By Adam Taberman
Wednesday night, the UW-Milwaukee women’s basketball team played a close contest with the Western Michigan University Broncos. In this back and forth bout full of pulling away and near comebacks, UWM won the game 88-79 to advance to 2-1.
The Panthers are coming off of non-conference wins against Hillsdale in an exhibition game and Chicago State in the opener. After that, the Panthers dropped a game to Wisconsin Sunday night.
The Panthers were hitting on all cylinders en route to their win Wednesday night. Specifically, they targeted in on three-point shooting, defense, and crashed the rebounds.
Three-point shooting was a major factor in the victory. As a team, the Panthers shot 13 of 18 from downtown. Junior Emily Decorah caught fire from long range, making five of her attempted six three point shots. Six different players went on to hit at least one three for UWM.
Defense was another huge advantage Milwaukee had. Defense is known to win games after all, and UWM showed that the statement holds true. The Panthers registered double digit steal numbers with eleven. Two players each had three steals to lead the team; sophomore Ashley Green and junior Angela Rodriguez. Green led the team in scoring Wednesday night with 20 points, while also achieving a double-double by grabbing 14 rebounds.
With Green notching double figures for rebounding, it helped set the tone for UWM going forward for the rest of the game. The Panthers had a total of 13 offensive rebounds and 42 total rebounds.
A string of offensive rebounds helped spark a run and gave UWM a sizeable lead multiple times down the stretch. The Broncos fought back and got within three multiple times before Milwaukee would close it out in the end. Ultimately, all the pieces were present on Wednesday night.
The Panthers next competition awaits the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico. UWM will take on Georgia Tech and Eastern Kentucky on Nov. 24 and 25, respectively. The Panthers next game home at the Klotsche Center is Dec. 4 versus Bradley.
