The Milwaukee women’s basketball team lost game one of a five-game homestand at the Klotsche Center on Friday night against IUPUI, 70-68. The loss snaps a five-game win streak for the Panthers.
It was a close one all game, in which the Panthers took the fall to a buzzer-beater by IUPUI’s Tamya Sims. Bailey Farley notched in three clutch free throws to tie it at 68-68 just moments before the final buzzer.
“We knew from start to finish that it was going to be a game,” said Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz.
“The thing with our team is that they don’t want to lose. I know everyone says that, but our team is senior-led. I think they turned it on, and said as a team ‘We want to put ourselves in a position to win.’
“I put Bailey in because she’s a senior and she’s one of our best three-point shooters. She ended up getting the ball off an offensive rebound and really made a heads-up decision to try to step through and try to get a shot off. It would’ve been great if it would’ve gone in, but there’s a lot of mistakes that happened early in the game that led to that ending.”
Farley led UWM with 18 points. Jamie Reit, Lizzie Odegard, and Jenny Lindner all reached double-digits with 11, 10, and 10 respectively.
Sims scored 15 on the night for IUPUI, while Macee Williams led all Jags with a game-high 22 points. Three other starters – Jenna Gunn, Danielle Lawrence, and Sydney Hall – scored double-digits for IUPUI with 13, 10, and 10 respectively.
First half action saw the two Horizon League competitors in a head-to-head battle, as the game was tied up at 27-27 by intermission.
Milwaukee gained an advantage in the first with their three-point shooting, which gave them their largest lead of the game of seven. Milwaukee finished the quarter in the lead, 18-15. IUPUI responded with three-point shooting of their own out of the half, in which five of their eight total earned them a 10-point lead in the third at 47-37.
IUPUI continued their offensive game in the fourth, and the Panthers trailed in the opening. The Panthers made a quick comeback with more hot shooting from deep and a couple of trips to the free throw line, but the comeback was upped with one runner in the final second.
Milwaukee took a slight advantage in the shooting percentage with 54.5 to IUPUI’s 49.1. Milwaukee also gained a 19-0 margin in bench points.
The Panthers continue their five-game homestand on Sunday as they host UIC for a 2 p.m. tip.