Though the season is only two games underway, and both of those being exhibition games, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women’s basketball team looks prepared to take the Horizon League title back.

The Panthers have outscored their opponents by an average of 53 points. With junior leaders Traci Edwards, Turquoise McCain and Jody Crumble, they have dominated their exhibition opponents on offense and defense, and look to carry that into the regular season.

Head coach Sandy Botham has an experienced squad and has brought some young talent into the mix looking to compete in the Horizon League. Freshman Lindsay Laur had an impressive game against Wisconsin AAU in only her second game as she put up 23 points, going nine-for-nine from the field.

The entire team seems to be gelling, whether it is the newcomers or the veterans. Senior Aubri Rote and freshman Jenilee Klomstad combined for seven-of-seven from behind-the-arc and hit 19-of-22 from the field in their last exhibition game.

The chemistry between the younger players and the veterans is important this season as the freshman come in with the pressure of being picked to finish atop the Horizon League in the preseason poll.

The Panthers ought to start out their season hot when they travel to Chicago, Ill. to take on independent Chicago State. CSU finished 9-20 last season but this season return four of their six leading scorers from a year ago.

It could be a tough match up for the Panthers, but look for junior Traci Edwards to dominate down low against a team that hovers around 6’1”, with their tallest player being a freshman off the bench, 6’4” Elana Wroten.

In the exhibition season Botham had a system of running the floor, bringing up the tempo of the game in order to score more on fast breaks. In their first exhibition game, Edwards had 14 of the first 16 points in the second half, most of which were on fast breaks created by steals on defense.

The Panthers will need to continue their fast break work as well as progress in the paint. They shot 46.7 percent from the field in their first two games, but most of their misses came from short-range. UWM has to step up down low if they want to put up a fight against opponents like Dayton, Miami (Fla.) and Wisconsin.

One area that is necessary to keep up is their points off the bench. In their first two games the Panthers had an astonishing 53 points coming off the bench. Granted, exhibition games are important to get play time to the deepest part of your bench, but the Panthers are seeing production from an area that most schools struggle with.

If Botham can keep rotating new legs onto the court it will most definitely help this team get past a tough non-conference schedule going into league play.

This season should be one to remember for the Panthers as they have the best squad that the school has seen in many years, and they should be competing for a national title when they blow through the Horizon League Tournament come March.

The UWM women will get their first regular season game at home against Dayton on Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.

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