University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee sophomore Traci Edwards continued her dominating play over the past week, scoring a game-high 30 points to help lead the women’s basketball team over Wright State 75-65, Thursday night in Dayton, Ohio.

After scoring a school-record 42 her last time out, Edwards became the first player in school history with back-to-back 30-point efforts and added 12 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season.

Senior Aubrey Hampton added 12 points and sophomore Katie Fournier nearly recorded her first career double-double with 10 points and eight boards.

“Our game plan was to get the ball inside to Traci and be patient for her to get an open look inside,” said Milwaukee head coach Sandy Botham. “She is starting to come into her own mentally, not being so hard on herself. She is starting to play more relaxed and we have guards that can get her the ball.”

The Panthers reached the .500 mark for the first time all season, evening their record to 10-10 and improving to an impressive 6-1 mark in Horizon League play, maintaining their first-place standing. Wright State fell to 5-13 on the year and 3-4 in conference play.

“The word we talked about today was ‘perseverance.’ We didn’t start out how we would have liked, but we did a good job of being defensive and coming back,” Botham said.

The defense definitely was the key to the victory as Milwaukee forced 27 turnovers and came away with a season-high 10 steals.

It turned out to be a game of runs, as the Panthers controlled the game early on, getting off to a quick 16-7 start. However, Wright State responded with 12 straight points to re-take the lead at 19-16 on a three-point play by Tyanda Hammock, who led the Raiders in scoring with 17 points.

UWM faced a 35-31 deficit at halftime and struggled coming out of the gates in the second half, turning the ball over on two straight possessions as Wright State’s lead would grow to nine.

But the Panthers would claw back, cutting the lead to 46-44 before finally taking control of the game as they surged to a 24-7 run over an eight-minute span to take a 15-point lead at 68-53. The Panthers defense would come up big, allowing just two field goals during their run that would put the game away for good.

The Panthers were solid on the offensive end as well, shooting 45.9 percent from the field, pulling down 18 offensive rebounds, and dishing out 18 assists.

“This was a big win for us. We are trying to separate ourselves from the rest of the league, so this is a big game to win,” Botham said.

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