Another home game, another win for the Wisconsin women's basketball team. Sunday night at the Kohl Center, the Badgers (7-6 Big Ten, 18-8 overall) kicked their offense into high gear and claimed a 84-73 victory over Iowa in impressive fashion, increasing their home record to a career best 13-2 for head coach Lisa Stone.
The win was thanks in large part to the hot hands of junior guards Jolene Anderson and Janese Banks, junior forward Danielle Ward and freshman point guard Rae Lin D'Alie, who all netted 12 or more points.
""Another great team effort,"" coach Stone said after the game. ""I'm very proud of our players. When you're looking for a third scorer and you come up with four, it's certainly a credit to the sharing of the basketball out there today.""
In addition to having four players with double-digit point totals, D'Alie earned a double-double for the night, scoring 12 points and dishing out a career-high 11 assists. With 15 points, Ward was one rebound shy of a double-double of her own with nine boards. Anderson had a record night as well, tying her career high for 3-point shots made with five and her career high single-game point total with 29.
""Jolene Anderson [had a] tremendous game,"" Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. ""She shot the ball extremely well. She was in one of those zones that good shooters get into, and we got to see it tonight. It's very impressive when she shoots the ball that way.""
Wisconsin came out of the gates strong, taking a 22-8 lead with just over 10 minutes left in the first half. But, both Anderson and Banks were put on the bench with two fouls each with just over nine minutes to play and the Hawkeyes cut the lead to 35-29 to go into the locker room. Iowa came out strong at the half, coming within two points at 46-44 thanks to four field goals from Wendy Ausdemore and three more from Nicole VanderPol. The Badger defense responded by grabbing five steals and 17 defensive rebounds, never allowing the Hawkeyes to get back into their rhythm.
The Wisconsin win—and losses by Penn State and Illinois over the weekend—solidifies a fourth place standing in the Big Ten for the Badgers and greatly improves their chances of potentially making an NCAA tournament bid. However, Anderson does not see that as a reason to sit back and relish in the glory, especially with a road game against conference leader Ohio State coming up Thursday.
""We can't relax now, we've worked too hard [to get to] where we're at,"" Anderson said. ""We've got to go in there and keep on building.""
The Badgers' next game is set to tip off at 6 p.m. Thursday in Columbus. The No. 4 Buckeyes have lost only once this season, and will be a tough test for Wisconsin.
