MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – The Milwaukee women's basketball team closed out the road portion of its 2022-23 regular season against the Robert Morris Colonials on Sunday afternoon at the UPMC Events Center and fell to its host by a score of 50-45.
 
The Panthers were led by Grace Crowley, who had 10 points for the Panthers to go along with seven rebounds and two assists. Anna Lutz was second on the team in scoring with nine points and nine rebounds, while Megan Walstad had seven points and eight rebounds while leading the team with four steals to tie her career high.
 
"I thought we defended well in the first half, but in the second half we didn't have the same intensity and energy on the defensive side," said head coach Kyle Rechlicz. "What Robert Morris did was deny us on the wing, and forced us into one-on-one situations, where we don't have too much success."
 
Milwaukee opened the game with the first eight points as Crowley and Nead led the early surge with four points apiece. After a three-pointer by the Colonials, Angie Cera knocked down a three in the corner off a feed by Nead.
 
The Panthers continued to hold the lead into the second quarter as MKE had a 13-7 lead after the opening quarter. Robert Morris opened the second on a 6-2 run to trim the Panther lead to just two, but Lutz got a putback layup to stop the run. The Colonials outscored the Panthers 9-4 in the second, and trailed Milwaukee by a 17-16 score at the halftime break.
 
Milwaukee built back a four-point lead after Crowley opened the half with a layup, while Walstad sank a pair from the line with 8:54 to go in the third. However, RMU scored six of the next eight points to knot the score at 23.
 
The teams exchanged the lead in the waning minutes of the third quarter before Kamy Peppler had a two-point shot fall with 45 seconds to go to give the Panthers a 35-32 lead. Robert Morris had another late free throw in the quarter to trim its deficit to two heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Robert Morris opened the fourth with back-to-back threes to open a four-point advantage before Peppler knocked down a jumper to make it a one-possession game. Walstad followed with a jumper to even the score at 39.
 
The Panthers took a four-point lead with 6:35 to go off back-to-back buckets by Peppler and Nead, but the Colonials once again had the answer to knock down two consecutive three-point shots to regain the lead. Jada Donaldson tied the game at 45 but Robert Morris closed the game with the final five points despite three shot attempts, including a well-executed three-point attempt going for the tie with seven seconds left.
 
Milwaukee returns home on Thursday with a 5 p.m. start against Purdue Fort Wayne beginning at 5:00 p.m. from the Klotsche Center.