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Jan. 22, 2003

The Sandy Botham File A 1988 Notre Dame graduate, Sandy Botham is in her seventh season at the helm of the UWM women's hoops program. The two-time MCC/Horizon League Coach of the Year owns a 125-85 career mark, good for a .595 winning percentage. The second-winningest coach in school history and the all-time leader in Division I victories, Botham is 103-81 in her six-plus seasons in Milwaukee. Last season, Botham led UWM to its first 20-win season in the school's ten-year Division I history. Botham's teams have posted a 60-28 record in Horizon League play over the years, including regular season and tournament titles in 2000-01. Assisting Botham on the sidelines are first year assistants Joe Conroy, Lea Robinson, and Nicole Luchsinger with 1997 Horizon League Player of the Year Jen Greger serving as Director of Basketball Operations.

Scouting The Raiders Wright State University enters the week of play second in the Horizon League standings with a 3-2 mark, to go with a 5-10 record overall. The Raiders are one of the hottest teams in the league, thanks to a three-game winning streak with wins over Detroit, Cleveland State, and Butler in succession. The Raiders feature the league's top offensive player in sophomore Tiffany Webb. The 5-10 guard is fresh off a Horizon League Player of the Week showing after a 49-point outburst versus Butler. Webb leads WSU with 24.3 ppg and is the only player averaging in double figures. Center Angie Ott adds 8.9 points per contest while forward Katie Bussan leads the team with 4.8 rebounds per game. The Raiders have struggled on the boards in 2002-03, getting outrebounded by nearly 14 rebounds per contest. Tonight's game will mark the 19th meeting between the two schools with UWM holding a 10-8 edge in the series.

Back And Forth, Back And Forth One up, one down. Win one, lose one. The see-saw effect of the 2002-03 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball season continued on Saturday with a 61-60 loss to UW-Green Bay. The Panthers, who have yet to win consecutive games at any point this year, have alternated wins and losses over the last five games, good for a 2-3 mark in that span. On the other side of the coin, UWM has yet to drop more than two consecutive games at any one point of the season.

Near-Miss Provides Light For Panthers One point. One turn of the possession arrow. One bounce off the rim. That's how close UWM came from pulling the upset of the Horizon League season before falling 61-60 to No. 16 UW-Green Bay on Saturday. The Panthers, who trailed the Phoenix 30-25 at the half, played easily their best half of basketball in the second stanza, and came within a 10-foot jump shot with :04 left from defeating the nationally-ranked Phoenix. How close was the game? Here's a look at the final statistics. Field goals: UWGB 26-56, UWM 25-54. Three-pointers: UWGB 5-13, UWM 5-15. Free throws: UWGB 4-5, UWM 5-7. Assists: UWGB 14, UWM 13. Fouls: UWGB 13, UWM 13. Similar performances the rest of the way would surely turn the Panther "near-misses" into Horizon League wins.

Shoot Shots, Make Shots To the surprise of no one, the immediate success of the Panthers this season can be directly related to how well they shoot the basketball. UWM is currently 6-1 on the season when connecting on 45% of its shots from the field but a staggering 0-9 when failing to reach that percentage. The Panthers, who are also 0-9 when getting outshot by the oppostion, are shooting 46.8% from the floor in the six victories and 39.9% in the ten losses. Furthermore, UWM shoots 73.5% from the free throw line in victories and 68.4% in defeat.

"Trey" Land Not Nice To UWM The three-point shot has been more of a problem than a weapon for the UWM women's hoops team this season. Milwaukee has connected on only 56 trifectas on the year while the opposition has nearly doubled that amount with 107 three-balls. Furthermore, UWM is struggling percentage-wise from downtown, making just 27.7% of its tri-lighters while opponents are connecting on 37.8% from three-point land. Thus far in 2002-03, the Panthers have shot 30% or better from the three-point line in just five of 16 games.

Panthers Dominate On The Boards If rebounding is a key to success, than the recent results of the UWM women's basketball team can certainly help to unlock the door to victory. Twice during the last four games, UWM has posted top five rebound margins in the history of the program. Versus CSU on Jan. 4, the Panthers outrebounded the Vikings 57-29, good for a +28 margin and what was then the second best performance in school history. However, just a week later versus Youngstown State, Milwaukee did it again, this time destroying the Penguins on the board to the tune of 54-21. The +33 rebound margin is now second on the all-time list, trailing just the +34 posted versus Marquette on Dec. 3, 1996.

Rebounding To The Top Of The Charts After reading the previous note, it should come as no surprise that the UWM women's hoops squad leads the Horizon League in rebounding margin this season. The Panthers, who have outrebounded the opposition in all six league games, lead the league with a +6.3 margin, more than six rebounds more than the second place team, UIC. In fact, over their last four contests, UWM has outrebounded the oppostion a combined 181-109, good for a +17.9 margin. UWM has 76 offensive rebounds during that time while the opponents have gathered mere 75 defensive caroms.

Panther Offense Kicks Into High Gear The early season offensive struggles appear to be over for the UWM Panthers. Over the last four games, UWM has improved its offensive production to 75.2 points per game, while pushing its overall season average to 64.6 points per contest. Over the four-game span, UWM is shooting 44.3% from the field, while connecting on 113 field goals, 18 three-pointers, and 57 free throws. Furthermore, Milwaukee is creating second-chance opportunities which have led to an aveage of 18 offensive rebounds per game.

Witte Makes Push For Freshman Honors Just six games into the 2002-03 Horizon League season, guard Anne Witte is making waves across the league landscape. How good has the Mukwonago-native been? Just ask UWGB coach Kevin Borseth. Versus the Phoenix on Saturday, Witte scored a career-high 17 points on 6-9 shooting, including three three pointers and a perfect two-of-two from the free throw line. Over her last five games No. 23 is averaging 10.8 points per contest, while shooting 47.4% (18-38) from the floor, 38.1% (8-21) from downtown, and 100% (10-10) from the foul line. The freshman leads the squad with a 92.0% showing from the free throw line and will carry a streak of 18 consecutive makes into tonight's contest.

Becker Does It Again Posting new career-highs have become commonplace for UWM sophomore Kimberly Becker. With 14 points at UIC, 17 more at Youngstown State and 18 versus UWGB on Saturday, the 6-2 forward has set a new personal-scoring best in each passing contest. Becker, who is second in the team in scoring in league games with an 11.5 average, has been remarkable over the last four games. The Platteville, Wis.-native is averaging 14.5 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting an impressive 72.4% (21-29) from the field during the stretch.

Miss Consistency Continues On With the emergence of freshmen Anne Witte and Nichole Drummond, along with fellow post player Kimberly Becker, a load has been taken off the shoulders of the ever-consistent Maria Viall. However he 2001-02 Horizon League Player of the Year has still quietly produced night-in and night-out, while leading the team in scoring (17.0), rebounding (8.6), field goal percentage (55.1%), and blocks (2.1). The junior currently ranks in the league top five in all four statistical categories.

Jess Cracks The Top Five With six points versus UW-Green Bay on Saturday, UWM senior Jessica Wilhite quietly moved into the top five on the school's all-time scoring list. Wilhite now has 1,311 career points and just passed Daryl Schafield (1996-2000), to move into fifth place. Wilhite now trails current UWM Director of Basketball Operations Jen Greger by 74 points as the school's all-time Division I scoring leader.