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Post by skrapheap on Aug 6, 2019 17:24:59 GMT -6
I’ve had a Twitter account for years, but until recently had not paid much attention to the team’s account or Coach Rechlicz’s account.
Coach has been tweeting about verbal commitments they have been receiving to scholarship offers, among other things.
Last September, they got a verbal from Macy McGlone, a 6’2” post player from Hortonville. This is her senior year in high school.Her high school team is a WIAA D2 power, having made multiple trips to the state tournament in recent years. According to the WBB blog, the Panthers have four other verbals for 2020: Angie Cera (a 5’9” guard from Mukwonago, younger sister of Bre), Jada Donaldson (5’6” point guard) from Beaver Dam (another D2 power), Kalvina Eubanks (5’6” guard from Melrose Park IL, and Kendall Nead (5’11” wing from Johnston, IA).
Milwaukee has also received a verbal from McGlone’s teammate Kamy Peppler, for the 2022 class. That’s further away, but she appears to be friends with current Panther Sydney Levy, so perhaps she’ll stick with her commitment.
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Aug 27, 2019 18:45:56 GMT -6
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Sept 20, 2019 14:04:28 GMT -6
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Post by skrapheap on Oct 18, 2019 14:02:49 GMT -6
The pre-season poll has been released.
The Panthers are picked to finish fifth, behind Wright State and Green Bay (tied for first), IUPUI, and Youngstown State.
Megan Walstad was picked for the pre-season All-League first team.
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Post by skrapheap on Oct 21, 2019 17:15:30 GMT -6
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Post by skrapheap on Oct 31, 2019 11:00:05 GMT -6
The Panthers won their exhibition game with D3 Viterbo College, 106-43.
The game was actually close to begin with, as Viterbo shot 44% from the floor, including 50% on three-point shots. As the quarter progressed, the Panthers heated up, finishing the quarter with a 23-18 lead on 60% shooting. The Panthers also adjusted on defense, as they gave up just 25 points for the rest of the game.
Red-shirt freshman Emma Wittmershaus led the Panthers, playing 24 minutes, and finishing with a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds. Four other Panthers finished with double-digit points: Sydney Staver (13), Lizzie Odegard (12), Jamie Reit (12) and Alyssa Fischer (11). Wittermshaus and Fischer did their work off the bench, part of a 58-22 advantage in bench points.
The Panthers won the turnover battle, getting 25 turnovers from Viterbo and committing on 15. That advantage led to a 25-7 advantage in points off turnovers. Milwaukee had 54 points in the paint to 12 for Viterbo, and 17 fast break points to five for Viterbo. The regular season begins next Wednesday, with a home game against DII Parkside.
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Nov 11, 2019 8:19:54 GMT -6
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 13, 2019 17:28:51 GMT -6
After the game with Parkside, the Panthers have three road games against Big Ten teams on the schedule. Coach Rechlicz tries to challenge her players during the non-league portion of the schedule.
They lost to Purdue by 13. The Panthers trailed throughout. They put together some runs, but never got closer than three points down. In the third and fourth quarters, the Boilermakers got the lead to as high as 21 points. The Panthers closed at the end to the final margin of 13. Freshman Tadri Heard led Milwaukee with 19 points. Lizzie Odegard had 12 points and Brandi Bisping had 11. Megan Walstad did not play; I don't know why.
Next up is a game tomorrow at noon at Minnesota. The Golden Gophers were ranked 23rd in the preseason top 25 poll. They are 1-1.
Sunday night the Panthers travel to Madison to take on the Badgers. The Panthers are 3-20 all time against the Badgers; two of those three wins happened during Coach Rechlicz's tenure. The Panthers won the matchups in 2015-16 and 2016-17. They lost last season.
The Panthers then return home to host Arkansas - Pine Bluff on Tuesday night.
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Dec 23, 2019 16:52:40 GMT -6
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 23, 2019 22:44:12 GMT -6
Journal-Sentinel restricts access to subscribers.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Dec 27, 2019 10:50:56 GMT -6
What happened to the women's basketball team? It seems to be struggling mightily.
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 27, 2019 15:15:08 GMT -6
For one thing, one of their better players, Megan Walstad, hasn't played a minute this season, so far as i am aware. She was one of their leading scorers and rebounders last season.
Why she hasn't played, i don't know. Could be injury, but injuries only get mention during broadcasts, and I haven't listened to one yet this season.
For another thing, the team has struggled at shooting the ball, making less than 40% of their shots in each of the last several games. They might be struggling less if Walstad were playing: she is a post player who shoots at a high rate from close in.
Another reason for the struggle is the quality of the opposition. Kyle Rechlicz schedules tough opponents in the non-league season to challenge her players. I sometimes wonder if the Panthers might develop more confidence playing a less challenging schedule.
Update: i went looking for information about Walstad. There was a reference on her Twitter account to knee surgery. I couldn't see anything specific about how long she will be out, but usually there is a long rehab period, so i am assuming she's out for the season. She's already missed the non-league season and the HL season opener.
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 28, 2019 16:32:47 GMT -6
The Panthers won their league opener for the first time in two years, holding on for a 60-58 win over defending champs Wright State. Both teams had lost their last three games.
Milwaukee could have won more comfortably if they had hit free throws at their seasonal rate of 73%; they went 9-17.
Three point shooting was key to the win, as the Panthers did not have much of an inside game (the Raiders outscored the Panthers 7-1 in second chance points, as a result of their 14-5 advantage in offensive rebounds). Sydney Levy (20 points total) and Alyssa Fischer (13) accounted for all nine of the three point shots made for the Panthers. Wright State went four for 19 on the afternoon.
A counterpoint to my last comment about the Panthers's schedule: in the post-game show, Alyssa Fischer pointed out that the strength of schedule for the non-league portion of their schedule placed them 38th in NCAA Division I. Fischer's comments indicated that the team buys into Coach Rechlicz's scheduling philosophy: the team knows they took their lumps in non-league play, but they feel that the challenge has prepared them for league play. Fischer compared the team's position late in the game today with that of the ending of their last loss to North Dakota, only today the Panthers held on to the lead.
The whole Horizon League struggled in non-league play. Only Cleveland State (10-1) and Youngstown State (8-3) had winning non-league records. Green Bay went 5-7 and Wright State went 5-6. Perhaps the Panthers's scheduling philosophy is shared by more HL coaches than I had thought.
Next up for the Panthers is a home game with Northern Kentucky University on Monday night. The Norse lost their opener on the road in Green Bay by a score 65-44. The Phoenix will host Wright State on Monday night, in a rematch of the last two HL tournament finals.
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 30, 2019 21:08:15 GMT -6
Aside from tonight's home game with Northern Kentucky, there were two other interesting games in HLWBB: Wright State at Green Bay (which started at the same time as the Norse-Panther game), and IUPUI at Cleveland State. The latter game was interesting as Cleveland State's eleventh consecutive win this season was their league season opener.
IUPUI came out on fire, hitting several early shots including a couple of early threes to get out to a lead. The Jaguars quickly pushed lead to ten at 18-8, and finished the first quarter up 27-16. IUPUI cooled down a bit in the second quarter, scoring only 13 points, but the Vikings scored only six points, so the half-time score was IUPUI 40, Cleveland State 22. The Vikings played better in the second half, but the Jaguars stayed in control, still leading by 25 points with a minute left in the game.
The Wright State-Green Bay game was much closer. The Raiders had the best of it in the first quarter, and finished with a 14-5 lead. The Phoenix turned up their game, scoring eleven of the first 13 points of the second quarter to tie the score at 16-all. Three-point shooting was a key for the Phoenix closing the gap. Green Bay had a short-lived four point lead at 23-19 just before halftime, but the Raiders scored the final five points of the quarter to finish the half ahead 24-23. A Raider almost hit a buzzer-beater from well beyond the three-point line to extend the lead, but the shot deflected off the rim, off the backboard and off the rim again. Both teams had better outcomes on offense in the third quarter, but the Raiders outscored the Phoenix 25 to 21, to hold a 49-44 lead at quarter's end. The Raider momentum continued in the fourth quarter, as the they pushed the lead to 10 points late at 68-58 before the Phoenix had to start fouling. The final score was 70-58 Raiders.
The Panthers came out against NKU shooting poorly, especially from behind the three-point line. They missed their first thirteen three-point shots, before hitting their first long shot in the third quarter. Their shooting percentage was okay, but they had too many turnovers to develop a steady scoring pace. They trailed nearly the entire game, as they kept having scoring droughts, which has been a common problem this season. They did manage to take a two point lead in the third quarter, only to give it up with another scoring drought. In the end, the Panthers were not hitting desperation three point shots and the Norse pushed the lead to the final score of 61-49.
Through the first weekend of the league season, the only teams undefeated in league play are Youngstown State at 2-0 and Oakland at 1-0 (Oakland beat Detroit in the league opener, and the two teams had tonight off). Green Bay, Wright State, Northern Kentucky, Milwaukee,IUPUI and Cleveland State are all 1-1. Detroit is 0-1 and UIC is 0-2.
Next up for the Panthers is a Saturday afternoon game at Green Bay. I caught the tale end of the Raider-Phoenix game on the internet, and the Green Bay announcers said the Phoenix, so far this season, have not had a player emerge as the go-to player who can carry the team to wins in close games. If the Panthers manage to play against the Phoenix as they did against the Raiders, it could be a close game. If they play as they did against the Norse, the Phoenix will win easily.
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Post by skrapheap on Jan 2, 2020 22:20:29 GMT -6
There were four HLWBB games tonight, and the standings are even more mixed from the results.
Youngstown State, previously unbeaten, traveled to play Northern Kentucky and lost by 19. NKU has won two consecutive games. Wright State won a home game with Cleveland State, the Raiders second win after losing the opener in Milwaukee. IUPUI also has won two in a row, as they defeated Oakland by 35 points at home.
There is currently a four way log jam at the top of the HL standings. NKU, YSU, Wright State, and IUPUI are all at 2-1. Whoever wins Saturday's Milwaukee/Green Bay matchup will be 2-1, but by the close of play on Saturday one or more of the above could already be at 3-1.
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