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Feb. 11, 2004

MILWAUKEE -

Panthers Head To Cell For Non-League Action

For the second time this season the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team will head downtown for a game, this time hosting IUPU-Ft. Wayne on Thursday (Feb. 12). The game, which is set to begin at 5:00 p.m., will preceed the UWM-Loyola Horizon League men's game. The Panthers are riding a four-game winning streak into the contest and have improved their overall record to 11-10 and 8-3 in the Horizon League. Milwaukee defeated Butler, 64-59, on January 8th in its first game downtown this year. The game can be heard via the Live Audio link on the women's basketball page on the official UWM Athletics Website, www.uwmpanthers.com. Furthermore, the action can be followed via Gametracker on the site.

Gritty Panthers Claim Big Road Win

In arguably its biggest win of the season the UWM women's basketball team posted a hard-fought 53-50 win at Detroit last Saturday (Feb. 7). With the victory the Panthers claimed just their second road win of the 2003-04 campaign while also knocking Detroit from first place to fourth in the league standings. Milwaukee controlled the the first half of action, holding UDM to 19 points in coasting to a 32-19 halftime bulge. The Panthers shot 52.0% from the field in the first half against the nation's 8th ranked field goal percentage defense. Milwaukee pushed its lead to 18 midway through the second half before the hosts made it interesting. Playing most of the final 10 minutes without Maria Viall, Milwaukee did not make a field goal in the final 10:02 of regulation. During that time, the Titans went on a 19-1 run to tie the game at 49. However, clutch free throw shooting by Nichole Drummond and Kiley Johnson forged UWM back ahead before a last second three-pointer for Detroit fell short, giving the Panthers their fourth straight victory. Drummond led Milwaukee with 13 points while Kimberly Becker added 10.

Scouting the Mastadons

The Mastadons of IUPU-Ft. Wayne, are a newcomer into the ranks of Division I basketball. In just their third season of DI competition the Mastadons are a slowly improving club. Despite not playing in a conference, IPFW has been able to fill its schedule with quality competition which has led to a 7-15 record thus far in 2003-04. IPFW, which owns a victory over Horizon League leader Cleveland State, has played four of the league teams thus far, going 1-3 in those contests. The Mastadons enter Thursday's contest in the midst of a three-game losing streak, including a 91-68 setback versus Illinois-Chicago on Saturday (Feb. 7). Senior forward Amy Gearlds is as good as they come at this level and she leads the squad with 18.5 points per game while drilling 69 three pointers in just 22 games. Junior Verea Bibbs has been a load inside as evidenced by her 14.7 point and 8.6 rebound per game average. The Mastadons boast a high-scoring offense attack, averaging 70.6 ppg. However, the Ft. Wayne, Ind.-based school has given up an average of 78.7 ppg this year. The Mastadons are coached by third-year mentor Bruce Patterson.

Bringing It On Downtown

After not playing there for over six years, the UWM women's hoops team will play its second game of the 2003-04 season at the U.S. Cellular Arena in downtown Milwaukee on Thursday. The facility formerly known as the Mecca, is a basketball landmark in its 54th year of hosting bigtime college basketball. Located on 4th and Kilbourn in Milwaukee, the arena is the former home of the Milwaukee Bucks and both the Marquette men's and women's teams, including MU's 1977 National Championship squad. Thanks to a 64-59 victory over Butler on Jan. 8, Milwaukee now owns a 10-10 all-time record in the building but a 4-3 mark when serving as the host team. The Panthers dropped a 73-53 decision to Marquette last season when the Golden Eagles called "The Cell" its home. Prior to this season, the last time UWM hosted a game there, Jan. 20, 1996, it lost 82-64 to Cleveland State.

Home Court Dominance

Controlling your turf. Defending your palace. Taking care of business. Whatever you want to call it, obtaining success in any conference race begins with one major concept: winning at home. Fortunately for UWM, domination at home has been a staple of Sandy Botham's programs. In the seven-year Botham tenure, Milwaukee boasts a 49-9 home record in conference play, good for an 84.4% winning percentage. That number has even increased recently as UWM has won 91.6% of its home Horizon League games, 33 of 36, in the last four-plus seasons. During those four years UWM went two consecutive seasons, 1999-00 and 2000-01, without dropping a single home conference game, going 14-0 during that time frame. Thursday's game marks the fourth of five home games during a six-game stretch.

And Then There Were Four

With the 2003-04 Horizon League season basically two-thirds of the way done, the race for the regular season championship has come down to four teams. Heading into Wednesday (Feb. 11), just one game separates the league leader, UW-Green Bay (9-2), and the two teams tied for third, UWM (8-3) and Detroit (8-3). Green Bay, at 9-2 in the league, plays a huge game on Wednesday when the league's second place team, Cleveland State (8-2) comes to town. The Vikings will then head to Milwaukee for phase two of the always difficult Wisconsin swing on Saturday. UWM has finished its regular season home-and-home with Detroit with a pair of victories while home games versus CSU and UWGB loom on the Horizon.

Home of Champions

With a pair of home games versus the league's top two teams remaining, UWM still has a shot at winning the 2003-04 Horizon League regular season championship. The women's hoops squad would then join Milwaukee's three fall teams which won regular season titles (volleyball, men's soccer, and women's soccer). Furthermore, the UWM men's basketball team is on the verge of adding another regular season trophy to the Klotsche Center trophy case as it owns a two-game lead in the race with just four games to play. The Panthers women's team is looking for just its second regular season title ever, joining the 2000-01 squad that shared the title with UW-Green Bay.

Drummond Gets It Done

If there ever was a question as to who would emerge as UWM's No. 2 scoring threat it most definitely has been answered. And that player's name: Nichole Drummond. The 5-10 sophomore from Kenosha has turned into one of the tougher players to guard in the Horizon League. Versus Detroit on Saturday, Drummond scored a team-high 13 points, marking the fourth time in the last ten games that the sophomore has led the team in scoring. During a recent ten-game stretch, No. 22 has reached double figures six times while averaging 11.1 points per contest. Furthermore, during that time Drummond has averaged 4.3 rebounds per game while hitting 33-of-46 free throws for 71.7%. Drummond has been living at the line of late, averaging 4.6 free throw attempts per game over the ten games after shooting just 14 charities in the team's first 11 games of the season. On the year Drummond's 9.0 ppg are good for second on the squad with that number jumping up to 10.5 ppg in league-only games.

Getting To The Point

When freshman Aubrey Hampton went down to a season-ending knee injury on Jan. 15 concerns were raised about who will run the UWM offense. Well, those concerns have all but evaporated as sophomore Anne Witte has performed admirably at the PG role in the last seven games after moving over from her more traditional role of shooting guard. In fact, not only has Witte's point guard numbers improved, her scoring has taken a jump of late as well. In the last seven games No. 23 is averaging 3.1 assists per game to go along with 7.6 points per game, including a season-high 12 markers versus Youngstown State on Jan. 31. One thing Witte has done consistently all season is shoot the three-ball. The sophomore is currently second in the Horizon League in 3PT fielg goal percentage with a 44.2% mark. However, that mark has increased exponentially of late as Witte has drilled 19-of-38 (50.0%) trifectas during a stretch of 12 straight games with at least one make.

And The Streak Continues

In a season of one-up, one-down, the UWM women's basketball team is currently in the midst of its first real winning streak of the 2003-04 campaign. With the victory over Detroit on Saturday, the Panthers have now won four consecutive games, the longest streak of the year and the longest since last year's team won four in a row from Feb. 1 through Feb. 15. The four straight wins all came against Horizon League opponents, marking the first time this year the Panthers have won four straight league games. UWM opened league play with consecutive victories over UIC, Butler, and Loyola before dropping a game. Furthermore, with the Detroit victory the Panthers moved above the .500 mark on the year for the first time all season.

D...D...D....Defense

One major key to the recent Milwaukee winning streak: defense. The Panthers have really turned up the pressure of late and have held the opposition to a mere 50.0 points per game in the last four games, all victories. Head Coach Sandy Botham has done a nice job of mixing solid man-to-man defense and an aggresive zone to frustrate opponents. In the four games the opposition has hit just 35.8% of its shots while turning the ball over an average of 18.5 times per game. Furthermore, UWM has nabbed 35 steals in the four games while outrebounding the opposition by more than seven rebounds a game during the streak.

Panther Quick Hits

Freshman Megan Rogers scored a career-high eight points versus UDM on Saturday ... Molly O'Brien ranks sixth in the league in assists in league-only games and eighth in steals ... Kiley Jonhson's 29 trifecta's are the most by a UWM freshman since Jessica Wilhite made 49 in 1999-2000 ... UWM is 29th in the nation with a +5.9 rebounding margin.

League Leading Numbers

Before the 2003-04 season started, UWM senior Maria Viall was picked as the preseason Horizon League Player of the Year. And, with the league season nearly two-thirds of the way completed, it appears as if the prognosticators made a pretty wise choice. Through 21 games, the 6-3 center is the currently ranked in the top ten in five of the eight major statistical categories. The Waukesha-native is currently second in scoring and first in rebounding with 17.6 ppg and 9.8 rpg, respectively, while sitting second in field goal percentage (.528), third in blocked shots (1.21), and eighth in free throw percentage (.764). Viall joins UWGB's Abby Scharlow as the only two players to be ranked in at least five different categories. Viall, who is currently second on UWM's all-time scoring list with 1,709 points, recently moved into fourth place all-time on the Horizon League scoring list.

Freshman Floor General Out For The Year

Reality sure can bite. Just ask UWM point guard Aubrey Hampton. The freshman floor general had been playing some of the best basketball of her young career before a knee injury more than likely ended her rookie season in the Horizon League. Hampton, who leads the Panthers in assists (3.5 per game) and free throw shooting (80.8), was averaging 10.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game in Horizon League play before being hurt. The fearless Hampton injured her right knee on a drive to the basket versus Cleveland State and will miss the rest of the year with a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in the knee.

League Tourney Comes To Milwaukee

On the heels of the hugely successful 2003 Horizon League Men's Basketball Tournament, the 2004 Horizon League Women's Tournament will look for similar excitement when it comes to Milwaukee in March. The tourney, which is scheduled for March 2-8 at the Klotsche Center, has changed formats from the previous years. The four quarterfinal games on March 4 will be held at the campuses of the top four seeds. If UWM is a top four seed and it wins it's quarterfinal game then the two semifinal battles and championship match will move to Milwaukee on Sunday, March 7 and Monday, March 8.