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Feb. 13, 2004

First-Place Vikings Come To Town

For the second consecutive Saturday, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team will face a team currently leading the Horizon League standings. Last Saturday UWM knocked Detroit from the top spot with a 53-50 win and will look to do the same this Valentine's Day when the Vikings of Cleveland State University come to Milwaukee. The Panthers, who are currently 12-10 overall and third place in the league at 8-3, host the Vikings who sit at 9-2 and tied with UW-Green Bay for the top spot. The game is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at the Klotsche Center. The game can be heard live by visiting the official UWM Athletic Website, www.uwmpanthers.com. Dan Pfeifer will call the action with Assistant Sports Information Director Bret Seymour adding color commentary.

Panthers Coast To 20-Point Win In Uptempo Affair

The UWM women's hoops team needed to bring its track shoes to the U.S. Cellular Arena on Thursday (Feb. 12) as the fast-paced Mastodons of IPFW came to town for a rare, late season non-conference game. The uptempo pace never bothered the red-hot Panthers, however, as UWM took a 14-point halftime advantage and cruised to an 87-67 win. Milwaukee scored 46 points in the first half, marking its second highest offensive output in one half this season. The Mastodons, who trapped all over the court on defense and took quick shots on offense, could never handle UWM's inside game and sharp passing. Maria Viall dominated play in the lane, scoring 23 and grabbing 18 rebounds, with 18 and 13 of those coming in the first half. Nichole Drummond continued her fine play as she chipped in with 16 points, six rebounds, and two blocked shots. Molly O'Brien added ten points while Kimberly Becker notched eight points, ten boards, and a game-high six assists. The win was the fifth in a row for UWM and second in two tries at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

Scouting the Vikings

Thanks to a pair of big guns and solid role players, the Vikings of Cleveland State University have raced out to the top of the Horizon League standings in 2003-04. Under first-year head coach and former UW-Stevens Point star Kate Peterson, the Vikings have won nine of 11 league contests en route to a 12-10 overall record. CSU will bring a three-game winning streak to the Klotsche Center on Saturday thanks to consecutive victories over Youngstown State, Butler, and Loyola. CSU is 4-6 on the road this year but a respectable 3-2 in league road contests. Sharpshooting senior Shannon Sword leads the Viking offense attack with a 17.7 scoring average. The versatile Sword connects on 49.5% of her shots from the field while drilling a league-best 50.0% of her three-point shots. However, the straw that truly stirs the Vikings drink is do-everything star Ashley Schrock. The senior sits fifth in the league in scoring (14.8 ppg), second in rebounding (8.1 rpg), second in assists (5.3 apg), and fourth in free throw percentage (78.4%) all while playing over 33 minutes a game.

So We Meet Again

Saturday's tilt with Cleveland State will mark the second game of the year with the Vikings as a part of the Horizon League's home-and-home series. The Vikings won the first game of the season between the teams, squeaking out a 59-57 win at the CSU Convocation Center on Jan. 15. Cleveland State raced out to an early first-half lead in that contest before taking a 31-20 lead into the break. Things looked even worse for UWM early in the second stanza as starting point guard Aubrey Hampton went down with what turned out to be a season-ending knee injury. However the Panthers persevered and cut the lead to two on two different occasions late in the game. Unfortunately UWM missed on two eventual game-tying chances in the final 30 seconds as the hosts escaped with the two-point victory. Nichole Drummond led Milwaukee with 14 points off the bench while Maria Viall added 11 points and 15 boards. Shannon Sword scored 18 for CSU while Ashley Schrock chipped in with 13. With the victory, Cleveland State tied the all-time series between the two schools at 12 apiece.

This Can Be Contagious

In a season of one-up, one-down, the UWM women's basketball team is currently in the midst of a bigtime upswing. With the victory over IPFW on Thursday, the Panthers have now won five consecutive games, their longest streak of the year and the longest since the 2001-02 squad won seven in a row from Jan. 31 through Feb. 21. Four of the five wins during the streak have come 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 last Saturday the Panthers moved above the .500 mark on the year for the first time all season.

Home Court Dominance

You hear coaches talk about it all the time. You see the truly successful programs do it all the time. And, thankfully for UWM, that thing, winning at home, has become commonplace in recent years. During the Sandy Botham era homecourt domination has become a staple of the program. In the seven-year Botham tenure, Milwaukee boasts a 50-9 home record in conference play, good for an 84.7% winning percentage. That number has even increased recently as UWM has won 94.4% of its home Horizon League games, 34 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.

Down The Home Stretch

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 the weekend, just two games separate the league leader, UW-Green Bay (10-2), and the fourth place team Detroit (8-4). Green Bay, with a 16-6 overall record, will remain in first place over the weekend as it plays a non-league game versus IPFW on Saturday. Cleveland State faces UWM on Saturday while the Titans of Detroit will play at Loyola.

Drummond Becomes Legit Threat

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 IPFW on Thursday, Drummond scored 16 points, marking the third time in four games the sophomore scored at least 13 points in a game. During a recent eleven-game stretch, No. 22 has reached double figures seven times while averaging 11.5 points per contest. Furthermore, during that time Drummond has averaged 4.5 rebounds per game while hitting 41-of-55 free throws for 74.5%. Drummond has been living at the line of late, averaging 5.5 free throw attempts per game over the eleven games after shooting just 14 charities in the team's first 11 games of the season. On the year Drummond's 9.4 ppg are good for second on the squad with that number jumping up to 10.5 ppg in league-only games.

Mr. Clean Would Be Proud

Talk about owning a team. In Thursday's game versus IPFW the UWM women's hoops team dominated the glass and rebounded like no other Panther team in school-history. In the 20-point victory over the Mastodons Milwaukee grabbed a school-record 63 rebounds, with 24 of those coming on the offensive end. The rebound total broke the old school standard of 60, set versus Northeastern Illinois on Jan. 22, 1991 and equalled versus Indiana State on Dec. 2, 1995. The +30 rebound margin currently ranks third on UWM's single game list, trailing the +33 in last year's game at Youngstown State and the +31 versus UW-Green Bay this season. On the year, Milwaukee owns a league-best +7.0 rebound margin with that number jumping up to +12.2 in league-only contests. UWM has outrebounded the opponent by at least 13 rebounds in eight of its last nine games.

Tough To Score Against

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 53.4 points per game in the last five games, all UWM 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 five games the opposition has hit just 35.5% of its shots while turning the ball over an average of 18.2 times per game. Furthermore, UWM has nabbed 344steals in the four games while outrebounding the opposition by more than twelve rebounds a game during the streak.

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 17.8 ppg and 10.1 rpg, respectively, while sitting second in field goal percentage (.530), third in blocked shots (1.21), and sixth in free throw percentage (.771). 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 1,730 points, needs just 101 points to become the school's all-time scoring lead. If Viall continues to score on at her current pace, she will break the school record in the first round of the 2004 Horizon League tournament.

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.

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.

Dear Diary

For those that really want to get to know UWM All-America Candidate Maria Viall, nows your chance. The Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year has been selected by ESPN.com to keep a diary throughout the 2003-04 season. Viall will share her thoughts on the team, classes, life on the road, and what its like as a Division I women's basketball player. The Waukesha-native will report twice a month to the women's basketball section of the national sports website. Viall's fifth diary entry, which will highlight UWM's recent road trips and recent success, is currently online. Fans can read each diary by clicking on the Women's College Basketball Link from the ESPN.com homepage.