MILWAUKEE – Behind a career-high 26-point performance by Kamy Peppler, the Milwaukee women's basketball team outscored visiting IU Indy 23-14 in the fourth quarter to record a 77-70 victory on Wednesday evening.
 
Peppler ended the game making nine field goals to tie her career high, while also finishing the game with eight assists and eight rebounds. Peppler led the way for Milwaukee with three makes from distance as the Panthers finished the game with 10 as a team including six in the second half.
 
A back-and-forth first half saw six lead changes and five ties with IU Indy holding a three-point lead at halftime and a two-point advantage after three quarters. The Panthers took the lead for good on a jumper by Jorey Buwalda with 3:10 to go in the game, followed by a make by Anna Lutz as the pair spurred the Panthers on a 10-2 run to finish the contest.
 
"We were trading baskets in the fourth," said head coach Kyle Rechlicz postgame. "It was a little risky to go to zone [because of how they had been hitting threes], but our defense locked in and really helped us dominate the last four minutes of the game."
 
Buwalda ended the game with 14 points and five rebounds, while Lutz was also in double figures with 11 points and nine rebounds. Payton Rechlicz scored eight, including a pair of fourth quarter three-point makes, with Kacee Baumhower scoring seven points and adding four assists.
 
"We needed a game like this," Rechlicz added. "IU Indy is a team that has been playing well and tonight showed that we can compete with the teams ahead of us in the standings."
 
An evenly paced first quarter was never more than two scores apart as the Jaguars and Panthers exchanged baskets with both teams finishing the quarter 6-of-14 from the field. IU Indy led by one at 16-15.
 
Peppler went off for 10 points in the second quarter including a pair of threes, the first of which tied the game at 18. Jada Donaldson and Baumhower knocked down back-to-back threes following the make by Peppler as the Panthers led by six.
 
However, IU Indy finished the half on a 12-2 run including a buzzer-beating three-point make from the top of the arc to take a 36-33 lead into the intermission.
 
The second half saw Milwaukee knock down 50 percent of its attempts overall and knock down 60 percent from three. The Panthers sliced the Jaguar lead to two after outscoring IU Indy by a 21-20 margin in the third and trailed the visitors by a 56-54 score heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
 
The Black & Gold chipped away and were within one on several occasions in the early stages of the fourth before Peppler tilted the lead back in favor of Milwaukee at 64-63. Rechlicz hit a three to make it a four-point lead, but the Jaguars scored the next five to regain a one-point advantage.
 
Buwalda's make at 3:12 swung the lead back in favor of the Panthers ahead of the make by Lutz in the paint. Baumhower and Peppler connected on free throws to extend Milwaukee's lead to eight, before a Jaguar layup and the 26th point of the night by Peppler at the charity stripe sealed the win for Milwaukee.
 
The win against IU Indy makes it back-to-back seasons with regular season sweeps of the Jaguars after picking up the 66-62 win in Indianapolis in late January this season.
 
IU Indy was led by Katie Davidson with 24 points, with Alexa Hocevar scoring 13 and Faith Stinson scoring 11. Hocevar led the team with six rebounds and also led the team with four assists and three steals.
 
Milwaukee will play its final road game of the regular season on Saturday, taking on the Green Bay Phoenix at the Kress Center beginning 1:00 p.m.