MILWAUKEE –  The Wisconsin women's basketball team found momentum in the second quarter to overcome in-state rival, Milwaukee, 68-57, at the Klotsche Center on Tuesday night.
 
The Badgers (2-0) had a slow start, trailing the Panthers, 24-15, at the end of the first quarter. Wisconsin scored the first seven points of the second quarter to pull within one (24-23) with 6:14 on the clock. Three straight points by Imani Lewis put UW up 29-26 with 3:07 to play in the half as Wisconsin outscored the Panthers 15-4 in the period.
 
Wisconsin continued to out shoot Milwaukee in the third quarter, 23-10, to gain a game high 20-point lead with 2:16 left in the third. Redshirt freshman Alex Luehring got hot from deep, hitting 2-of-3 from 3-point range to key the run. The Panthers were not able to close the gap in the fourth quarter as Wisconsin held on to a double-digit lead.
 
Senior Marsha Howard led the way for UW with a second straight double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Behind Howard, three other Badgers scored in double figures with Lewis and Luehring both puttng up 12 points and Abby Laszewski adding 11 points.
 
As a team, UW shot 26-60 (42 percent) from the field, holding the Panthers to 20-31 (33 percent). After Milwaukee shot 50 percent (7-14) from 3-point range in the first quarter, the Badgers held the Panthers to just 37 percent (10-27) for the game. UW hit 5-16 (31.3 percent) from deep.

Wisconsin outrebounded the Panthers 46-39 and also controlled the court in assists (14-8), steals (8-5) and blocks (-74). Kendra Van Leeuwen had a game-high five assists and Lewis had a game-high three steals. Luehring led all players with three blocks.
 
Milwaukee was led by Sydney Levy who put up 11 points and Ryaen Johnson with 7 defensive rebounds.
 

She's a BEAST! @ballislifee_34 has a game-high 12 points!
Q3-4:52 | WIS 39, UWM 32 pic.twitter.com/Nsow6P95yZ

— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerWBB) November 14, 2018

 

Turning Point

Wisconsin's momentum was found after Marsha Howard nailed her first career 3-pointer in the second quarter with 8:17 on the clock. Her shot brought UW within four points of the Panthers (24-20) after being down 24-15 at the end of the first quarter. From then on, the Badgers took the lead and never looked back reaching a game high 20-point lead with 2:16 left in the third.
 

Fun Facts

• Senior Marsha Howard recorded her second-straight double-double with a game-high 16 points and 10 rebounds. The 6-foot forward now has seven career double-doubles.
• The Badgers open a season 2-0 for the first time since 2013-14.
• Redshirt senior Kelly Karlis tied her career high with four assists.
• Redshirt freshman Alex Luehring scored a career-high 12 points, hitting a career best 4-8 from 3-point range. She also added a career best six rebounds.
• Freshman Imani Lewis scored a career-high 12 points while adding eight rebounds.
• The Panthers four points in the second quarter is the second fewest UW has given up a period since going to four quarters.

 

Straight from the Court

Head coach Jonathan Tsipis
On what stood out:
"The result. I think when it got to nine (points), we had done some good things offensively, but we weren't guarding people. I thought we were doing a good job on the backboards and Marsha got us started. I think that was contagious to get us touches inside. Between Marsha, Imani, and Abby in the first half, we were able to get high percentage shots.
 
"In the second quarter, we didn't shoot great, but we got to the line. Obviously, in the third, they started to make a couple of runs. Alex Luehring was huge for us tonight was four 3's. I thought different people stepped up. Our defense needs to be better in the fourth quarter, but I thought Kendra did a great job getting us into the actions. I don't think the foul troubles took any of our aggressiveness out starting the second half."
 

Up Next

The Badgers come back home Saturday to take on North Dakota State at noon in the Kohl Center.