MILWAUKEE – Kendall Nead had 16 points, including the 1,000th of her career, and Angie Cera added a game-high 19 points as the Milwaukee women's basketball team picked up a crucial Horizon League win over the Detroit Mercy Titans by the score of 61-55 on Thursday evening.
 
The win lifts Milwaukee (15-14, 9-9 Horizon) ahead of Detroit Mercy (15-13, 8-9 Horizon) by a half-game in the standings heading into the final two games of the regular season.
 
"Everyone is bunched together in the standings," said head coach Kyle Rechlicz after the game "This win was so critical for us … we came out with a ton of energy after a great week of practice."
 
Milwaukee connected on 43.1 percent from the field as the Panthers made 22 from the field off 15 assists. Nead had seven makes while Cera connected on five. Kamy Peppler and Jorey Buwalda each made four shots apiece in the win.
 
Buwalda scored all 10 of her points in the opening half, while she finished with the team lead in rebounds with seven. "Jorey was a monster in the first half," Rechlicz added, "It was tough to take her out of the game."
 
The Panthers led by as many as nine in the opening half, with Nead draining an elbow three-pointer for the 1,000th point of her career at the 6:31 mark of the second period. In reaching the milestone, Nead becomes the 23rd Panther in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau in a career.
 
Detroit trimmed the deficit to one at the halftime break, 28-27, before taking their own five-point lead midway through the third. Milwaukee's resiliency showed as the Panthers closed out the quarter on a 15-4 run, capped off by a three-pointer from Peppler for just the second three of the night for MKE.
 
"I loved how we battled," Rechlicz noted. "I knew it would be a tough scoring game just because of how Detroit defends us. We couldn't get the three-point shot going early, but our effort, intensity, and adjustments helped us turn it around in the second half."
 
In the fourth, Milwaukee's senior leadership took over as Cera scored 12 of Milwaukee's 19 points in the period including a pair of clutch three-pointers, the second giving the Panthers a 50-44 lead with 6:09 left in the game.
 
The Titans sliced the Panther lead back down to two on a pair from the line by Jada Moorehead, who finished the game with 18 points to lead Detroit.
 
The Panthers answered as Nead connected on a mid-range pull-up to give Milwaukee a two-score lead at 55-51.
 
Detroit scored again after the Nead make but put the Panthers on the free throw line late in the contest with Cera going 6-for-6 in the final 25 seconds to finish the game 7-for-7 from the stripe.
 
"Give a lot of credit to Angie [Cera] and Kendall [Nead]," Rechlicz concluded. "They put us on their back at the end of the game when we needed makes and free throws."
 
Peppler ended the game with nine points and a team-high five assists, while Jada Donaldson added four helpers in the effort. Nead also led the team with three steals and was second in rebounds with six. Grace Crowley added five rebounds while Anna Lutz had four points and two steals. Jada Williams led Milwaukee at +10 on the court, finishing the game with two points, two rebounds, and a steal.
 
Milwaukee hosts Oakland on Saturday at 2:00 p.m., in what will prove to be yet another key Horizon League matchup for the Panthers, who will look to clear some breathing room from both Detroit and Youngstown State. The Titans and Penguins will both enter the weekend just a half-game behind the Panthers.