FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Payton Rechlicz scored a season-high 19 points and Kacee Baumhower scored 15 but it was not enough as the Milwaukee women's basketball team dropped a 12-point decision to the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons, 70-58 on Thursday evening.
 
MKE led by one on a make by Jorey Buwalda with 6:55 left in the first half, but Purdue Fort Wayne closed out the period on a 17-3 run to take a 13-point advantage late in the half and never gave up the lead.
 
"Purdue Fort Wayne is an incredibly aggressive team," said head coach Kyle Rechlicz after the game. "They work for every single steal, and if you look at points off turnovers, that's the game."
 
The Mastodons took advantage of 21 Milwaukee turnovers and scored 31 points off the Panther giveaways. Four starters reached double figures in points for PFW including a team-best 16 from Lauren Ross and a 14-point/11-rebound double-double by Amellia Bromenschenkel.
 
Purdue Fort Wayne finished with a season-low four three-point makes but amassed 44 points in the paint with 40 of those coming through the first three quarters of play.
 
"Our goal was to keep them off the three-point line and put them in a position where they had to score at the rim," Rechlicz added. "I didn't think we came out of the locker room in the second half ready to play on defense and got scored on the first four possessions … with a few stops we could have flipped the script of the game in our favor."
 
The Mastodons continued to add to its lead and took a 40-23 advantage. MKE sliced into the deficit with a 9-2 run, but PFW answered once again and took its largest lead of the game at 18 with two minutes left in the third.
 
Anna Lutz scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to get the Panthers started back in the right direction. MKE was able to get as close as eight points at both 57-49 and again at 58 seconds, but the Panthers fell short of their bid for a victory, falling by 12 points.
 
Lutz ended the game with seven points, with Buwalda ending the game with eight. Buwalda and Jada Donaldson each led the team with eight rebounds as Donaldson scored six on the game.

The Panthers won the rebounding battle at 36-31, including an 11-9 margin on the offensive glass. MKE had seven second-chance points and added 17 points off 12 Mastodon turnovers.
 
Milwaukee will be back in action on Thursday, Jan. 16, when the Panthers host the Oakland Golden Grizzlies at 11:00 a.m. at the Klotsche Center.