The regular-season finale takes the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team to a tough venue for a big challenge, facing off against Wright State University Saturday afternoon. The Raiders are 12-2 at home and the Panthers will need to knock off the second place team in the Horizon League standings to have the opportunity to secure a bye from the first round of the league tournament. Tip time is set for 1 p.m. CST.
LOOKING AT WRIGHT STATEDespite losing Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year Kim Demmings to injury for the season, the Raiders have not skipped a beat and will bring a 22-7 record (11-4 league) into play Saturday. A season ago, they set a school record with 26 wins (26-9, 12-4 HL) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The team is led by player of the year candidate Tay'ler Mingo, who leads the league with her 22.6 scoring average and adds 3.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 3.8 steals per game.
SERIES HISTORYThe all-time series is tight, with UWM trailing by two at 25-23. The Raiders have dominated the matchup of late, winning 12 of the past 13 meetings and 14 of the past 16.
LAST GAMESenior
Sydney Howard and freshman
Steph Kostowicz both had career nights in a hard-luck loss for UWM, falling to Detroit 60-56 Wednesday evening from the Klotsche Center.
Jaleesa Armstrong just missed double digits, registering nine points to go with her game-high five assists. Detroit (12-16, 7-8 Horizon) had three players in double figures, led by sophomore Rosanna Reynolds's 20. Milwaukee (9-18, 5-10) had a tough time getting its offense going, with its two leading scorers coming into the game finishing with just a combined 10 points.
CLASH OF THE TITANSTwo players stepped up against Detroit March 4, with senior
Sydney Howard and freshman
Steph Kostowicz both having the best games of their college careers. Howard netted 17 points to top her former collegiate-best of 14 she scored against IPFW Dec. 28. Kostowicz topped that with her first double-double in a Panther uniform, setting season highs with 18 points and 13 rebounds to blow by her former bests of 12 and eight.
OOPS, SHE DID IT AGAINJenny Lindner continues to make her case for Horizon League Newcomer of the Year and last week was no different. She was named League Freshman of the Week for the third time March 2 after averaging 15.5 ppg and 9.0 rpg. She came through with her second career double-double in the victory over Cleveland State as well, finishing with 20 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
CLIMBING AND CLIMBINGAshley Green started the season at No. 17 on the all-time scoring list, but after over 500 points this year she is now officially into the top five in school history. Her 30 points against Cleveland State Feb. 28 gave her 1,599 for her career, passing Umenia White (1,597) and into sole possession of fourth.
30-PLUS RARE IN THE RECORD BOOKAshley Green netted an even 30 points on Senior Day, the school-record fifth time this season she has finished with 30-or-more in a game (31 vs. Oakland; 31 vs. Valpo; 36 vs. NDSU; 30 vs. ND). That breaks the former mark of four such games in one campaign, first accomplished in 2007-08 by Traci Edwards (45, 35, 30, 30). If you take it a step further, Green now has seven career 30-point games, second only to Edwards again, who netted 10 of them.
YES, IT'S BEEN A WHILEJunior
Jaleesa Armstrong handed out an impressive 12 assists (against just three turnovers) versus UIC Feb. 25, just missing the school record of 14. In doing so, she accomplished something that hadn't been done for a while by anyone in a UWM uniform. The last time a Panther had at least 12 assists was over 20 years ago, in January of 1994 by Pam Bartnik.
1. 14, Pam Bartnik (1/17/94)
2. 13, Bartnik (1/5/93)
3. 12, Bartnik (12/2/91) & Armstrong (2/25/15)
FRESHMAN FIREFreshman
Jenny Lindner has found her scoring touch of late. After scoring 16 of her team-high 18 points in the second half against Green Bay Feb. 14, she came out the next game against Youngstown State Feb. 19 and established a season high with 25 points, breaking her former high of 19. That total now ranks as the third-highest scoring output for a freshman in school history.
1. Courtney Lindfors: 35 points (11/16/10)
2. Traci Edwards: 28 (2/25/06)
T3. Lindner: 25 (2/19/15)
T3. Maria Viall: 25 (12/17/00 & 3/1/01)
In addition, her five made 3's was one off the school freshman mark of six set by
Angela Rodriguez back on 12/1/10 against Bradley. She has now finished 15 games in double-figures - the most for a UWM freshman since
Ashley Green accomplished the feat 17 times back in 2011-12.
BOARDED UPSenior
Ashley Green tied a school mark with her work on the rebounding front against Youngstown State Feb. 19. Of her game-high 14 boards, 10 came on the offensive end to equal the school mark. Only Traci Edwards (10 on 1/26/06) and Maria Viall (10 on 1/23/03) had reached the offensive double-figure plateau prior.
UNPRECEDENTEDIn the history of the Milwaukee women's basketball program, no player has ever reached the combined overall statistical level of 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 250 assists in a career. Traci Edwards (2,340 pts/1,193 reb/230 ast from 2005-09) came close, as did Jen Gregor (1,385/468/434 from 1993-97) and Lindsay Laur (1,404/791/223 from 2007-11).
Ashley Green has the opportunity to become the first. Heading into play Wednesday, the super senior has accumulated 1,602 points, 757 rebounds and 241 assists, needing nine more dimes to become the initial player to accomplish the impressive feat. If she gets there, she would be the 17th women's player in Horizon League history to reach that level and the only active member of the club (Wright State's Kim Demmings is also a member but is out with injury).
For perspective on how rare a feat that is, the Milwaukee men's program only has two members in Clay Tucker (1,788/592/341 from 1999-2003) and Adrian Tigert (1,091/760/309 from 2001-06).
BIG MILESTONESenior
Ashley Green needed just six points to reach 1,500 in her career heading into play against Valparaiso Feb. 12. Her 17-foot fastbreak jumper at the 8:38 mark of the first gave her 1,500 on the head in her illustrious career, making her just the sixth Milwaukee player to reach that plateau in program history.
PACKING THEM INMilwaukee held its second annual "School Day with the Panthers" in conjunction with its game against Oakland Feb. 6 and, once again, the crowd did not disappoint. The announced sellout of 3,500 at the Klotsche Center (the facility's current capacity) tied for the third-largest attendance figure in UWM women's basketball history, trailing only the 4,137 that witnessed a contest against Green Bay in February of 2002 and 3,689 against UIC in January of 2002.
SUPER FROSHFreshmen
Kelsey Cunningham and
Cree Hammond each chipped in with career highs in points at YSU Jan. 31. Cunningham netted 11 points (previous best was five), grabbing three boards while adding two steals and two assists. Hammond also finished with 11 (topping her former high of six), adding four rebounds in just 13 minutes on the court.
DOUBLE DOWNJenny Lindner posted her first career double-double with 10 points and a season-high 11 rebounds at Cleveland State Jan. 29. It marked the first double-double for a UWM freshman since
Ashley Green recorded 14 points and 14 boards against Loyola on March 3 of the 2011-12 campaign.
THEY NOTICEDAshley Green was honored by the Horizon League as its Player of the Week Jan. 26 after averaging 29.5 points/9.5 rebounds/3.5 steals on 57 percent shooting in two games. She was also named the College Sports Madness league player of the week as well as its National High-Major Player of the Week. The Horizon League honor is the first of Green's career and the first for UWM since February of last season.
THE BIG 1-0-0Green made her 100th career start at Cleveland State Jan. 29, becoming just the seventh player in program history to make 100 or more. She will have the chance to approach the top three the rest of the way (No. 4 is currently 108 starts). Green also became the eighth player in program history to grab 700 rebounds, doing so against Oakland Feb. 6.
ABOUT THAT SCORING AVERAGENow that we are well past the halfway point of the season, it's time to take a look at where senior
Ashley Green can finish with her 19.6 point-per-game scoring average. At her current rate, only two other players in program history have ever averaged more per game (or close) over the course of any season. Traci Edwards (first place at 20.6 ppg in 2007-08 and second at 20.5 ppg in 2006-07) and Jen Greger (19.7 ppg in 1996-97) are the only two players with her on the list.
NOT A GREENHORNAshley Green is making this scoring thing look easy as a senior. Over the course of her first three years in a Panther uniform, Green crossed the 20-plus plateau on eight occasions, including a pair of 30-plus point outings. This season alone, she has finished with 20-or-more points 13 times, including five outings over 30. She has paced the team in scoring 16 of 27 times and has led or tied for the team lead in rebounding in 19 of 27 outings as well.
IT'S AN OLD HABITThe Panthers have turned it up from three-point range recently, but have always been a threat from long distance. In fact, the team has a long history of making three's headed into 2014-15. Milwaukee has made at least one three-pointer in every game dating back to an 0-for-4 showing from long-distance against Marquette back on November 26, 2002. That makes 386 games in a row heading into the game against the Raiders. It's a ways to go for the NCAA record, however, which is held by Canisius at 510 in a row (1994-2011). The Horizon League record was halted three years ago when Loyola came up empty at 446. Cleveland State held the record previously - which was also the NCAA mark at the time - at 408 (1992-2007). For comparison, the NBA's longest streak is the Dallas Mavericks at 1,108 in a row.
HITTING THE BIG TIMEThe game against Wright State Jan. 14 at UWM Milwaukee Panther Arena was the 11th all-time for the women's basketball team at the downtown facility. It marked the first time since the 2002-03 season that the team played their twice in one campaign. The team is now 6-5 all-time in those contests, also defeating Eastern Illinois 72-63 back on Dec. 10. The last game prior to this season? A 60-51 win over Loyola on February 18, 2010.
DISHING AND DRIVINGThe points/assists double-double that junior
Jaleesa Armstrong recorded Jan. 7 at Detroit is rare in the history of the Milwaukee basketball program. Since becoming an NCAA Division I program in 1990-91, the Panthers have played just over 1,100 games all time. Her 23/10 effort marked just the 12th time a player has recorded a double-double consisting of points and assists in that span (roughly 1.1 percent of the time). She also tied a 15-year old school record in the process, in the category of the most three-pointers made in a game without a miss. She made a perfect 5-of-5, equaling the mark set by Daryl Schaffeld back in February of 1999.
SYD THE KYDSydney Howard is having a breakthrough junior campaign and her performance in the month of December was noteworthy. In six games (four starts), Howard averaged 7.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game and reset her career-high for points in a game twice, including 14 against IPFW Dec. 28. She shot 51.9 percent from the field (14-27), 55.6 percent on 3's (5-9), playing 25.7 minutes and had 11 assists compared to four turnovers. Coming into the season, she was averaging 1.8 points, 1.1 rebounds and 10.5 minutes per contest.
IT WAS CLICKINGThe offense was playing well against Valparaiso Jan. 21, setting a season high with 90 points scored and with its 53 percent shooting from the floor. The 90 points eclipsed the 84 that Milwaukee scored at Detroit Jan. 7 and marked the first time at 90-or-more in 20 games, a 90-78 victory over Cleveland State on Feb. 23 of last season.
START LOOKING AT ME SWANFinally 100 percent healthy, junior
Jordyn Swan has been emerging as a go-to player this season. She has started 21 of 27 games and is averaging career-highs with 7.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. In fact, coming into this season, she had accumulated 58 career points and 20 career rebounds - this season alone she now has 195 points and 105 boards.
ROYAL WORK IN KCNot to be overlooked against UMKC Dec. 2, but the Panthers did one of their best-ever jobs of taking care of the ball. The team ended up with just eight turnovers against the Kangaroos, just one off the school record-low of seven in a game (It's the sixth game in program history with eight).
ON FIREAshley Green's scoring output in the early portion of the season was impressive. In fact, the 89 she netted in the first three games of the campaign marked the third-highest three-game output in school history. Only Traci Edwards had more: 94 (42/30/22) in 2006-07 and 92 (45/20/27) in 2007-08.
I'LL TAKE GREEN FOR 20, ALEXAshley Green scored at least 20-or-more points four times in a row to open the 2014-15 campaign - with the streak coming to an end against Mizzou - just one off of Traci Edwards' school-record streak of five (which she did four times).
IT AIN'T EASY BEING GREENAshley Green became just the second player in program history to score 30-or-more points in back-to-back games (66 total points Nov. 16 and Nov. 18), joining Traci Edwards (72 in consecutive games in January of 2007) on the short list. Edwards' two-game tally included outings of 42 and 30 points.
A DEFENSIVE BAKERS DOZENThe 13 points Milwaukee held Bowling Green to in the first half of the Nov. 22 contest was nearly unprecedented. The tiny tally was just one point off the school record of 12 accomplished in the first half against Wagner way back in December of 1997.
BEST EVERAshley Green's 36 points against NDSU Nov. 16 were the most-ever for a Milwaukee player in a season opener, topping the 30 that Traci Edwards netted in the initial game of the 2007-08 campaign. It was also a marked improvement in season openers for Green personally. She finished with three points as a junior against Wisconsin, five against Chicago State as sophomore and did not score in her freshman debut off the bench.
SETTING THE BAR HIGHAshley Green has been a starter since early in her freshman campaign and has already accumulated a lengthy resume when it comes to personal statistical highlights. She one-upped all of that in just one performance in the season opener, setting new career-highs in both points scored and rebounds. Her 36 points topped her former best of 33 that she scored against Bradley December 4, 2012. Meanwhile, the 15 rebounds eclipsed her former career-best of 14, accomplished twice prior. In addition, she also tied her collegiate-best with the 13 made field goals.
FILLING IT UPThat 36-point effort from
Ashley Green tied for the fourth-highest single-game scoring effort in program history.
1. 45 points, Traci Edwards, 2/21/08
2. 42, Edwards, 1/20/07
3. 38, Andrea Filipek, 1/23/99
4. 36, now accomplished four times
JUST ANOTHER GAMEAfter averaging 17.1 points per game as a senior in high school, freshman
Jenny Lindner picked it right up on the collegiate level with 12 points and seven rebounds in her UWM debut against NDSU Nov. 16. The 12-point effort marks the most for a Milwaukee freshman in a season opener since
Angela Rodriguez finished with 16 points in the 2010 opener against Oklahoma.
PRESEASON PUBLICITYSenior
Ashley Green was named to the Preseason All-Horizon League Second Team in the league's annual preseason poll of head coaches, media members and sports information directors.
NEW-LOOK PANTHERSMilwaukee will have an interesting look to the roster this season after graduating three senior starters from a year ago. The roster features five players who were on the team in 2013-14 and seven newcomers. Among the new faces are a pair of transfers (one will be sitting out per NCAA regulations), a senior playing her first season of collegiate hoops and four true freshmen all looking to make a good first impression.
TIME TO STEP UPThe situation allows the Panthers an opportunity for new players to step up or returning players to expand their roles from last season. The team returns just 30.7 percent of its scoring (608 of 2,081 total points) and 36.9 percent of rebounding (370 of 1,004 total individual rebounds). When you break it down further, senior
Ashley Green accounts for 70 percent of that returning point total and 55 percent of the boards.
FOR OPENERSThe Panthers now hold an 8-17 record in season-openers at the NCAA Division I level (dating back to 1990-91) after topping North Dakota State. A year ago, Milwaukee fell to the Wisconsin Badgers by a score of 85-60 at the Klotsche Center in the season opener. Head coach
Kyle Rechlicz is now 2-1 in openers, as UWM ran away with an 82-58 win over Chicago State in Rechlicz's debut contest two years ago.
MORE THAN A GREEN THUMBOne look at the career statistics of senior
Ashley Green show an impressive trajectory. In each season at UWM, she has increased both her scoring average and her rebounding average and will look to continue the trend over her final campaign. As a freshman in 2011-12, Green averaged 10.4 points and 5.4 rebounds. She upped that to 11.6 ppg and 6.2 rpg and then followed that up with a junior season where she contributed 14.2 ppg and 6.7 rpg.
HOW THEY ROLLThe Panthers were at it again last season and it would have been more noticeable had they not been even better at it two years ago. The team once again finished close to the top of the record book for three-pointers made and attempted. Prior to
Kyle Rechlicz's arrival, the most three's made was 212 and attempted was 586. The marks set in 2012-13 (255 of 726) smashed the old standards. Last year, the team finished at 241 makes and 733 attempts, both numbers ending in the top two all-time.
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESSThe Panthers set a record for fewest turnovers per game in 2012-13 at 16.2 - an impressive total considering the record that they broke was the former standard of 17.3 set during the 2001-02 campaign (an improvement of over one per game). The new record did not last long, however, as UWM turned the ball over just 14.9 times per contest a year ago to shatter the record once again.
1,000/500Ashley Green not only scores, but rebounds. She is just the fifth player to have recorded over 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career in UWM's NCAA Division I era. The rest of the list includes Traci Edwards (2,340 pts/1,193 reb), Maria Viall (1,867/971), Lindsay Laur (1,404/791) and Sami Tucker (1,172/774).
BIG-TIME HONORAngela Rodriguez was named Second-Team All-Horizon League last season, becoming the first Panther to earn postseason all-league honors since 2010-11. She also earned a spot on the Mexico National Team in October, one of 12 chosen to play on the squad.
SETTING THEM UPSenior
Angela Rodriguez broke the Milwaukee single-season record for assists against Wright State March 1 of last season. She went into the contest against the Raiders with 151, and her third of the day near the end of the first half in Dayton gave her 154 to break the mark of 153, set by Pam Bartnik during the 1993-94 campaign. She finished the season with 168.
MAKING A NAME FOR HERSELFHead coach
Kyle Rechlicz was named the seventh coach in program history in May of 2012. She also got off to one of the best starts - becoming the first UWM coach to win three of her first five contests of her initial campaign. In her first season, Rechlicz was also one of the youngest coaches at the NCAA Division I level - just seven coaches had earlier birth years when the 2012-13 campaign began.
BE A HOOPS COUCH POTATOFans will have the opportunity to watch the Panthers all season long. The team will play five games on local broadcast television, once again returning to Time Warner Cable SportsChannel. Another 18 games will be carried live online on the Horizon League Network. For the Panthers' TWC SportsChannel contests, Bob Brainerd and former UWM great Maria Viall will once again be calling the action. Early season games will also be available on the SEC+ Network (Missouri) and the WAC Digital Network (UMKC).
HEAD TO THE BIG 920Every Milwaukee regular-season game will once again be available on the radio and online via "The Big 920" on your AM dial.
Scott Warras is back for his ninth season donning the headset. Fans can also catch Warras' call with the majority of the team's ESPN3 webcasts. A handful of games will be aired on WISN 1130 AM due to broadcast conflicts.
WELCOMEHead coach
Kyle Rechlicz rounded out her staff in the offseason by hiring
Ashlee McGee as an assistant coach and
Scott Warras as the Director of Basketball Operations.
Kelly Poster also begins her first season as the team's athletic trainer.
McGee comes to Milwaukee after most recently serving as the women's basketball assistant coach at Tennessee State University since the summer of 2012. Warras, the voice of the Panthers on radio broadcasts for the past eight seasons, joins the Milwaukee staff on a full-time basis and will work directly with Rechlicz on coordinating team travel, budget, practices and other program functions.
UP NEXTWith a victory over Wright State and a loss by UIC (at Cleveland State), the Panthers will finish as the No. 7 seed in the regular-season standings and make a return trip to play the Raiders Wednesday. Any other result and UWM will be the No. 8 seed and host Valparaiso Monday at the Klotsche Center. That game would start at 7 p.m.