No youth movement here: UWM women returning plenty of talent, coach Kyle Rechlicz says

With one senior – Homestead’s Grace Crowley – on the roster, the UW-Milwaukee women’s basketball team would appear to be in line to experience some growing pains this season.

Coach Kyle Rechlicz is pushing back on that narrative, however.

“A lot of people will say that we're young,” said Rechlicz, who’s 165-173 as she enters Year 12 on the sideline for the Panthers. “We've been getting that a lot, and the truth is I don't think that we're that young.

“So, I'm going to rebut that statement.”

Rechlicz points to the number of returnees that gained valuable experience either during games or in practice last season when UWM finished 11-19 overall and 8-12 and tied for seventh place in the Horizon League.

More:What to know and five players to watch for the UW-Milwaukee women's basketball season

Kendall Nead returns to lead UWM's backcourt

Leading the way will be the backcourt foursome consisting of juniors Kendall Nead, Angie Cera and Jada Donaldson and sophomore Kamy Peppler.

The 5-foot-11 Nead was named second-team all-Horizon League in the preseason after leading the Panthers in scoring last season at 11.1 points per game. She’s also the only returning player who started and played in all 30 games last season.

“She’s become a very strong athlete for us,” Rechlicz said. “She has the quickness to compete against any of the guards in our league with her first step and her ability to get to the rim, but now she's added the physicality side.

“So, she causes a huge matchup problem for a lot of the teams in our league.”

At 41.4%, Nead was UWM’s best backcourt shooter last season and her 26 three-point makes ranked third on the team. Her 4.4 rebounds per game were most for any Panthers guard as well.

For UWM to improve upon last season’s finish, Nead is going to need to improve upon all those numbers while also taking better care of the basketball (her 77 turnovers were second-most on the team).

“I’ve been led by incredible seniors and upperclassmen for the past three years,” Nead said. “I think Coach as well as the older players have really prepared me for this moment, and I'm really excited to step into this role.”

The 5-11 Cera, who played at Mukwonago, finished fourth in scoring at 8.3 on the strength of her team-high 34 threes while also setting the tone defensively.

“Angie has really taken a huge step in her game,” Rechlicz said. “She's really become a leader for us on the floor, and not just a defensive leader. I think in the past we've relied so much on her defensively. But she's really been a consistent scorer for us, leading into the practices coming into games.

“To be able to have her and Kendall on the perimeter for us is going to alleviate some of the pressure from Kendall sometimes and it’s not going to be as easy a double-team in the post with the two of them sitting on our wings.”

At point guard the Panthers return the 1-2 punch of Peppler and Donaldson, a pair of 5-6 dynamos who bring different looks to the court.

Peppler is more of a scorer and playmaker type who took her lumps as a freshman after coming in as Miss Wisconsin Basketball 2022 following a standout career at Hortonville.

She dished out three assists per game but turned the ball over just as much. Her 30 three-pointers ranked second, but Peppler shot just 32.5% overall.

Donaldson, meanwhile, made 22 starts and was much more reliable with the basketball (73 assists to 35 turnovers in 25.7 minutes per game) while also serving as a defensive pest.

“Having both of them returning becomes really huge for us,” Rechlicz said. “And the great thing is that the two of them are kind of opposites.”

Grace Crowley, Anna Lutz step into larger roles at forward

Up front, the 5-11 Crowley and 6-1 Anna Lutz, a sophomore from Marshall, will take the reins from longtime stalwarts Megan Walstad and Emma Wittmershaus – both of whom had disappointing final seasons at UWM due in large part to injury.

“(Crowley and Lutz) are actually extremely experienced because they went against our two senior post players – very good post players – every single day in practice last year,” Rechlicz said.

Crowley actually led Panthers regulars in shooting by a wide margin with a 57.4 field-goal percentage, and Lutz wasn’t far behind her at 50.9 while playing 17.8 and 11.9 minutes per game, respectively.

Crowley’s 45 offensive rebounds were actually tied with Walstad for the team lead, and she also got to the free-throw line at a decent clip.

“She’s kind of one of those people that nobody knows about,” Rechlicz said of Crowley. “I think she’s going to be a surprise in our league. She’s a dynamic scorer in the post and somebody that can guard 1 through 5, and that’s really going to help us from an athleticism standpoint.”

UWM picked to finish sixth in Horizon League

Another player who received plenty of reps in practice last season was freshman guard Jada Williams, who at 5-9 figures to give UWM an added dimension athletically along with Swedish import Vanessa Jurewicz, a junior-college transfer.

“I would 100% call Jada a ‘dawg.’ I mean, she is she is relentless on the defensive side,” Rechlicz said. “She flies in for rebounds. She uses her athleticism in ways that we haven't seen in a while. She'll be able to play the top of our press, which will be really huge for us. We feel like we're going to be able to press a little bit more this year than we have in the past because of our athleticism – especially with her and Vanessa being able to play this year.

“It's really picked up the speed of our game.”

Among the five newcomers is 5-10 wing Payton Rechlicz, who played at Menomonee Falls and will redshirt.

“Not everybody as a parent gets see their kid every single day in college,” Kyle said. “I’m fortunate to be able to have the opportunity to do that. She’s very driven as a person and a little bit of a perfectionist.

“I really think we're doing it the right way with the redshirt year, allowing her to kind of just get a feel for what it's going to be like in college in general. But I will say she's flourishing.”

As a team, UWM was picked in the preseason to finish sixth in the 11-team conference – one spot higher than last year’s finish in the regular-season standings.

UW-Green Bay is once again predicted to win the Horizon League.

“I’m going to be honest with you – we haven’t even talked about expectations as a staff or as a team,” Rechlicz said. “We’re talking about, ‘What are we going to do in practice today?’ I can honestly say this is one of the closest teams that we’ve had. They really treat each other like sisters on the court and in the locker room.

“We haven’t had any drama as a team, which, when you’re working with 18- to 23-year-olds, you’re usually bound to have something.”