“Finish Strong.”
Although they cannot be worn during games, all members of the Wisconsin girl’s basketball team (3-8 Big Ten, 11-13 overall) wear bracelets with these two words on them to serve as a constant reminder.
“It was hard, the kids were mentally drained last year,” said head coach Bobbie Kelsey. “I don’t want them to say our season is over, we have six more guaranteed games. It is symbolic of what we need to do, and it gives them something to keep striving for and keep focus on.”
The Badgers face No. 18 Purdue (7-3, 18-5) Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Kohl Center.
“We love to play in front of our home crowd,” sophomore forward Jacki Gulczynski said. “The community comes out and really supports us. Shots just seem to fall at the Kohl.”
“You should always have an extra edge at home,” Kelsey added. “But I don’t want the team to get in a false sense of security. We have lost here, too. So you have to play the game and play the opponent and take away their strengths.”
At home, Wisconsin is 3-3 in the Big Ten and 9-4 overall.
Gulczynski has been productive recently, averaging 23.5 points and 10 rebounds per game over the past two contests. Her strong performances were not limited to scoring and rebounding, however. Gulczynski also added 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals, and 2.5 blocks per game over the same two-game stretch.
“I have been getting really great looks from my teammates,” Gulczynski said. “We are really just moving the ball well and getting good shots.”
Junior guard Morgan Paige is the Badgers’ leading scorer this season, averaging 17.2 points per game. But some of her biggest performances of the season have come in conference play, including a career-high 33 points in a 63-61 win over Big Ten leader and No. 8 Penn State Jan. 31.
“It’s conference play, everyone has to come, step up, and bring the next level a little bit,” Paige said. “You always have to work harder because you see these teams more often, and they know you and your personnel. So you have to bring out new things and be able to adapt and change on the go.”
Gulczynski and Paige are two of the most improved scorers in the Big Ten: Gulczynski is up 9.9 points per game from last season, while Paige is up 7.2.
While it will be a difficult test to knock off the Boilermakers, Wisconsin believes it knows what will be necessary to pull out the win.
“We have to rebound and be really disciplined on offense, which in that case means take care of the ball,” Paige said. “We can compete with anybody if we just do the little things. If we can focus, hustle, get back on defense and rebound, we should be in good shape.”
“They have several scorers, people who can run the floor and get layups and who are very aggressive,” Kelsey said. “They make you pay when you make mistakes and not guard certain people. We can’t turn the ball over and we have to get back in transition, because they run the floor very well.”
After a double-overtime loss at Ohio State and a win against Indiana at home, the Badgers will look for an impressive win against a ranked Big Ten team to add to their win over the Nittany Lions last month.
