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Post by skrapheap on Nov 26, 2020 16:13:40 GMT -6
The 2020-21 season got off to a positive start in a number of ways, as the Panthers beat Ball State by 11 points, 67-56.
The first good point was the return of Megan Walstad after missing all of last season with an injury. She struggled with foul trouble, but came on in the second half, finishing with nine points and 12 rebounds. The Panthers struggled without her at times last season, but Brandi Bisping emerged as an inside presence. Having Walstad back can only help the inside game, as she was the most consistent scorer and rebounder in her freshman season. Bisping also had a near double-double. A more reliable inside scoring threat can simultaneously allow the Panthers to rely less on the three-point shot for scoring, and make the long-distance shot more effective because the inside game is a more credible scoring threat, resulting in more open shots from behind the arc. For the game, the Panthers had a 30-20 advantage in points in the paint.
The next way the season started positively was the contribution of Miquela Santoro, a graduate transfer from Winthrop College. Santoro started the game, and kicked off the scoring with a three-point shot, on her way to a team-high 16 points, to go with two rebounds, an assist and a steal. She was joined in double figures by Bisping (13) and freshman Kendall Nead (10).
Nead was not the only newcomer beside Santoro to see the court. Angie Cera, the much-anticipated younger sister of Bre, scored four points. Freshmen Macy McGlone and Jada Donaldson saw the court but did not score, although McGlone contributed three rebounds to the cause. Nead scored her 10 points in 15 minutes of play, hitting two of four three-point shots. The Panthers finished with 42 rebounds to 29 for the Cardinals, and an 18-10 advantage in offensive rebounds, leading to a 15-9 advantage in second chance points.
Elsewhere in the Horizon League, IUPUI handled Northern Illinois in their opening game. Northern Kentucky lead Cincinnati for most of the game, and managed to close the gap late to force overtime. The Bearcats took control in OT and won the game 73-67. UIC, Detroit, and Purdue Fort Wayne all lost on Wednesday. The Flames lost by 11: they missed 17 free-throws.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 28, 2020 20:57:34 GMT -6
Milwaukee traveled to Peoria to face Bradley, who was picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley conference. The Panthers started slowly but finished much better, emerging with a 65-60 victory. It was the first time in more than ten years that the Panthers won their first two games of the season.
The Panthers led much of the first quarter, but the Braves took a late lead in a low-scoring 10 minutes, 12-11. The second quarter was equally slow, with Bradley leading by three at half-time, 22-19. Neither team shot well, and there were plenty of turnovers.
Play picked up considerably in the third quarter, as the Panthers scored 21 points in 10 minutes, more than in the first 20 minutes of the game. Bradley kept pace, however, with 20 points, and lead 42-40 after three quarters. Brandi Bisping lead the Panther charge with 10 points on two three-point shots and four free-throws, a performance mirroring her third quarter in the season opening win over Ball State.
Bradley scored the first four points of the fourth quarter, but the Panthers stormed back, on six consecutive points by Emma Wittmershaus, as the lead narrowed to 49-46. The foul count was rising steadily throughout the game, and the Panthers were in the bonus with a little more than half the fourth quarter to go. After two free-thows from McKaela Schmelzer cut to the lead to one at 49-48. Bre Cera's three-ball gave the Panthers a lead they would not relinquish at 51-49. Cera followed up with two free-throws as the parade to the free-throw line continued. After a Bradley basket cut the Panther lead to 53-51, two Bisping free throws and a Schmelzer three-point basket pushed the Panther lead to seven at 58-51 with just over two minutes to play. Milwaukee salted the game away at the free-throw line, scoring five of their final seven points on free-throws. The strategy was to get the ball to Bisping so that Bradley could foul her to stop the clock. Bisping, being the free-throw shooter that she is, hit four of six shots from the line; Bre Cera ht one of two, and Schmelzer contributed a two-point basket. The Braves did get as close as 63-60, but there was not enough time left, and the Panthers were too good at the line. Milwaukee was 23-29 in free throws overall for the game, slightly lower in percentage than their game one performance.
Bradley had three players foul out, to one for Milwaukee. If there had been fans in the stands, the refs would have heard about it.
Bisping lead Milwaukee with a 20 point, 12 rebound double-double. Schmelzer had 12 points to go with three rebounds and three assists. Bre Cera had 11 points. Megan Walstad had only four points, but 11 rebounds. Wittmershaus was efficient, adding four rebounds to her six third-quarter points in 14 minutes of playing time.
The Panthers have two non-league games remaining, next Wednesday at Marquette, and following Sunday at Bowling Green, before they being league play. They will travel to Green Bay for two games on December 12th and 13th, before returning home to face Robert Morris for two games. The Phoenix won their season opener at home against Drake, 58-51.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 28, 2020 23:16:48 GMT -6
In a normal season, I could say confidently that if the Panthers start slowly on Wednesday against Marquette as they have against Ball State and Bradley, the game will essentially be over by halftime. But this is not a normal year.
The Panthers will have, probably, three days of practice to prepare for Marquette, and the game on Wednesday will be only the second games the Golden Eagles have played. The Panthers have more experienced and better players than they have had in recent years. What in a normal year might be predicted to be a loss is more unpredictable.
Marquette may well get off to a good start on the season, and the Panthers might lose their ninth consecutive game to MU. But the experience of the first two Panther games leads me to be a bit more optimistic than I would otherwise be. Brandi Bisping has picked up where she left off last season. Megan Walstad is still working her way back as a scorer, but her rebounding has been solid. Emma Wittmershaus has shown improvement as a scorer. The team has managed to get to the free throw line 56 times in the first two games, and the team has hit 43 of them, a .768 clip. The Panthers can, barring injury, build their offense on an improved inside game, which can help them to rely less on the three-point shot, a part of their offense which has been off to a slower start. If that part of the offense picks up, the team will have a better and more balanced offense, which should help them in league play.
So far the defense has held a couple of teams expected to have good offenses to 60 points or less. As more practice and game experience enables the players to work together more effectively together, Coach Rechlicz could be building a team that could do appreciably better than finishing seventh in the league, as predicted.
Yesterday Michigan beat Oakland by 33. Earlier today, Green Bay hosted Drake, and won by eight. It was not a great performance, but one can easily see that the Phoenix are close to back to playing at their accustomed level. IUPUI and Northern Kentucky have games on Monday and Tuesday, after UIC, Oakland and Detroit play games tomorrow. Wright State and Robert Morris have yet to play a non-league game. It may take until well after the start of league play to see how accurate the pre-season poll turns out to be.
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Post by parkerj on Nov 30, 2020 21:35:07 GMT -6
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 1, 2020 7:39:42 GMT -6
Can't quibble much with your picks. Last night IUPUI won a road game against Ball State by 20+ points; Milwaukee beat Ball State by 11 at home. Those wins might look more impressive later this season if the Cardinals get their top scorers back from injury, but the fact remains that the Panthers really put their game with the Cardinals away in the fourth quarter, whereas the Jaguars took control of the game in the second quarter and never looked back. That's what Macee Williams will do for you. IUPUI so far looks pretty much like they did last season: a pretty solid team, with good players who compliment their star. It doesn't hurt that they didn't lose all that much to graduation. Green Bay had a rough start to last season, as a lot of players who were expected to be contributors lost a lot of time to injury. They built momentum over the course of the season, and finished well. Now the Phoenix have most of those injured players back. They should look a great deal like the Phoenix teams we've been accustomed to seeing. Their win over Drake wasn't a thing of beauty, but they did play pretty good basketball in stretches. They have two games with North Dakota State (picked to finish in the middle of the Summit League) on the calendar for the weekend. I can't tell if that's a hedged bet or if they will in fact play twice. The games between Green Bay and IUPUI should be really good. Northern Kentucky travels to Akron tonight to play the University of Akron, who was picked to finish 10th in the MAC. The Norse gave Cincinnati all they could handle before running out of gas in overtime. I fully expect the Norse to win easily.
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 1, 2020 18:01:50 GMT -6
Northern Kentucky travels to Akron tonight to play the University of Akron, who was picked to finish 10th in the MAC. The Norse gave Cincinnati all they could handle before running out of gas in overtime. I fully expect the Norse to win easily. Akron wins, 70-60. The Zips were able to play more at their preferred pace, which appears to have been a bit too fast for the Norse. So much for my expectation. Everybody sing with me: "What the hell do I know? I come from Waunakee..."
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Dec 2, 2020 15:08:42 GMT -6
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Post by parkerj on Dec 2, 2020 15:10:44 GMT -6
It seems I undervalued Milwaukee 😁
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Post by chipanthers45 on Dec 2, 2020 16:38:58 GMT -6
It seems I undervalued Milwaukee 😁 I watched half of their first game and most of their Bradley game. They seem really solid, they have some scorers on this team that's for sure! It's amazing what Coach Rechlicz has done for the program. Last two years have been a bit of a struggle but still surprised someone bigger hasn't tried to hire her away yet.
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 2, 2020 17:01:16 GMT -6
It seems I undervalued Milwaukee 😁 That was an interesting game. I had said that a slow start like that of the first two games would be a problem against a team like Marquette. It was the Golden Eagles who started slowly, and the Panthers took advantage. After Marquette scored the first four points of the game, Milwaukee scored 13 consecutive points, led by two three-point makes by McKaela Schmelzer. The quarter finished with the Panthers in front, 17-9. Schmelzer led the way. The Panthers scored only 13 points in the second quarter, but still extended their lead to 30-12, as the Eagles managed only three points. That 18 point halftime lead was against a team with distinct advantage in height. A bright spot was the return of Sydney Staver, who had missed the first two games with an injury. She came off the bench and provided instant offense, scoring four points. Marquette finally got their offense going in the third, out scoring Milwaukee 19-14 to reduce the lead to 44-31 at the end of the quarter. The Eagles improved their shot selection and hit more shots. The Panthers largely kept pace, setting the stage for the final quarter. As they had done in their previous games, the Panthers saved the best for last, scoring 20 points, the last ten at the free throw line, going 10-10 over the last minute of the game. Marquette had 24 points in the quarter, cutting the lead to six on a couple of occasions, but were not able to push past Milwaukee. The final was a nine point win, 64-55. Schmelzer led the way with 15 points (3-5 on three-point shots, 2-2 from the line), two assists and two rebounds. Megan Walstad started to resemble herself from two years ago, with a double double of 14 points and 11 rebounds, to go with a steal, two blocks, and three assists. Staver finished with 12 points. Emma Wittmershaus added eight points and three assists. If the Golden Eagles had played four quarters like they played the second half, odds are that they win the game. The Panthers took full advantage of the slow start, and built a lead they were able to keep.
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 2, 2020 18:30:38 GMT -6
It seems I undervalued Milwaukee 😁 I watched half of their first game and most of their Bradley game. They seem really solid, they have some scorers on this team that's for sure! It's amazing what Coach Rechlicz has done for the program. Last two years have been a bit of a struggle but still surprised someone bigger hasn't tried to hire her away yet. This is a pretty solid team. It has a strong core of experienced players, most of whom have multiple years at Milwaukee and are thus more familiar with what Coach Rechlicz wants. The announcers for today's game with Marquette remarked on the experience factor a number of times, pointing out that the Marquette roster is pretty young. It wasn't entirely excuse-making, I think. The program's best years have been built on the foundation of a strong front court player, supported by talent elsewhere. Maria Viall was a two-time league player of the year, but she had shooters like Jessica Wilhite around her. Traci Edwards rewrote the scoring records at UWM, but she had some good teammates, who did more than just feed her the ball. Most recently, in the Rechlicz era, the combination of Steph Kostowicz and Jenny Lindner gave the Panthera a strong one-two punch. The Panthers don't have a player with Viall, Edwards, or Kostowicz's combination of height and skill, but they have two good post-players in Brandi Bisping (5'11") and Megan Walstad (6'1"). Emma Wittmershaus is 6'3", but she hasn't had the output of the other two. She has come in on the last two games. She may not be a 15-20 point/game scorer, but she is improving. This is good, because that means the Panthers don't have to rely on Macy McGone, a 6'2" freshman. They have the luxury of allowing her time to accustom herself to the speed and skill of D1 basketball. There are other pieces to the puzzle which make the Panthers team hopeful as well. McKaela Schmelzer is said to be one of the best athletes on the squad. She has come on as a scorer along with handling the point guard duties. Bre Cera and Sydney Staver are two seniors who play important roles on the team. Cera does a lot of little things, so her contribution to the effort is significant even if she is not one of the top scorers. Staver has provided instant offense the whole of her Panther career. Getting her back today really helped the Panthers win. Alyssa Moore plays good defense, and runs the point in Schmelzer's absence. Then there are the newcomers. It will be hard, in a shortened non-league season, to get these players a lot of playing time. Miqela Santoro has been a starter in the first three games, by virtue of her experience at Winthrop. She lead the Panthers in scoring in her first game, but has done less in the next two. Coach Rechlicz values her defense as well as her scoring. Kendall Nead has appeared in all three games. She hasn't been shy about putting up shots, and had 10 points in the season opener. She has continued to get playing time, and has hit some timely shots. Angie Cera, Bre's younger sister, has also played quite a bit through three games. She's scored a few points. I think her game is somewhat like her sisters: she can score if called on, but contributes a lot of effort and toughness which can affect games without showing up in the statistics. The Panthers have one more non-league game, at Bowling Green on Sunday. Then the challenge really begins: the Panthers kick off leaque play at Green Bay the following weekend.
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 3, 2020 17:33:49 GMT -6
Northern Kentucky and Bowling Green agreed a couple of days ago to add a non-conference women's basketball game to their schedules. Milwaukee was already scheduled to play at Bowling Green on Sunday, so the game was of some interest.
The game was played today with NKU at home. Bowling Green won convincingly, 63-49, and the game was not as close as the score would indicate. BGSU lead after one quarter 13-9, at half by 34-20. after three quarters by 50-30. The lead reached 27 points in the early part of the fourth quarter before NKU finally was able to put together a coherent and effective offensive effort to cut that 27 point lead in half at the end of the game.
NKU is now 0-3 to start the season. They haven't played teams they can beat up on, although both Akron and Bowling Green appear to have both been underrated in the preseason rankings in their conference, the MAC. NKU took Cincinnati to overtime, but lost to Akron and Bowling Green by double digits. This raises the question: just how good will the Norse be in the Horizon League. Have they lost three straight because they're not as good as advertised, or is it a question of just needing time together to acclimate the newcomers? The Norse did lose some players to graduation, but most of their key players are back. In the games I have watched, it doesn't appear to be a problem with players not knowing the offensive or defensive schemes. it is a problem of execution.
Bowling Green is a young athletic team, and they will present a challenge to the Panthers on Sunday. I am sure the coaching staff and the players watched today, along with watching video of the Falcons' previous game.
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 5, 2020 17:58:01 GMT -6
I watched the replay of today's Green Bay at North Dakota State game, which the home team won, 59-51. Green Bay got out to an early lead, but NDState pulled at the end of the first quarter, and led for the rest of the game. But as the relatively low score suggests, although the Bison extended the lead as high as 18 points early in the third quarter, the win was by no means comfortable. The Phoenix played their usual sound fundamental defense, and held the Bison to 25 points in the second half, while fighting back to get the lead down to three points with 3:02 remaining in the game. The Phoenix could not overcome poor shooting from behind the arc (just 2-19), and shot only 60% from the free throw line. The Bison shot five more free throws than the Phoenix, but hit 90% of their free throws, and that was enough for the Bison to hang on and win. I had wondered, seeing two GB/NDState games on the schedule, if the second game was an instance of the Phoenix hedging a bet on the game being postponed. It turns out the Green Bay is going to play two games with NDState. The announcers noted that this was going to give the Phoenix a leg up on league play, as they will have an opportunity to figure out the logistics of playing back to back games against an opponent a week before they have to do it in Horizon League play. Their opponent next weekend is Milwaukee. In the meantime, Panther fans await tomorrow's game between Milwaukee and Bowling Green. I thought it was very kind of the Panthers to schedule the game to end before the Packers play but the Horizon League calendar lists it as a noon game (eastern time), while mkepanthers.com refers to it as a 1:00 p.m. game (also eastern time?). ESPN seems convinced the game starts at 11:00 a.m. Milwaukee time, so that's when I will be tuning in. I will try to follow IUPUI's game with Notre Dame tomorrow afternoon. NKU plays at Ohio State (time not determined on the HL website) and Wright State plays at Michigan tomorrow as well. You can't accuse the HL teams of not challenging themselves when the opportunity has arisen during this covid-affected non-league season.
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 6, 2020 13:13:38 GMT -6
After trailing Bowling Green for a good part of the game, Milwaukee put together a good fourth quarter and retook the lead, then let it slip away to lose their first game of the season 64-62. The Panthera had a five point lead with about two minutes remaining, and were shut out the rest fo the way. Megan Walstad and Brandi Bisping missed two shots from the lane in the last few seconds, one which would have won the game, and one that would have sent the game to overtime.
Somebody had to lose the game, but it was frustrating to watch the Panthers give up a lead that should have been safe. The Panthers again had three players score in double figures, and nearly had five. Sydney Staver led the Panthers with 15 points, followed by Megan Walstad with 11 and Bisping with 10. Kendall Nead and Emma Wittmershaus had nine and eight points respectively.
Elsewhere in the Horizon League, Wright State visited the University of Michigan. After being outscored in the first two quarters, 48-27, the Raiders put together a good third quarter to cut the lead to 12. It will be interesting to follow the fourth quarter of this game. I will be following the Green Bay - North Dakota State and the IUPUI - Notre Dame games while following the NFL this afternoon.
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Post by parkerj on Dec 6, 2020 14:14:53 GMT -6
That was brutal
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