MILWAUKEE – Kacee Baumhower had 21 points, and Anna Lutz scored 14, but it was not enough as the Milwaukee women's basketball team dropped a home decision to the visiting Northern Illinois Huskies by a 67-60 score.
 
Baumhower and Lutz combined for 13 of Milwaukee's 22 makes on the game, and six of the team's 10 three-pointers. The Panthers shot 36.1 percent from the field, while an efficient Huskie offense ended the game making 27-of-59 for a 45.8 percent afternoon.
 
Northern Illinois won the rebounding battle, 39-31, as Lutz led the Black & Gold with six boards. The Huskies also won the battle down low with 32 points in the paint to Milwaukee's 24.
 
Milwaukee had a strong start in each of the opening two quarters, but Northern Illinois had answers in both periods as the Huskies closed out the first quarter on a 10-0 run and the second on a 14-2 run leading into the halftime break ahead by a dozen at 39-27.
 
"I'm really disappointed in how we played … give a lot of credit to Northern Illinois, they played extremely tough," noted head coach Kyle Rechlicz after the game. "We didn't come out ready to go and made too many mistakes and they made us pay."
 
The Huskies did just enough to keep the Panthers offense in check the rest of the way despite a nine-point run midway through the third. The Panthers used a pair of three-pointers by Lutz and Jada Donaldson to help slice the lead down to 47-45 with 4:25 to go in the period.
 
"We were looking for each other," said Rechlicz on the team's three-point shooting. "Northern Illinois took away the paint, so we were looking for the corners and making those reads, especially towards the beginning of the game but we lost a lot of that moving into the fourth quarter."
 
Following the burst by Milwaukee, NIU answered right back with the next eight points late in the third to regain a 10-point lead.
 
In the fourth, Milwaukee continued to fight back and got the deficit down to four on a Baumhower three-point make with 6:20 to go. Both teams went in a near three-minute cold spell from the floor, but the Huskies regained its momentum on a layup off a steal and scored the next seven to take an 11-point lead with just over two minutes left.
 
The Panthers got the difference down to six on a three-point shot by Jada Williams, and a layup from Lutz, but it was not enough as a late free throw by NIU sealed the seven-point win for the Huskies.
 
Baumhower, Lutz, and Kamy Peppler each had five assists, while Baumhower and Donaldson had two steals apiece. Lutz also finished the game with a career-best four blocks.
 
Four starters scored in double figures for NIU led by Alexia Doyle and Brooke Stonebraker pacing the team with 17 points each. Stonebraker also had nine rebounds to lead the effort for the Huskies while Chelby Koker had a team-best five assists.
 
Milwaukee will be back in action for a pair of neutral site matchups in Bayamon, Puerto Rico beginning with American on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 5:30 p.m. (CT) at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez.