MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The program's second-straight contest against a team from Wisconsin and the final stop on a three-game road trip, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies will battle the Milwaukee Panthers on Saturday, December 31 at 3 p.m.

Falling to the Green Bay Phoenix on Thursday, December 29, the Golden Grizzlies will enter play at .500 at 6-6 and 1-2 in the Horizon League, while Milwaukee is 4-7 and 2-1 in conference action.

Junior Alexis Johnson is Oakland's leading scorer at 10.3 points-per-game and senior Breanne Beatty, who tallied a career-high 21 against the Phoenix, is right behind her at 10.2. These two are also the Golden Grizzlies' top rebounders, combining to average just over 10.

Freshman point guard Brooke Daniels and junior wing Linda van Schaik are both giving Oakland at least 8.8 points per contest and sophomore forward Miriam Ibezim is putting together a solid season, having started all 12 games.

After winning three consecutive contests from December 4-19, the Golden Grizzlies have since dropped back-to-back tilts, scoring just 86 total points over this span. Before this two-game cold spell, Oakland scored 82 or more in three of their previous five, showing the potential is there for the team to snap out of it and rediscover their groove at any moment.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
While their 4-7 record does not jump off the page, Milwaukee has put together some impressive performances this season, hanging tight with the Wisconsin Badgers in their opener, knocking off the Boise State Broncos in Reno, Nevada on November 27, and topping Green Bay, 59-52, on December 1.

Coached by 11-year veteran Kyle Rechlicz, who has piloted the program to seven-straight seasons of 10-plus conference victories, the Panthers were picked fifth in the Preseason Horizon League Coaches Poll, two spots ahead of the Golden Grizzlies.

6-foot-3 redshirt senior Emma Wittmershaus paces Milwaukee at 9.7 points-per-game, followed by sophomores Angie Cera and Kendall Nead at 8.7 and nine, respectively.

Two-time First Team All-Horizon League honoree and redshirt senior Megan Walstad has seen her scoring numbers dip a bit for Rechlicz this year, but has still started every contest and is a force to be reckoned with inside the arc.

Compared to Oakland, the Panthers tend to play a lower-scoring style of game, as Milwaukee is averaging 54.4 points and the Golden Grizzlies are at 64.6.

Defensively, the Panthers allow just 57.3 points-per-contest, while Oakland's opponents have averaged 69.8.

TELEVISION AND LIVE STATS LINKS
Saturday's action will air live on ESPN+ (subscription required), and can be accessed here.

Additionally, the Live Stats are available at this link.

ALL-TIME SERIES AND LAST MEETING
Dating just over 18 years ago to December 5, 2004, the Golden Grizzlies and Milwaukee have played 23 times, with the Panthers holding a 14-9 edge.

In the last meeting, a 57-41 Milwaukee victory at the O'rena on February 12, 2022, Walstad scored a game-high 26 for the Panthers and Beatty led Oakland with 14.

SEASON-LONG STORYLINES

NEW FACES FOR GOLDEN GRIZZLIES
Faced with the graduations of Kahlaijah Dean, Kayla Luchenbach and Brianna Breedy, who combined to average 28.7 points and 9.9 rebounds last season, the Golden Grizzlies brought in a trio of diversely talented transfers in Raquel Ferrer-Bernad, Alexis Johnson and Linda van Schaik.

A Southfield A&T Warriors graduate, Johnson is a junior forward who played three seasons in Conference USA (C-USA) for the Marshall Thundering Herd, while Ferrer-Bernad is a graduate student point guard who came from a different C-USA program, the Florida International Panthers.

van Schaik, another junior, joined Oakland by way of the Sun Belt Conference's Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks and projects to provide the team with another 3-point shooting threat.

On top of the program's work in the transfer portal, the Golden Grizzlies' 2022 recruiting class features a couple of high-upside players in guard Brooke Daniels, a Miss Michigan Basketball candidate a year ago from L'Anse Creuse North, and Lianna Baxter, a 6-foot-1 forward who starred at Oconto and is one of the top-100 scorers in Wisconsin high school history.

BREANNE BEATTY HEADLINES GROUP OF RETURNING PLAYERS
Appearing in all 83 of the program's games over the last three seasons, and starting all but two of them, senior guard/forward Breanne Beatty was named to the Preseason All-Horizon League Second Team on October 18.

The pride of Worthington, Ohio, Beatty is Oakland's leading returning scorer at 9.7 points-per-game in 2021-22.

In addition to Beatty, guards Kennedie Montue and Aaliyah McQueen and forward Miriam Ibezim, all of whom of sophomores, are back with the program and are in line to contribute significantly right from the season's opening tip.

JEFF TUNGATE ENTERS 10^TH SEASON
Named the eighth head coach in program history on July 16, 2013, the 2022-23 campaign is the 10^th with Jeff Tungate at the helm.

Third on the school's all-time wins list with 106, Tungate and four-year veteran assistant Crystal Davis made some changes to the coaching staff ahead of this season, bringing in Golden Grizzly Hall of Famer and former Mercyhurst Lakers head coach Deanna Richard and Tim Webb, who has extensive coaching experience at both the high school and collegiate levels in Michigan, as assistant coaches.