MILWAUKEE – It was a happy return to the Klotsche Center on Thursday morning for 'School Day', as the Milwaukee women's basketball team upended the Robert Morris Colonials by a 73-58 score.
 
The Panthers shot 54.9 percent from the field, a season-best for the Panthers in Horizon League games, with 28 makes in 51 attempts.
 
The Panthers had 44 of their 73 points in the paint on the afternoon, establishing a strong inside presence throughout the game against the top blocking team in the Horizon League.
 
"I was proud of our team for establishing their post presence," said head coach Kyle Rechlicz. "It was a very well-rounded team offensive performance, and a very balanced day overall, including rebounding."
 
MKE was ahead by eight in the rebounding margin, leading the glass crash by a 37-29 difference. The Panthers had 30 defensive rebounds, which was one shy of tying their season-best of 31 set back on December 15 at Eastern Illinois.
 
Jorey Buwalda led the Panthers with 17 points on 5-of-7 from the field including 6-of-7 from the line. Kamy Peppler was one off the team lead with 16 points including two from beyond the arc, she also had three assists and two steals.
 
A trio of Panthers ended the game with eight points including Angie Cera, Grace Crowley, and Jada Donaldson, while Crowley along with Anna Lutz had a team-best six rebounds in the effort.
 
"I like that different people are stepping up," Rechlicz added. "To be able to have different players be aggressive is the most promising thing … if you try to take away one or two people, then we'll be able to get something else offensively.
 
Milwaukee opened the scoring with a layup by Lutz, the Panthers regained the lead at 4-2 on a fastbreak layup by Peppler as MKE led the rest of the quarter and led by as many as six on a made layup by Nead midway through the period. RMU closed the gap late and trailed the Panthers by a 14-11 score heading into the second quarter.
 
The Colonials tied the score to open the second quarter as RMU connected on a three-pointer, but the Panthers went back-to-back on jump shots by Peppler and Donaldson to regain a two-score lead. RMU then got to within three at 21-18 midway through the quarter before the Panther offense responded.
 
The Panthers cruised late in the second quarter to extend their lead to turn a 21-18 lead into a 35-18 advantage on a 14-point 9-for-9 run, as Buwalda led the Panthers with nine of the 14 points. Defensively, Milwaukee kept the Colonials scoreless for more than five minutes over that span. MKE took a 35-20 lead into the halftime break.
 
Cera put the Panthers up by 21 with a reverse layup while being pushed out of bounds and connecting on the ensuing and-one free throw to put MKE ahead, 41-20. The Panthers led by as many as 23 points in the third quarter and took that lead into the fourth period.
 
Kendall Nead gave Milwaukee its largest lead of the game at 25 with a make at the 7:36 mark of the fourth quarter. Robert Morris was only able to close the gap to 15 with four minutes remaining before Crowley gave the Panthers a 20-point advantage again with a jump shot in the closing two minutes at 69-49.
 
The lead proved to be too much for Robert Morris, as the Panthers hung on for the 73-58 win for its fifth-largest win of the season, and largest conference win of the season.
 
Milwaukee will close its two-game home stay on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. against the Youngstown State Penguins at the Klotsche Center.