In her press conference Monday afternoon, Wisconsin women’s basketball coach Lisa Stone said it was unfortunate that the Pepperdine Tournament in California had to be cancelled because of wildfires, but she believes her team will be ready to travel to Virginia Friday to compete in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
The Badgers got off to a rocky start this season, losing to Marquette by 14 points, followed by a heartbreaking one-point loss against Wyoming.
Wisconsin then traveled to California to face Mississippi Friday afternoon in the Pepperdine Tournament. The Badgers ended up winning 74-57 and were looking forward to playing in the championship game against Texas-Arlington Saturday, but wildfires two miles outside of campus forced the tournament to come to an end for safety reasons.
“During this non-conference time, we have got to make some noise,” Stone said. “And the players know that, and they’re hungry for that and they want to contribute. I think understanding their roles are starting to fall into place and I think they are starting to bond together.”
Senior guard Jolene Anderson has already registered two double-doubles for the Badgers this season. However, consistency from the rest of the squad has been questionable for Wisconsin, who is now 2-2.
“What I like is the breakout of our freshmen,” Stone said. “I think Lin Zastrow had a tremendous breakout game against Ole’ Miss. I like what Alyssa Karel is doing. Consistently, she is bringing some energy.”
Stone said that senior guard Janese Banks has been stepping up when the team needs her and sophomore guard Rae Lin D’Alie has improved her turnover to assist ratio since the game against Marquette in mid-November.
Just four games into the season, Stone is excited about seeing her players work things out on their own and not needing the coaching staff to walk them through everything.
Even though the team has many experienced players, crucial mistakes have been made early this season. Stone believes the mistakes are correctable, especially if the players focus on them before Big Ten Conference play starts up in late December.
“The [team] chemistry is at an all-time high, and I am very excited about that,” Stone said. “As far as what we need to work on, we need to take care of the basketball … and shoot free throws. We had the same issues last year early in the season and we want to make sure that we address those things.”
According to Stone, all of her players are still students of the game. They are all willing to learn more about the game of basketball and always want to improve.
“This early in the season, we are learning,” Stone said. “We are trying to get better, and I like what I saw in our first game out in Malibu. And I was really excited to play the next game which, unfortunately, we couldn’t.”
