2018-19 #HLWBB Preview: Milwaukee
Milwaukee Panthers
Last season: 21-12 overall, 11-7 Horizon League
Head coach: Kyle Rechlicz (7th year)
By Joey Yashinsky, Horizon League Contributor. Follow on Twitter @OneSeatOver
Bo Jackson. Marion Jones. Charlie Ward.
All two-sport stars that left fans in awe with their ability to compete at the highest level in multiple disciplines.
You can add McKaela Schmelzer to that list as well. The 5-foot-7 point guard entering her redshirt sophomore season at Milwaukee is also an ace midfielder on the Panthers’ Horizon League champion soccer team. She has started all 56 Milwaukee soccer games over the last three seasons.
The magnitude of the feat has not been lost on head basketball coach Kyle Rechlicz, entering her seventh year on the sidelines for the black and gold.
“McKaela is probably the best in-shape athlete at the entire school,” said Rechlicz. “She breaks all of the marks for the conditioning tests. When she comes in during the summer and plays some with us, her pace is at a completely different level.”
While Schmelzer mostly looked to distribute last year to the All-Conference duo of Jenny Lindner and Steph Kostowicz, she could see more opportunities to find her own offense this season.
“I think she is going to look to score a lot more,” said Rechlicz. “She has put a lot of work into her shot, so I could definitely see her becoming more of a scorer. But I also just think she’s really good at reading the game, so if we do have somebody that has a hot hand, she is someone that can be a facilitator and find ways to pick up assists.”
One of those potentially hot hands will be junior guard Jamie Reit, a 36% shooter from downtown last season. She’ll be asked to put the ball in the basket early and often for the Panthers, who in losing Lindner, Kostowicz, and Bailey Farley, see a combined 40 points per game graduating from the progra
“By the end of the year, Jamie Reit was putting up some of the best numbers on our team,” said Rechlicz. “She led us in scoring (21 points) in our WNIT win at Northern Iowa. She is extremely comfortable taking over that scoring role.”
Bre Cera, a redshirt sophomore transfer from Iowa, will further strengthen Milwaukee’s deep backcourt rotation. Cera played one year for the Hawkeyes, starting 18 games as a true freshman and helping lead a run to the WNIT quarterfinals.
Rechlicz has also seen improvement from guard Alyssa Fischer, a deadeye shooter that appeared in all 33 games last season after missing a year with a foot injury.
“Alyssa will be one of our main 3-point threats this year,” said Rechlicz. “Her release is quicker now and she’s been playing at a really high level. She’s one of those glue kids who doesn’t make many mistakes. We chart wins here, and she always seems to be on the team that wins. She takes a lot of pride in her game.”
The question coming into the season for Milwaukee will be who emerges in the frontcourt, where a giant-sized hole is left by departure of Steph Kostowicz, one of the top players in program history. Kostowicz left as Milwaukee’s all-time leading shot blocker and carrying an armful of awards and accolades.
Lizzie Odegard was an all-freshman performer two years ago and hopes to make a similar impact now as a junior. Sophomore Brandi Bisping will also help the effort on the backboards.
“Both Lizzie and Brandi have really stepped up to the plate,” said Rechlicz. “They have been extremely consistent. We also have a freshman, Megan Walstad, and she has been very dominant in the post. She’s had one of our highest efficiency ratings all through the preseason.”
Undoubtedly, a tremendous senior class just departed the Milwaukee program. That group captured 72 victories, most by any group of Panthers seniors. But Walstad leads a very exciting batch of freshmen now walking through the door, a class Rechlicz calls “the most talented that we have brought into Milwaukee by far.”
Over the past three years, Milwaukee has been one of the most dependable squads in the Horizon League. A 12-6 conference mark in 2015-16 was followed by a pair of 11-7 campaigns.
Some of the names and faces will change this year; but the rocksteady Rechlicz, the returning guard duo of Schmelzer and Reit, and a hungry incoming class are determined to keep the Panther standard for excellence precisely where it has been.