After finishing at the bottom of the Horizon League in the 2024-2025 season, the UW-Milwaukee Women’s Basketball team has welcomed seven new players who aim to change the narrative.
The top four minutes leaders from a season ago are no longer with the team.
Only six players who saw game action remain from last campaign.
The Panthers brought in three new freshmen who hail from the Badger state: Tierney Madigan, Madison Fitzgibbon and Olivia Olson.
Tierney Madigan is listed as a 5’10 guard from Laconia High School in Rosendale, Wisconsin.
Madigan ended up being Laconia’s all-time leader in points (1,682) and rebounds (756). She earned All-State Honors from the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association and First-Team All-League Honors every year of her High School career.
Madigan was the Conference Player of the Year during her Junior and Senior seasons.
The Spartans won back-to-back Division 4 State Championships in her Sophomore and Junior seasons. In her freshman season, they were runner-ups. After being bumped up to Division 3 for her senior campaign, they lost in the state semifinal against Oostburg.
In her senior year, Madigan averaged 18.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.9 steals a game.
Madigan is a lefty slasher who also brings length on the defensive end, especially on the perimeter.
Madison Fitzgibbon
Madison Fitzgibbon is listed as a 5’6 guard from Homestead High School in Mequon, Wisconsin. Fitzgibbon finished as the all-time leading bucket getter for Homestead with 1,973 points. She also ended her Homestead career as the all-time leader in made threes with 284. Fitzgibbon looks to be a knockdown catch & shoot three-point shooter with some ability to run the point for the Panthers.
Over her career of over 100 games, she averaged 19 points per game, shooting 46% from the field, 38% from three, and 77% from the free-throw line, according to Wisconsin Sports Network.
In her freshman year, she scored her single-game career high of 38 points against West Bend East, while connecting on seven three-pointers from behind the arc.
Olivia Olson
Olivia Olson is a freshman guard from Cuba City, Wisconsin who is listed at 5’6. Olson helped Cuba City High School win the WIAA Division 4 State Championship in her senior season. Olson averaged 21.4 points per game in her junior year.
She finished with averages of 17.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 3.5 steals per game in her high school career. She shot around 45% from the field, 35% from three and 78% from the free throw line in high school, according to Wisconsin Sports Network.
Olson brings an ability to play make at the guard position while also adding a boost as a scorer.
Elizabeth “Lizzy” Favret
Elizabeth “Lizzy” Favret adds much-needed support to the Panther frontcourt. Favret was recruited from Shaker Heights High School in Ohio. She is listed at 6’2 and was named on the Division 2 All-Ohio second team in her senior season.
Favret can stretch the floor and be a key feature in the Panthers’ pick & pop system. A system that Anna Lutz (no longer with the team) played a big role in last season.
Micayla Silas
5’9 Micayla Silas transfers from Cochise Community College in Arizona to compete for the Panthers.
Silas returns to the Badger State after moving to Arizona from Oneida, Wisconsin, when she was still in high school. She played for Mesa High School, her junior and senior campaigns.
After high school, Silas played for Cochise Community College for two years and was named an All-American by the National Junior College Athletic Association.
Silas averaged a team-best 14.7 points per game, while also grabbing 3.2 rebounds and dishing 3.7 assists per game in her latest season.
Rita Gomes
Rita Gomes (like Micayla Silas) transferred to Milwaukee from the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference. Gomes played for the Arizona Western College Matadors in her first two years.
Last season, she played and started 28 games, helping the Matadors to a 26-5 record, which was good enough for the ACCAC Division I Regular Season Championship.
Gomes’ hometown is the capital of Portugal, Lisbon. She played for Escola Básica e Secundária Amélia Rey Colaço in High School.
The 5’8 guard is another sharpshooter from behind the arc who can stretch defenses. Last season, 95 of her 122 made field goals came from behind the arc. Gomes averaged 12.5 points per game while shooting 40.4% from the field, 38.6% from three and 85.7% from the free throw line.
Valérie Cassidy-De Falco
The Panthers also acquired 5’4 British guard Valérie Cassidy-De Falco through the transfer portal from Eastern Washington. Cassidy-De Falco only made three appearances for the Eagles in her freshman season.
She may not have the most experience at the collegiate level, but she does have international experience playing for Great Britain’s Youth National Teams. Cassidy-De Falco was a part of the national team at the U18 and 3X3 U17 levels.
While in England, she played in the Women’s Elite Academy Basketball League (WEABL) and Women’s British Basketball League (WBBL).
While playing in the WEABL, she recorded a quadruple-double ending with 29 points, 11 rebounds, 12 assists and 10 steals for the Nottingham Wildcats Academy.
In 20 games during the 2023-2024 season playing in the WBBL, Cassidy-De Falco averaged 7.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. That was good enough to win WBBL Young Player of the Year.
The Panthers were projected to finish 4th in last season’s preseason poll. They were unable to get close to that mark and finished 11th. These seven newcomers bring a lot of floor spacing and speed to the equation, something the Panthers had to replace after the departures of big contributors Kamy and Kallie Peppler, Jada Donaldson and Kacee Baumhower.
The first chance to see how the newcomers fare is on November 3 when the Panthers tip off their season against Loyola Chicago.