MILWAUKEE – On Friday, Milwaukee women's basketball will play its first road game of the young season, traveling to DeKalb, Ill. to take on the Northern Illinois Huskies at 7:00 p.m.
 
The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ with live stats of the game also available. Links to the broadcast and live stats can be found on MKEPanthers.com. 
 
THE MATCHUP & GAME LINKS
Friday, Nov. 7 – Milwaukee at Northern Illinois | Convocation Center | DeKalb, Ill. | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN+ / Live Stats | Follow Along (on X)
 
QUICK NOTES
» Off a four-point loss to Loyola Chicago at home on Monday, Milwaukee basketball heads on the road for the first time this season to take on the Northern Illinois Huskies on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m.
» Friday's matchup will be the final time that Milwaukee and Northern Illinois will meet as non-conference opponents for the foreseeable future, as the Huskies will be joining the Horizon League beginning in 2026-27.
» In the loss to Loyola Chicago, Milwaukee was led by Jorey Buwalda, who recorded her first double-double since her freshman season, finishing the game with 18 points and 14 rebounds.
» Seven Panthers made their Milwaukee debuts in Monday's opener including starter Madison Fitzgibbon, along with Valerie Cassidy-De Falco, Micayla Silas, Tierney Madigan, Rita Gomes, Cece McNair, and Kendall Barnes.
» Northern Illinois will play at home for the first time this season after suffering a 77-56 set-back at Southern Mississippi on Monday evening. NIU fell behind 20-10 after the first quarter and was never able to recover in the 21-point loss.
» Leading the way for the Huskies was junior Nevaeh Wingate, who led the team with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting in her team debut after transferring from St. John's.
» This will be the 23rd Division I meeting between Milwaukee and Northern Illinois, with the Huskies leading the series by a 12-10 difference, including wins in the last two games. The Panthers are 4-8 when visiting DeKalb, including a 69-50 loss during their last trip in 2021-22.

QUICK LOOK AT NORTHERN ILLINOIS
In their final season in the Mid-American Conference, the Huskies were projected to finish 13th in the 13-team league, garnering just 23 points. Under the direction of first-year head coach Jacey Brooks, the former Buffalo State Bengal will look to rebuild the program after the team finished ninth a season ago.

Brooks is no stranger to rebuilding programs, after retooling Division III-power Cortland to three-straight 20-win seasons (2019-20 through 2022-23) for the first time since 2007-08 through 2009-10.

Brooks also brought nine newcomers to the roster along with six returners from last year's squad.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS – PLAYERS TO WATCH
Alecia Doyle – 30 Games / 30 Starts in 2024-25, 31.6 Minutes/Game, 11.5 Points/Game, 4.4 Rebounds/Game, 45 Assists, 13 Steals.
Nevaeh Wingate – 16 Games / 2 Starts in 2024-25 at St. John's, 5.1 Minutes/Game, 0.3 Points/Game, 1.1 Rebounds/Game, Two Steals.
Nadechka Laccen – 11 Games / 6 Starts in 2024-25 at St. Bonaventure. 19.7 Minutes/Game, 6.7 Points/Game, 3.0 Rebounds/Game, 13 Assists, Nine Steals.

LAST MEETING
Last season, the Panthers and Huskies met at the Klotsche Center in Milwaukee on Nov. 24, with Northern Illinois picking up the 67-60 win. Alecia Doyle and Brooke Stonebraker each had 17 points in the win, as NIU had an efficient 45.8 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from range.

Jada Williams led Milwaukee's current returners with six points, while Jorey Buwalda got the start and scored three points coming back from injury. Payton Rechlicz was the only other member of this year's roster to score in the game with four points, while Izzy Pugh had a block in seven minutes.

The game saw 11 lead changes and two ties as NIU built a 39-27 halftime lead, proving to be too much for the Panthers to overcome.

UP NEXT
Milwaukee will continue its roadtrip, as the team will head to Madison, Wis. on Monday evening for a 6:30 p.m. tip against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center.

ON THIS DATE
November 7 has not faired kindly to Milwaukee in three all-time games on the date, the Panthers are 0-3 on Nov. 7, with losses to Indiana (2018), and Wisconsin twice (2022 & 2023).

This will be the first time on November 7 that the Panthers are playing a non-Big Ten team on the date.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE FOR BUWALDA
In her first game of the 2025-26 season, Jorey Buwalda registered her first double-double of the year with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Her 14 rebounds tied her career high, while her 34 minutes played and nine field goals made against the Ramblers were both career-best marks.

The double-double is the third career for Buwalda, who had two her freshman season against Mississippi Valley Stats on Nov. 18, 2023 (20 Points, 12 Rebounds), and at Northern Kentucky on Jan. 7, 2024 (18 Points, 12 Rebounds).

As a team, Milwaukee had just two Points-Rebounds double-doubles throughout the 2024-25 season, both by Anna Lutz, on Nov. 4 at St. Thomas and on Nov. 14 versus Valparaiso.

TRUE FRESHMAN STARTER IN SEASON OPENER
On Monday, Madison Fitzgibbon became just the 18th true freshman starter to be a part of the opening five since the program joined the Division I level in 1990-91.

Fitzgibbon is the first to do so since 2022-23 and is looking to become the first freshman to start in every game since 1997-98, when Teri Stoltenberg started in all 27 games that season.

THAT'S AN ODD NUMBER
It's actually an even number, but Rita Gomes, who wears No. 16, became the first player in Milwaukee program history to wear a number that is not 0-1-2-3-4-5 in a game ever. The NCAA lifted the rule on numbers 6-7-8-9 prior to the 2023-24 season.

THE NON-CON SLATE
Milwaukee plays 11 non-conference matchups this season in preparation for the long haul of Horizon League play. The Panthers will take on four former conference opponents with Loyola Chicago at home (Nov. 3), at Northern Illinois (Nov. 7), at Valparaiso (Nov. 16), and at Butler (Nov. 23).

The team will also take on in-state foes with Wisconsin in Madison on Nov. 10, and Marquette at home on Nov. 19. MKE will take on Western Michigan for the first time since the 2012-13 season, but a familiar face will be at the helm with Kate Achter taking over after having been the head coach at Detroit Mercy for the past three seasons.

There will also be four first-time opponents in regular season play this year with Milwaukee taking on host Pacific as well as UC Davis on Nov. 28-29 at the Tiger Turkey Tip-Off in Stockton, Calif. While the team will also host Division III opponents Ripon (Dec. 14) and Wisconsin Lutheran (Dec. 20) to wrap-up non-conference play

THE RETURNING CORE
Milwaukee brings back eight players from a season ago, including six that logged minutes on the court for the Black & Gold. Junior Jorey Buwalda has the most playing experience at Milwaukee having played in 62 games entering her third season with the program. Redshirt-junior Jada Williams is just off Buwalda's pace having played in 57 contests.

Payton Rechlicz appeared in all 32 games for the Panthers last season and earned a spot on the Horizon League All-Freshman team, while fellow redshirt-sophomores Izzy Pugh played in 30 games, and Sophia Rampulla appeared in 14 games in 2024-25. Grace Lomen is the team's lone senior and recorded minutes in 22 contests during her first season with Milwaukee after transferring from Parkside.

After redshirting a season ago, Kendall Barnes and Cece McNair are looking to contribute in their first seasons on the court.

THE TRANSFERS
The team welcomes three transfers to the roster in 2025-26, with NJCAA All-Americans Rita Gomes and Micayla Silas making their way to Milwaukee after two seasons in Arizona. Valerie Cassidy-De Falco also transferred to the Cream City following a season at Eastern Washington in the Big Sky Conference.

Gomes scored 579 points in two seasons at Arizona Western, where she honed her skill as a three-point sharpshooter with 146 makes while connecting on better than 37 percent from beyond the arc. Silas scored 691 points in two seasons at Cochise and had over 100 assists as a sophomore in 2024-25. Cassidy-De Falco, was limited to just three games as a freshman at EWU, scoring two points in 10 minutes of action.

THE NEW FACES
Milwaukee's incoming freshman class will feature three from the State of Wisconsin, and a fourth with many ties to the state.

Lizzy Favret hails from Shaker Heights, Ohio, and has connections to the Badger State as her father played football and mother played basketball at the University of Wisconsin. Meanwhile, her older sister Cecilia plays soccer at Marquette.

Madison Fitzgibbon scored nearly 2,000 points in high school at nearby Homestead, where she was a part of three North Shore Conference Championship teams. Tierney Madigan played prep ball at Laconia High School, where she helped the team to over 100 wins and four appearances at the WIAA State Championship. Olivia Olson comes from Cuba City, Wis., and was a part of the 2025 WIAA Division 4 State Championship team this past March.

YEAR 14 FOR RECHLICZ
Head coach Kyle Rechlicz enters year 14 as the head coach of the Milwaukee women's basketball team, the longest tenured coach in the 11-team Horizon League. During that span, Rechlicz has 189 overall wins and 120 wins in Horizon League matches.

CLOSING IN ON 500
Milwaukee currently has with 495 wins at the Division I level, dating back to its inaugural DI season in 1990-91. MA Kelling led the team with 57 wins over the first five year, while Jenny Sell won four games in 1995-96. Sandy Botham had 245 wins, while current head coach Kyle Rechlicz has added 189 to the all-time total.

PANTHERS FOR THREE
In January 2025, Iowa State had its NCAA Division I record-setting streak of 945 consecutive games with a three-point basket stopped by Texas Tech. With the Cyclones failing to convert, Milwaukee now has the third longest active streak in Division I.

All-Time Streaks
1. Iowa State – 945 (1995-2025)
2. Chattanooga – 807 (1999-Present) *
3. South Alabama – 758 (2000-Present) *
4. Milwaukee – 702 (2002-Present) *
5. Dayton – 697 (2001-2024)
* - Active Streak (through Nov. 5, 2025)

TEN FOR THREE
After just three games with at least 10-three point makes in 2023-24, the Panthers rebounded by doing so on eight occasions in 2024-25, including the postseason game against Detroit Mercy.

Since taking over the program, Kyle Rechlicz has seen her team record at least 10 three-point baskets in a game on 71 occasions.

MAGIC NUMBER
In college basketball, there is no perfect recipe for a win but for Milwaukee, field goal percentage has been a pretty good baseline. Since 2016-17, Milwaukee is 116-44 (.725) when hitting at least 40 percent from the field. Bump that field goal percentage to 43 percent and the Panthers are 99-24 (.805). When shooting under 40 percent, Milwaukee is 26-95 (.215).

KEEPING THE FOULS DOWN
Since the 2022-23 season, when Milwaukee has committed 11 fouls or fewer, the Panthers are 12-2. On the contrary, the Panthers are 9-30 when they have committed 18 or more fouls in a contest.

OFFENSIVE BOARDS TURNING INTO POINTS
Dating back to the 2022-23 season, the Panthers have pulled down double-digits in offensive rebounds in 37 of their 79 games and scored 736 second-chance points.

IN THE PAINT
Over the past two seasons, when Milwaukee scored more than 25 points in the paint the Panthers had a 19-16 record, while the team was 5-26 when scoring fewer than 25 points in the paint.

The Panthers picked up one win in 2024-25 while scoring just 24 points in the paint, in a 75-50 win over Wright State on Jan. 2.

BALANCING THE FIRST AND SECOND HALVES
Last season Milwaukee was consistent in its shooting by making 39.6 percent (354-for-896) of its shots in the first half and 39.3 percent (338-for-862) in the second half. In overtime, the Panthers are 7-for-30 (23.3 percent).

This year the Panthers are 44.0 percent (11-for-25) in the first half, and 29.4 percent (5-from-17) in the second half.

CLOSE GAMES
Last season, Milwaukee finished the season with a 3-14 record in games decided by nine points or fewer and will look to finish games off at a better clip in 2025-26. The Panthers' three wins decided by nine or fewer points came in both home and road wins over IU Indy, as well as the home win over Youngstown State.

In 2025-26, the Panthers are 0-1 in games decided by single digits.

IN OVERTIME
Last season, Milwaukee set a program record with appearances in four overtime games and now has a record of 21-27 in games to go beyond 40 minutes since joining Division I prior to the 1990-91 season. The Panthers have gone to overtime on three occasions in season openers, winning over Parkside in 2019-20, before falling to Ball State in 2021-22, and St. Thomas in 2024-25.