Panthers are unable to overcome obstacles
Experience matters, especially with the stakes at their highest.
It's a lesson UW-Milwaukee's women's basketball team learned firsthand Monday afternoon.
The second-seeded Panthers turned in near season-worst performances from the field, beyond the arc and at the free throw line.
As a result, they saw their Horizon League tournament run end in a 56-46 loss to fifth-seeded IUPUI in the semifinals at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis.
UWM (19-7) hit 28.4% of its shots (19 of 67), 3 of 25 three-pointers (12%) and attempted only seven free throws against IUPUI (15-4), which did nothing but enhance its ranking as the topranked defensive team in the conference.
"Really, the only advantage they had coming into the game over us was the fact they had won the tournament the year before on the same court," said coach Kyle Rechlicz, whose Panthers swept the Jaguars on their home court Jan. 22-23.
UWM was playing in the semifinals for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
"So, they had confidence in knowing that they could win here, whereas we had some newbies playing in the semifinals. I knew going in that we might be a little bit tight and tried to prepare our team for that.
"The honest truth is, you've got to hit shots in games like this. You've really got to hit shots in championship mode and we unfortunately didn't. We got some great looks and just couldn't put the ball in the basket."
The tone was set early as UWM hit 3 of 12 shots and committed seven turnovers in falling behind, 16-7, in the first quarter.
By halftime, IUPUI's lead had grown to 24-14. The Panthers made hit only six shots and 2 of 14 threes while not attempting a free throw. The turnover total had also grown to 10 and star center Megan Walstad was held scoreless while attempting only two shots.
Walstad's partner in the paint, Brandi Bisping, managed only a pair of threes as she, too, was swarmed inside.
"They really doubled the paint," Rechlicz said. "They did a lot of doubling and digging on our post action, really making us have to kick it out and not allowing us to play 1-on-1. We got a lot of kick-out threes; we just didn't knock them down."