A double-digit comeback falls short as the Milwaukee women’s basketball team fall to Northern Kentucky Saturday afternoon at the Klotsche Center, 60-57. The Panthers are now 17-7 overall and are 8-4 in the Horizon League.
The Panthers had a tough game going in playing without their preseason all-league selection Steph Kostowicz. After falling deep behind in the first half, they managed to score on a season-high 10 three-pointers and came all the way back from trailing by 18. They were just one possession short of the largest comeback in program history.
“We knew it would be a physical game, a toughness game and we weren’t awake in the first half,” said Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz. “That’s one of the first times I’ve had to lay into our team a little bit, but they responded. They came out in the second half with a different attitude. There was just not enough time.”
Jamie Reit scored a career and game-high 18 points. Bailey Farley finished with 14 while Alyssa Fischer came off the bench with nine points.
After shooting just 14.8 percent in the first half and falling behind 33-15 at the beginning of the third, Farley and Fischer both hit back-to-back three pointers. After another Fischer three pointer and a Lindner layup, Fischer closed out the quarter with another three to narrow the deficit to seven.
Molly Glick of Northern Kentucky proved to come up big in the fourth quarter which saw her score 11 of her 15 points in the closing minutes of the game to give the Norse a victory. After narrowing the lead to two with 5 seconds left, Northern Kentucky missed one of their free throws to only make it a one possession game.
With one last chance, the Panthers could only muster a contested three pointer at the buzzer which was blocked.
“We’re always just trying to get better,” said Rechlicz. “We’ve got a week to prepare for our next game. We’re going to learn from it and we’re going to move on.”
Milwaukee plays its fifth and final game of its current home stand as they host No. 20 Green Bay next Saturday at 2 p.m. from the Klotsche Center.