MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Playing away from home for the tenth time in their last 11 games, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies fell to the Milwaukee Panthers, 65-49, on Saturday, December 31 at the Klotsche Center.

On a three-game skid, Oakland now dips back under .500 by one game at 6-7 and 1-3 in the Horizon League, while the Panthers improve to 5-7 and 3-1 in the conference.

Dialing up 10 3-point attempts and making four of them, sophomore Kennedie Montue scored a team-high 13 points for the Golden Grizzlies, her best output since hanging 21 on the Akron Zips in the November 7 season-opener.

Junior forward Alexis Johnson tallied 12 points and six rebounds to join Montue in double figures and freshman point guard Brooke Daniels added eight.

Milwaukee redshirt senior Emma Wittmershaus led all scorers with 15 points, followed by classmate Megan Walstad and sophomore Kendall Nead, both of whom finished with 14.

Saturday marked the third consecutive game Oakland hung tough in the first half but struggled to keep pace offensively in the second, as the Panthers only led by six, 33-27, at the halftime break, but the Golden Grizzlies tallied just 22 minutes over the final 20 minutes.

To their credit, Milwaukee did their part to pull away in the second half, too, as the Panthers shot an extremely efficient 52 percent (26-50) for the game, including 54.5 percent (6-11) from distance.

Led by Walstad's nine, Milwaukee outrebounded Oakland, 40-34, but the Golden Grizzlies did more than double the Panthers up in offensive boards, 13-5.

UP NEXT
As mentioned in the first paragraph, Oakland has become accustomed to playing on the road this season, but that will change with the calendar flipping to 2023 as the Golden Grizzlies will welcome in the new year with a four-game homestand, which begins when the Robert Morris Colonials visit Rochester on Thursday, January 5 at 7 p.m.

Robert Morris will enter play in a similar spot as Oakland at 7-6 (1-3 Horizon League).