UWM women’s team has high hopes this year
After a 2016-’17 that saw the UW-Milwaukee women’s basketball team tie a school record with 22 victories and win multiple postseason games for the first time ever, coach Kyle Rechlicz & Co. are setting their sights even higher.
“This is a really important season for us as a team,” said Rechlicz, who has gone 68-87 in her first six years at the helm of the Panthers.
“We’ve kind of been grooming a group of seniors. We have four this year and we’ve been kind of grooming them to make this year ‘the year.’ Since I first took over the job this would be my second recruiting class, but really the first one that we were able to get some really quality players.
“We’re excited. The expectations are really high – and not just set by me and my coaching staff, but the team.”
After a combined 27 victories in her first three seasons at UWM, Rechlicz broke through with a 19-13 mark in 2015’16 that included a second-place finish in the Horizon League and coach of the year honors.
Last year the Panthers finished fifth in the Horizon League but upped the bar overall with a 22-12 record and victories over Wisconsin and UW-Green Bay in the same campaign for the first time in 25 years.
They also knocked off Southern Illinois and Saint Francis to advance to the semifinals of the Women’s Basketball Invitational post-season tournament for the first time ever.
Three starters from that group – seniors Steph Kostowicz, Jenny Lindner and Bailey Farley – all return for one last go-round along with key substitutes Lizzie Odegard and Kelsey Cunningham as UWM tries to take another step forward as a program.
Kostowicz, a 6-foot-2 forward, has been a force ever since setting foot on campus from Oak Creek in 2014-’15. She was selected as a first team all-Horizon League player in the preseason after averaging 15.3 points per game on 52.6% shooting, 8.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 blocks.
Lindner, a 6-0 guard from Neillsville, has been just as good during her time at UWM. She averaged 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in 2016-’17 while chipping in just shy of a three-pointer a game and shooting 89.5% from the free-throw line.
While those two along with Farley will set the tone, the Panthers have some depth they’ll rely upon as well.
Farley and Kelsey Cunningham bring more senior leadership, Odegard will be looking to build on being named to the Horizon League’s all-freshman team and a three-player freshman class that includes guards Sydney Staver of Mineral Point and Brandi Bisping is expected to make a positive impact.
“It’s going to show this year,” said Lindner. “We push each other and we have really high expectations for ourselves. Not having a set starting five is really pushing everyone to their limits and exposing what they can do and what we’re capable of doing.”
Kostowicz took the in-house competition a step further.
“I’d be ecstatic if someone took my spot, because how good are we then?” she said. “The chances that people are going to stop us are slim. I’m looking forward to it.”
If UWM has designs on a Horizon League regular-season title, a familiar foe once again stands in the way in UW-Green Bay.
The Panthers beat the Phoenix in both of the teams’ regular-season meetings a year ago – including an 89-47 shellacking in Green Bay – only to lose the third match-up in the semifinals of the Horizon League Tournament.
“I don’t feel like our team is looking at anyone in particular in our conference and feeling like there is a giant anymore,” Rechlicz said. “To be honest, I feel like our team feels like they are the giant that is coming out.
“To be picked fourth in the league I think is a very good thing for us because I think it makes our team that much hungrier to come out and be successful. It’s a good feeling to have to know that your team has confidence in itself that this is going to be a special year.”