MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee and Marquette renewed their in-city rivalry at the Al McGuire Center on Sunday afternoon, after a one year hiatus, with the host Golden Eagles securing a 69-51 win.
 
Milwaukee had a game-best 10 points from Anna Lutz, while Izzy Pugh added eight points on 4-of-6 from the field. Kacee Baumhower and Jada Donaldson each scored five, with Donaldson leading the Panthers with four assists.
 
"The atmosphere with our team was extremely different today," noted Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz after the game. "We competed and were doing a lot of things well; diving for loose balls, being physical in the post, rotating on defense … if we show up in practice and in games like our team did today, we're going to turn this around and start winning. I absolutely loved our energy and effort today."
 
The Panthers ended the game connecting on 18 makes from the floor including seven from beyond the arc. Six Panther threes came in the first half as Milwaukee trailed 40-30 at the break.
 
By comparison, Marquette finished the game with 27 makes on 59 attempts, with five shots falling from three. Lee Volker led the Golden Eagles with eight makes and 21 points, while Skylar Forbes finished the game shooting 7-for-10 for 18 points and led MU with seven rebounds.
 
Marquette won the rebounding battle by a 38-27 margin and scored 21 points off 20 Panther turnovers. The Golden Eagles also found scoring success down low with 40 points in the paint to Milwaukee's 20.
 
The first quarter was an offensive frenzy with a combined 46 points as Marquette had a five-point lead. Milwaukee got eight points from Lutz, including a pair from three, while Milwaukee also got three-point makes from Baumhower, Donaldson, and Payton Rechlicz.
 
Ball movement was key for the Black & Gold during the opening 10 minutes with seven assists on eight first quarter makes. The opening quarter saw a pair of lead changes and the score tied on three occasions.
 
In the second quarter, Milwaukee trailed by a bucket at 27-25 before Justina Hernandez took a feed from the paint and knocked down a corner three in front of the Marquette bench to give MKE a one-point advantage.
 
The Golden Eagles regained the lead on the next possession and built up a 40-30 halftime lead.
 
Milwaukee scored the first three points of the second half, but that proved to be as close as the Panthers got the rest of the game. Marquette had a game-high 21-point lead with just a minute left in regulation before Hallie Majoros drained a three from the right elbow to close out the scoring at 69-51.
 
The Panthers will close out the non-conference slate next Sunday when the team visits Central Michigan for a 12:00 p.m. (CT) start at McGuirk Arena in Mount Pleasant, Mich.