Jan. 25, 2001

Box Score

Chicago, Ill. - The UIC women's basketball team failed in its bid for back-to-back conference wins Thursday night as they dropped a nip-and-tuck battle with UW-Milwaukee, 55-51, at the UIC Pavilion.

In a game in which the biggest lead by either team was six points, it was the Panthers' inside play and their ability to get to the free throw line that proved to be the difference.

Led by center Maria Viall's game-high 15 points off the bench, UWM (7-9, 3-1 MCC) outscored the Flames 26-14 in the paint while the Panther's also dominated from the charity stripe, converting 18-of-24 attempts to UIC's 5-of-9 night from the line.

"We were not attacking the basket," commented UIC Head Coach Tim Eatman after the game. "We've got to get the ball to the basket and we have to score inside and get to the free throw line."

UIC (5-13, 2-3 MCC) was paced by senior Kimberly Henry's 14 points, all of which came in the second half. Melea Clark added 12 points, five rebounds and five assists while sophomore Jaysie Chambers ripped down a game-high 10 rebounds.

Despite not tallying their first bucket until 6:05 was gone in the game, the Flames actually took a one-point lead into intermission (23-22) after closing out the half on a 9-2 run.

UIC would suffer a similar scoring drought to start the second half, though, as UW-Milwaukee held the Flames without a field goal for the first 8:51 of the period and built a 29-24 lead behind a 7-1 run keyed by five points from Viall.

Henry and Clark helped UIC claw back, combining for 10 points over the next three minutes, and when Clark found junior Stesha Rhodes for a wide open free throw line jumper, the Flames regained the lead, 36-35, with 5:58 left.

Unfortunately for UIC, that would be its only lead of the half as the Panthers went on a 7-0 run over the next 1:48 to go up 42-36 at the 4:11 mark.

The Flames would close to within a single possession on four occasions down the stretch, but UWM, which earned its first road win of the year, hit its free throws in crunch time to hold off UIC's comeback bid.

Eatman's crew will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 27, as they welcome MCC leader UW-Green Bay to the UIC Pavilion at 7:00 p.m. The Phoenix (12-5, 4-0 MCC) are riding a nine-game winning streak and downed Loyola by 38 points on Thursday night.