MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee women's basketball fell at home to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies by the score of 66-58 on Senior Day. The Panthers were led by senior Kendall Nead who finished the game with 21 points, including a career-high five three-point makes.
 
Turnovers were costly for the Panthers (15-15, 9-10 Horizon) as 25 Milwaukee giveaways led to 30 Golden Grizzlies points. Oakland also had 15 offensive rebounds resulting in 17 second-chance points.
 
"We were not disciplined," noted head coach Kyle Rechlicz on the team's turnovers. "We talked all week about being disciplined and making pass fakes … you can't win games playing like that."
 
Milwaukee held a slim two-point lead at the halftime break after starting the game with a 10-4 start for its largest lead of the game. All five of the Milwaukee seniors got the start and helped spearhead the early effort as Nead and Kalvina Eubanks had five points apiece.
 
"I thought the seniors came out and did a good job from an offensive perspective against their man defense," Rechlicz added on the start. The Panthers shot 52.2 percent in the opening 20 minutes on 12-of-23 from the field, including five makes for Nead as she had 16 first-half points.
 
The Golden Grizzlies tied the game following the third quarter at 49, as Brooke Quarles-Daniels had nine of Oakland's 16 third-quarter points. Quarles-Daniels ended the game with a team-best 19 points, with teammate Alexis Johnson adding 18 in the effort.
 
The fourth quarter was close with a game-high six lead changes including Jorey Buwalda putting the Panthers up 56-55 with five minutes left in the game. Oakland wrestled the lead back with a make on a three-shot possession resulting from two offensive rebounds.
 
The remaining nine points for Oakland came off a Panther turnover, made free throws, and an offensive rebound that saw Oakland knock down a three-point shot in the final 75 seconds to put the game out of reach.
 
The Panthers were only able to score two points in the final five minutes on a make by Angie Cera against a stout Oakland defense.
 
"We struggled against their zone defense," added Rechlicz. "We couldn't find holes or keep cuts moving … we kept trying to drive against their zone and that's where we got off-balance, which put us in bad positions."
 
Buwalda and Kamy Peppler each finished the game with nine points each, with Peppler adding seven rebounds. Anna Lutz scored seven points, while Jada Donaldson also had one of Milwaukee's nine three-point makes for the game.
 
Eubanks scored five on the, while fellow senior Grace Crowley had a career-best seven assist to go along with a team-high nine rebounds. Lior Halevi also got the start on Senior Day and tied her career-best effort with two assists.
 
Milwaukee will be off until next Saturday, wrapping up the regular season on the road at Green Bay beginning at 1:00 p.m. inside the Kress Center.