MILWAUKEE – For the third consecutive game, freshman Tierney Madigan set a new season-high in scoring, finishing with 17 points, but it was not enough as the Milwaukee basketball team fell in its Horizon League opener to Youngstown State, 67-56.
 
Four players scored in double figures for the Penguins, led by Casey Santoro and Erica King with 14 points each. Sophia Gregory and Sarah Backer each added 11. YSU finished the game shooting 51 percent (26-of-51) from the field while adding 12-of-20 from the free throw line.
 
The Panthers struggled to get their offense going in the first quarter, ending the period with just four points, all from the free throw line. The Milwaukee defense held the Penguins to just 14 points and trailed by 10 after the opening quarter, a margin that held through halftime.
 
"We came out and weren't playing with toughness," said head coach Kyle Rechlicz. "At halftime I went into the locker room and had a very motivational speech, and individually pointed out a few people that came out at the very beginning of the second half and scored buckets."
 
The Panthers responded with a game-high 22 points in the third quarter, but the Penguins matched them as YSU continued to maintain a 10-point advantage. Jorey Buwalda had eight of her 11 points in the third to help keep the Panthers within three scores.
 
"We were tougher in the second half," added Rechlicz. "I was really proud of the second-half effort, but we have to come out with that hunger and that mentality at the start of games."
 
Milwaukee was never able to close the gap to fewer than four in the third quarter as Youngstown State did just enough to hold back the Panthers. Madigan had nine of Milwaukee's 16 fourth-quarter points, going 4-for-4 from the field with a free throw as she finished the game shooting 7-of-8 overall.
 
"We're seeing some of our younger players stepping up," Rechlicz said. "I think Tierney is really proving to be a powerful player in this league, and she's somebody that we're going to a lot more regularly."
 
The Penguins held a 44-36 advantage in points in the paint and led in points off turnovers with 16, capitalizing on a dozen Milwaukee giveaways.
 
"We're still growing as a team and there's things that we're fixing," noted Rechlicz on the positive steps taken by the team. "We only had 12 turnovers tonight, which is a lot fewer than where we were earlier in the season, and we were also able to get five more shots on goal than they did"
 
Milwaukee did attempt 56 field goals compared to YSU's 51, knocking down 21 from the field and three from deep. Rita Gomes hit a pair of threes and finished with 10 points.
 
Izzy Pugh led the Panthers with four rebounds, and Payton Rechlicz tallied two assists to lead the team.
 
Milwaukee will have an early-season bye and not play again this weekend before resuming Horizon League competition on Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. (CT) in Fort Wayne, Ind., against hosting Purdue Fort Wayne.