MILWAUKEE – After a 64-58 win on Tuesday evening in the Horizon League First Round, the Milwaukee Panthers are moving on to take on the second seed Cleveland State after knocking the Robert Morris Colonials out of the Barbasol Horizon League Championships.
 
The trip to the quarterfinals will be the 11th consecutive season that the Panthers have reached the quarterfinal round. The Panthers will look to avenge a pair of losses to Cleveland State during the regular season and reach the Horizon League Semifinals for the first time since the 2020-21 campaign.
 
"I'm proud of our team because tournament teams are hard to win, especially against teams like Robert Morris because they are so physical and tough", said head coach Kyle Rechlicz. "It was a big win for us, we countered their physicality and played really well."
 
Milwaukee (11-18, 8-12 Horizon) shot 51.0 percent from the field with 26 made field goals, for the seventh time on the season. Leading the way for the Panthers was Kendall Nead, who tallied 21 points on 10 made field goals, while also pulling down 10 rebounds for her second career double-double.
 
Emma Wittmershaus had 10 points off the bench and had three of Milwaukee's 18 assists on the night. Wittmershaus, Nead, and Angie Cera had three assists apiece, while the team was led by Megan Walstad who tallied four assists. Walstad's night also included nine points and nine rebounds to go along with a team-best two steals.
 
The Panthers tied their season-best by committing just nine fouls on the night, equaling the mark set back in the team's win over Green Bay on December 1.
 
Nead opened the scoring for the Panthers but neither side was able to establish a presence in the game as the lead exchanged hands on six occasions through the opening 10 minutes.
 
Milwaukee led by one after the first period, while the opening stages of the second quarter saw much of the same. Robert Morris led by as many as three at 29-26, but Walstad knocked down a three pointer to tie the game with 3:02 left in the opening half.
 
Cera made a jumper, followed by a Walstad layup. After a free throw by the Colonials, Kamy Peppler got in on the scoring with a jumper to close out a 9-1 run for the Panthers in the closing stages of the half to take a 35-30 lead into the intermission.
 
The Panthers built their lead up to nine after back-to-back buckets by Nead and Anna Lutz to put the home team up 43-34 with 5:12 to go. However, the Colonials refused to go away quietly and closed out the third quarter with a 9-2 run of their own to go into the fourth quarter trailing Milwaukee by a 45-43 score.
 
MKE got some breathing room as Wittmershaus sank a jumper followed by a pair at the line from Jada Donaldson, but it was Robert Morris to close the gap to one possession again. Peppler made a free throw with under three to go, followed by a layup by Nead after a block on the defensive end by Walsta to swing momentum back in favor of the Panthers and put Milwaukee ahead, 61-55.
 
Donaldson made another key shot with a jumper off of a steal by Wittmershaus on the defensive end to virtually seal the game. The Colonials connected on a three in the waning seconds and Donaldson put the finishing touches on the game with a free throw to seal the 64-58 victory.
 
Milwaukee heads to Cleveland State next, to take on a Vikings team that hasn't played since taking on the Panthers on February 25. The two-seed Vikings finished the regular season at 27-4 with a 17-3 mark in the Horizon League. The Panther Basketball Postseason is presented by Educators Credit Union.