Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
The Daily Cardinal Est. 1892
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Morgan Paige

Junior guard Morgan Paige had three assists and zero turnovers in Wisconsin’s win Sunday.

Women's Basketball: Wisconsin tops Milwaukee

The Wisconsin women’s basketball team (1-0 overall) hosted Milwaukee (1-1) in what appeared to be an evenly matched game Sunday night. Both teams struggled last season, the Badgers going 9-20 and the Panthers 9-21. To add to the suspense, Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz is a former player and assistant coach at Wisconsin. The night concluded with a 74-56 victory for the Badgers.

Milwaukee came out fast on defense in the first half, forcing Wisconsin to scurry on offense and take some sloppy shots. However, the Badgers got better looks as the night wore on. Wisconsin benefited from the play of sophomore guard AnnMarie Brown, who went 4-of-8 in field goals with six total rebounds in the first.

The Panthers found success on offense getting the ball down low, which drew the Badgers into the paint, and flipping the ball back out to the arc for open three-point shots. The Panthers were  5-of-8 from beyond the arc. Milwaukee went 62.5 percent from outside, in comparison to Wisconsin’s 33.3 percent.

Milwaukee kept control in the first half, building an eight-point lead with 7:33 remaining. Unfortunately for the Panthers they could not keep the lead going into the half, trailing 37-33.

After the half the Badgers came out and dominated the court, going on a seven-point run that caused a Milwaukee time out. Rechlicz credited this fallback to Wisconsin’s fresh legs. The Panthers came to Madison with only a day’s preparation after a game against Chicago State.

Wisconsin didn’t only come out in the second half with fresh legs, but also a new aggression on defense.

“We got up on them and made them create off the dribble, that’s not their game plan,” head coach Bobbie Kelsey said. “We made them do something that they didn’t want to do.”

The Badgers cranked up their defense in the second half and also maintained their 43 percent field goal shooting from the first half. They also managed 22 rebounds each half.

Brown recorded her first career double-double with 10 rebounds and a career-high 11 points. The St. Peter, Minn., native averaged less than five minutes of playing time last season.

“I put in the work over the summer,” Brown said. “Getting my body right to play 40 minutes at this level.”

Kelsey said this Wisconsin team isn’t the tallest, but she believes that it can compensate by being more fit. It showed Sunday night that the Badgers had better endurance than Milwaukee, with the Badgers scoring 20 points off fast breaks in comparison to just two for Milwaukee.

The Badgers will travel to Spokane, Wash., for a date with Gonzaga (2-0 overall) Friday.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Daily Cardinal delivered to your inbox
Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Daily Cardinal has been covering the University and Madison community since 1892. Please consider giving today.
Comments


Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Daily Cardinal