The Wisconsin women's basketball team marched proudly off its home court Thursday night after ending its two game losing streak with a 60-53 win over Indiana at the Kohl Center.
Just a week ago the Hoosiers (4-8 Big Ten, 15-10 overall) embarrassed the Badgers in Indiana, but Wisconsin came out ready to play this time, and its hunger to win in front of the Madison crowd paid off.
UW was able to come from behind and finally take the lead 35-34 with 10:44 left in the game. From there, the Badgers out-hustled Indiana on both sides of the floor and took their defensive efforts to an even higher level.
""It was intestinal fortitude, and it was a gut-check ... I asked our players, ‘How bad do you want it?' and they showed it,"" UW head coach Lisa Stone said. ""[Wisconsin] was diving on the floor and we were getting rebounds ... And when you can find a way to win when it is that tight, it is certainly satisfying.""
Junior guard Jolene Anderson led the Badgers in scoring and earned a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Freshmen Rae Lin D'Alie and Mariah Dunham also posted double-digit scoring with 14 and 10, respectively.
Defense was the key to victory and forced Indiana to become very frustrated early in the first half, which carried over throughout the rest of the game. Both teams struggled offensively prior to halftime, as Wisconsin trailed Indiana 19-17 after Hoosier sophomore forward Kim Roberson hit a jumper right before the buzzer.
""It took all of us to win this basketball game. Our defense was stellar, and it had to be when you shoot 21 percent in the first half,"" Stone said.
The lid seemed to be removed from the hoop after halftime, however, as the Badgers scored 43 points in the second half alone and shot over 44 percent from the field.
In the final minute of play, Wisconsin was able to resist the pressure put on by the Hoosiers by capitalizing on all eight of their free-throw attempts. D'Alie went 7-of-7 from the charity line on the game, six of which came within that final minute of play. Anderson also sank both of her free-throws.
""[D'Alie] was clutch,"" Stone said regarding D'Alie's free throws. ""We want the ball in her hands ... She's a great free-throw shooter and proved that tonight. I wasn't nervous at all and I knew those were going to go in.""
""The hungrier team won tonight,"" said Indiana head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. ""We have soldiers on our team ... Today was a day though, that we started out flat and we couldn't pull ourselves out of that position.""
Freshman Jamie Braun, a Wisconsin native, led Indiana in scoring with 16 points off the bench. Junior guard Nikki Smith, who scored 22 points against Wisconsin last week, finished with 15 points, while Roberson added 11.
Wisconsin improved to 6-6 in the Big Ten and 17-8 overall with a home record of 12-2—the best home record since UW's 1999-2000 season when the Badgers went 12-4 at the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin hosts Iowa Sunday at the Kohl Center.
