 22, 1991, against Northeastern Illinois. The overall program mark is 46 set back during the team's double-overtime matchup against Bradley on December 4, 2012.
 
Milwaukee shot 56.5 percent from the field with its 39 makes on 69 attempts, the highest percentage for a Panther team since their performance against McNeese earlier this season on November 17, when the team shot 55.7 percent on 34-of-61 shooting.
 
Kendall Nead and Kamy Peppler led the Panthers in scoring on the night with the pair each converting on seven field goals apiece for 17 points. For Nead, she continues the hottest stretch of her career having scored in double figures for the 13th consecutive game, the longest stretch to open a season since Steph Kostowicz scored double figures in 14-straight games to open the 2017-18 season.
 
Anna Lutz had the first double-double of her career, finishing the game with 14 points and 10 rebounds, including seven of Milwaukee's 20 offensive rebounds on the night. The 20 offensive rebounds were the most for the Panthers since they had 21 against Boise State in overtime in late November last season, while it was the most for Milwaukee in a 40-minute game since January 6, 2022, against UIC.
 
Grace Crowley was the fourth Milwaukee player in double-figures, ending the night with a season-best 11 points. The Panthers had scoring from all 12 players that dressed for the evening, including eight by Justina Hernandez, seven from Jada Donaldson, six each from Vanessa Jurewicz, and Jada Williams, five from Kalvina Eubanks, four each from Jorey Buwalda and Angie Cera, with Lior Halevi scoring one from the free throw line.
 
Milwaukee led wire-to-wire, scoring on its opening possession with a jump shot by Nead. The Panthers led by as many as 16 in the opening quarter, when Lutz made a layup in the paint for two of what proved to be 64 points in the paint for the Panthers.
 
Viterbo closed the deficit to 10 on a pair of occasions in the second half, and trailed Milwaukee by a 37-25 halftime score. Nead had 11 points at halftime to lead the way for the Panthers.
 
After the break, Peppler took over and bookended the third quarter by scoring the first seven and final seven points of Milwaukee's 27-6 third quarter score, finishing the third quarter with 14 points of her 17 points. Her three-pointer with 20 seconds left gave Milwaukee its largest lead at the time at 64-31.
 
The Panthers scored the first 14 of the fourth quarter for a 17-point scoring run to extend its lead, and ultimately reached the century mark on a three-pointer by Eubanks with a half-minute remaining. It was Milwaukee's first time scoring 100 points in a game since the team's double-overtime matchup against Northern Illinois early in the 2016-17 season, and first time with at least 100 points in regulation since February 2, 2002, against Youngstown State.
 
Milwaukee heads into Horizon League play with a 1-1 record having already played Green Bay at home and IUPUI on the road. The Panthers will pick up league play at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 30 against Purdue Fort Wayne inside the Klotsche Center.