CLEVELAND – The Milwaukee women's basketball season ended on Thursday evening as the Panthers fell in the quarterfinal round of the Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship to the Cleveland State Vikings by a 65-52 score.

Milwaukee trailed by as many as 18 points in the early stages of the third quarter but was able to close the gap in the fourth. The Panthers got as close as three scores at seven points with 6:11 left in the game but could not overcome to deficit as the team fell in the quarterfinals for the second-straight season.
 
"I want to say how proud I am of our fight," said head coach Kyle Rechlicz. "When we got down by 18 a lot of teams would have quit, but we didn't quit, and we got it down to seven."
 
Leading the way for Milwaukee was Megan Walstad, playing in her final collegiate game, who tallied a career-best 30 points on a career-high 12 field goals, including a top career total of four three-point field goals. Walstad ended the game with 11 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season and 25th of her career.
 
Walstad's performance was the first 30-point game since Jamie Reit had 31 points on November 6, 2019, against Parkside. Walstad finished her career with 1,394 points and moved into ninth on the all-time scoring list. She also ended her career with 909 rebounds and crossed into third on the all-time rebound list.
 
"You can't say enough about what Megan did tonight to try to keep us into the game," added Rechlicz.
 
Walstad opened the scoring for the game with a jumper before the Vikings scored the next five. After a pair at the line by Walstad, Kendall Nead stepped back for a three off a feed by Jada Donaldson to put the Panthers up 7-5.
 
The lead exchanged hand a few times through the opening quarter before Cleveland State took a five-point lead at 16-11. Off a defensive rebound by Emma Wittmershaus, the ball was pitched forward to Kamy Peppler before Nead heaved a shot from just inside midcourt and drained the buzzer beater to pull Milwaukee within two heading into the second quarter.
 
Cleveland State scored the opening 10 points of the second quarter to take a 12-point lead before Walstad put a stop to the run with her first three-pointer of the night. After another five-point spurt by the Vikings, Walstad made a jumper followed by a basket by Donaldson to make it a 31-21 score.
 
Walstad knocked down another three-point shot with two minutes left in the half, followed by a jumper by Cleveland State. Walstad drilled her third three pointer of the quarter with just over a minute to go to pull the Panthers back within two scores.
 
With 28 seconds to go in the half Walstad connected on her career-best fourth three-pointer to make it a 35-30 score but the Vikings scored the last three points in the closing seconds to take a 38-30 lead into the halftime break.
 
Cleveland State opened the third quarter on an 11-1 run to take its largest lead of the game at 18 with 4:36. Peppler stepped into a three-point shot and buried the basket to put an end to the Viking run and get Milwaukee back within a 49-34 score. Cleveland State took the third quarter by a 13-7 score to lead by a 51-37 margin heading into the fourth quarter.
 
The Panthers kicked its offense back into gear to open the fourth quarter as Peppler buried a long-range shot from the Cleveland State logo at midcourt. Peppler made another jumper, followed by a basket from Walstad to get Milwaukee back within seven at 51-44.
 
Milwaukee only got within seven in the closing minutes including a layup by Walstad with 49 to go for her 30th point of the night. Cleveland State sank four free throws at the end of the game to give the Vikings the 13-point win at 65-52 to punch its ticket to Indianapolis.
 
Nead finished the game with seven points and five rebounds, while Peppler had eight points and three assists. Wittmershaus and Donaldson were tied with Peppler for the team lead in assists with three. Wittmershaus had four points, while Donaldson had two. Wittmershaus had six rebounds as she crossed the 900-rebound plateau.
 
Angie Cera had one points and two assists with a pair of rebounds with Grace Crowley pulling down four rebounds, while Anna Lutz chipped in with one rebound and one assist.