The Panthers (2-2) went 1-2 on their three game Thanksgiving break road trip in Florida last week.
The Panthers narrowly lost game one to Florida Atlantic 71-67 Nov. 24 at FAU Arena. For the game, Milwaukee shot just 5-of-25 from three-point land (20%) and turned the ball over a devastating 18 times, leading to 17 FAU points. UWM pulled down 45 rebounds to FAU’s 37 in a game that saw ten lead changes.
photo: mkepanthers.com
Sophomore Steph Kostowicz shined in the loss, scoring 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting and grabbing 12 rebounds in just 27 minutes to notch the third double-double of her career. She added three assists and four blocks in the effort.
“She goes after it, she wants to win and is going to do whatever it takes to get that win,” Coach Kyle Rechlicz said.
Alexis Lindstrom, Sydney Howard and Sierra Ford-Washington each joined Kostowicz in double-digits for scoring on the night.
Ali Gorrell led the Owls with 20 points and three steals in the win.
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Game two was a blow-out loss at the hands of the Miami Hurricanes 77-38 on Nov. 27 in Coral Gables, Fla. as the Hurricanes advanced to 6-0 on the season.
Milwaukee was beaten in nearly every facet of the game, making just 13-of-58 shots from the field (22.4 percent). In addition, UWM was once again plagued by turnovers, turning the ball over 23 times. The Panthers were only able to come up with 2 steals to Miami’s 15 and were also out-rebounded by nine. Milwaukee was unable to break double digits in the 1st or 4th quarter, scoring just 4 points in the game’s final period.
Sophomore Jenny Lindner’s 12 points and Kostowicz’s 13 rebounds were the brightest spots for UWM.
“It was a growing game for us,” Rechlicz said. “It was a chance to play against a really good team and hopefully this will help us later in the season.”
Miami, who received 13 votes in the most recent AP Top 25 poll, followed Adrienne Motley’s 17 points en route to the victory.
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The third and final game saw Milwaukee come out on top against La Salle University (0-5) 69-53 at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Fla. on Nov. 28.
The Panthers still turned the ball over 21 times in the win, but were able to overcome it by shooting 8-for-19 (42.1 percent) from behind the arc. UWM shot 37.7 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Explorers by 17 points in the win.
“It was nice to see that our team can have a quick turnaround,” Rechlicz said. “Sometimes, you worry with a young team on how they are going to respond to such a poor game the night before. Are they going to carry that over? And we didn’t. We were sharp. We were focused and we had a lot of positive energy.”
photo: mkepanthers.com
Lindner scored 20 points and grabbed a career-best 15 rebounds to post the fifth double-double of her career. Lindstrom got hot from beyond the arc, shooting 5-of-9 and scoring 17 points total. Ford-Washington joined Lindner with a double-double notching 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Michaya Owens was the lone double-digit scorer for La Salle with 15 points.
During the three game stint, Milwaukee shot 60-for-183 (32.8 percent) from the field, including 17-for-61 (27.9 percent) from three-point range. The Panthers sloppy ball control hampered them in all three games and led to 20.6 turnovers per game. UWM outrebounded their opponents 140 to 124 during the stretch.
The Panthers return home on Dec. 3 to take on the NIU Huskies at 3 p.m. at the UWM Panther Arena.