Turquoise McCain
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Panthers Host SIU-Edwardsville In Home Opener
Milwaukee returns home after three road games to start the 2008-09 season
Game #4 • Nov. 26 • 7 p.m.
SIU-Edwardsville @ Milwaukee
Klotsche Center (5,000) • Milwaukee, Wis.
Internet: Live Stats, Audio
Radio: AM 920 The Wolf (Scott Warras)
TV: None
• Complete Release in PDF Format 
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (Nov. 25, 2008) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team hosts SIU-Edwardsville Wednesday in its first home game of the 2008-09 season. The Panthers played their first three games on the road and return to the Klotsche Center to host the Cougars in a 7 p.m. contest.
How's It Going...
Milwaukee is coming off its first win of the season, a 57-48 victory at Air Force last Saturday. The Panthers are now 1-2 on the young season.
Up Next
UWM doesn't get too comfortable, hitting the road for the first of three-straight away contests Saturday at Northern Illinois. The Panthers and Huskies tip off at 2 p.m. in DeKalb, Ill.
About The Cougars
SIU-Edwardsville is 1-3 in its first season of transitioning to NCAA Division I. The Cougars opened the season with a win over NAIA Ill.-Springfield and have dropped three-straight to NCAA Division I competition in UMKC, Morehead State and UT-Martin on Monday. Jenny Wuells leads the team with 19.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. Jessie Stapleton is putting up similar numbers at 11.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.
Series History
Milwaukee and SIUE have not played since the Panthers went to Division I in 1990-91, but they do enjoy a 4-1 lead in the all-time series. UWM swept a home-and-home series in 1989-90 and split another the season before.
Last Time Out: Milwaukee 57, Air Force 48
Senior Traci Edwards scored a team-high 18 points the Panthers forced 23 turnovers as Milwaukee picked up its first win of the 2008-09 season, 57-48, over Air Force on the road Saturday afternoon. UWM never trailed and led by as many as 11 in the first half, but still had to hold off a pesky Falcon team that pulled within two on a pair of occasions during the second half.
D-D-Defense
The Panthers defense has been on display the last two games as they have forced opponents into 44 turnovers over that time. They forced 20-plus turnovers in back-to-back games for the first time since the first two games of last season. Through three games this season, opponents are turning the ball 19.0 times per game, an increase of 1.9 from the 17.1 they averaged last season.
Protecting The Rock
After averaging 19.6 turnovers per game last season, Milwaukee knew it would have to work on keeping the ball. Well, through three games, the team has responded, averaging just 14.7 turnovers per game. In fact, over the last two games, the Panthers have just 24, including 11 on Saturday. The last time they totaled just 24 miscues in a two-game span was Nov. 29 and Dec. 2, 2006.
Approaching 200
Sandy Botham is closing in on her 200th win as head coach at UWM. The team's win Saturday at Air Force was number 198, pulling her withing two of the milestone. Just one other coach in team history has eclipsed 200 wins, with M.A. Kelling winning a school-record 284 games in her career. In 12-plus years at the helm of the Panther program, Botham has compiled a 198-151 record. In her 13-year coaching career, including one season at Beloit, she has a mark of 220-155.
Extra Notes
Senior Turquoise McCain had a career-high six assists and junior Jodie McClain had a career-high four steals at Air Force Saturday ... McCain fouled out in the final minute of regulation Saturday, Milwaukee's first disqualification of the season after just three in 2007-08 ... Traci Edwards has led the team in scoring in the first three games of 2008-09 and its last 13 games dating back to last season ... the Panthers went 0-2 at the Wolfpack Invite, its first winless trip to an in-season tournament since 1994.
All-Tournament Honors
Traci Edwards finished the season-opening Wolfpack Invitational averaging 19.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and was named to the all-tournament team. She was previously named the tournament MVP at the only other in-season tournament of her career, the SMU Hoops for the Cure Classic in 2006.
Panthers Third In Preseason Poll
Milwaukee was picked third in the Horizon League preseason poll of league coaches, sports information directors and media. The Panthers received two first-place votes and tallied 240 points, just one point back of second-place Wright State (241 points), which garnered one first-place vote. Two-time defending regular season champion Green Bay topped the list with 24 first-place votes and 284 total points.
More Preseason Picks
Senior Traci Edwards was selected as the Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year for the second-straight season. As a junior, she led the league with 20.6 points and 9.7 rebounds per game and became the fourth UWM league player of the year. She is looking to become just the second player in league history to be named to the all-league first team four times.
Close, But No Cigar
Milwaukee fought back from an 11-point deficit in the second half to upend the Michigan Tech in exhibition play Nov. 6. The comeback also included a game-tying shot layup with two seconds remaining by senior Markita Barnes. The team's fortitude is a good sign, as it lost nine games by three points or less last season. The nine losses came by a combined 17 points. Milwaukee was 2-9 in games decided by five points or less. Also, the last time the Panthers had a "last-second" shot to tie or win a regular season game was in the 2007 league quarterfinals.
Chasing Records
Senior Traci Edwards has spent much of her career breaking a number of school records, but she is on the verge of her biggest yet. She has scored 1,811 career points, just 56 shy of Maria Viall's career school scoring record (1,867). Edwards is currently third behind Viall and Jaci Clark (1,830), but could be the first Panther in school history, male or female, to crack the 2,000-point plateau. Also in her sights is Viall's Division I rebounding record of 971. Edwards has 913 career boards after three games this season and will likely join Clark as the only 1,000-point/1,000-rebound women in school history. According to the latest released reports, only 124 women's players in NCAA history, in any division, have reached the milestone. She would also be the first from a Horizon League or Wisconsin school to do so.
More Elite Company
Edwards has the chance to put an emphatic stamp on an already impressive career, even with an "average" season by her standards. Along with chasing various hallowed school records, she also broke the league record for career free throws last Saturday and is also in range of the league marks for career scoring (2,018) and even player of the week awards (9). She already holds the school free throw mark for a career and now has 540 to top the old record of 536. She has also been named the player of the week seven times.
More Than Just Numbers
Last season, Traci Edwards became the first player in league history to lead the league in scoring and rebounding in the same season twice, as well as the second to lead the league in rebounding three times and scoring in back-to-back seasons. In 2008-09, she will look to join some similar groups as she is looking to become the first league player to lead the league in scoring three times or rebounding four times in a career. Edwards will also be shooting for a fourth-straight all-league first team honor, which only one player has ever done, as well as a repeat league player of the year award, something only four players have done. She has also been named to the league's all-tournament team three times, while only one player has ever done it four times.
Back In Black & Gold
The Panthers will have the luxury of a wealth of experience this season, as 12 letterwinners return. Heading the list is senior Traci Edwards, the 2008 Horizon League Player of the Year. Three more seniors are back, including Turquoise McCain, a league all-defensive team selection last season, Katie Fournier, Jody Crumble and Markita Barnes. The Panthers' five-player senior class is the largest senior class in the team's Division I history. The squad also boasts two juniors, including returning starter Jodie McClain, and five sophomores, four of which saw extended minutes throughout the season and three that started games.
But What That Means...
Milwaukee's 12 returning players accounted for 81 percent of its scoring last season, a figure that includes eight of the team's top nine scorers. On the glass, even a larger percentage will be back in 2008-09, as 83.4 percent of UWM's rebounds are also back. If that weren't enough, the experience level of the team has also risen. Returning players have combined for 486 games played in a Panther uniform, including 240 starts. That is a rather sizable increase over last season's already impressive numbers (362 games/177 starts).
Welcome To Milwaukee
With 12 letterwinners returning from last season, there is little room for new faces. But, head coach Sandy Botham and her staff have added three players for the upcoming season including freshman post players Danielle Jorgenson and Amanda Viehauser. Ashley Imperiale also joined the team as a transfer, most recently from UW-LaCrosse. Jorgenson is 6-foot-3 and hails from La Crosse, Wis., where she was an all-state first-team selection and two-time area player of the year. Viehauser hails from Minneapolis, Minn., and was all-state honorable mention twice. Meanwhile, Imperiale is a 5-foot-11 guard out of nearby Greendale, Wis. She transferred to UWM after the fall semester last season from UW-La Crosse. Imperiale should be eligible after the fall semester and have sophomore eligibility.
Home Sweet Home
The Klotsche Center remains a difficult place for visiting teams to succeed. In 12 years under Sandy Botham, the Panthers are 106-49 at home. The Panthers went 9-7 at home last season and are just two seasons removed from a school-record 13-3 home campaign in 2005-06. In league play, those numbers are even better as Milwaukee boasts a 74-19 home record. That number has gotten a boost lately, as the Panthers have won 59 of their last 71 home league games over the last nine seasons. UWM has also posted three perfect home league years, going 8-0 in 2003-04 and 7-0 in both 1999-2000 and 2000-01.
League Success
The Panthers are looking to continue a strong tradition of success in the Horizon League in 2008-09. Milwaukee has finished second-or-better in the league standings in eight of the last nine seasons and are 104-37 in league games since 1999-2000. UWM has won league titles in 2001 and 2006.
Panthers On The Air
For the second-straight season, every Panther game will be carried live on AM920 WOKY. The station is also be the home of the Sandy Botham Radio Show, while both the show and every game will be available live at uwmpanthers.com. Scott Warras returns for his third season as the voice of UWM women's basketball and the host of the Sandy Botham Radio show.
Be Sure To Watch
Seven Panther games will be televised this season, starting with their Dec. 2 game at Wisconsin. That game will be on the Big Ten Network, while six more games will be carried live on Time Warner Cable "Sports 32" and then be replayed on the station afterwards. Home games with Illinois (Dec. 10), Green Bay (Jan. 4), Valparaiso (Jan. 29), Cleveland State (Feb. 5) and Loyola (Feb. 19) will be televised as part of UWM's package. The team's Dec. 31 game at Marquette will also be on Sports 32 as an MU broadcast. Also, every league game will be available to watch online through the Horizon League Network (www.horizonleaguenetwork.tv). Sports 32 is the home of the Sandy Botham TV show, which can be first seen every Thursday at 5 p.m.
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