The No. 7-seeded UW women's basketball team advanced to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Conference Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis Thursday after knocking out Michigan 81-59.
Junior All-Big Ten honorable mention nominee Janese Banks led the Badgers with a game-high 23 points. Classmate Jolene Anderson, who was named All-Big Ten First Team this week, had a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Mariah Dunham also registered her first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, as junior Danielle Ward posted double-digit scoring off the bench, netting 11 points and grabbing nine boards. Freshman point guard Rae Lin D'Alie contributed offensively with 10 assists.
Wisconsin shot sensationally from beyond the arc, knocking down 10-of-21 shots (48 percent) from 3-point land. As a whole, the Badgers maintained a solid shooting percentage on the game, finishing at 42 percent from the floor. The Wolverines got off to a rough start in the first half of play, shooting a disappointing 25 percent. Michigan was able to almost double its shooting percentage in the second half, however, and finished 37 percent from the field.
The game was close until Wisonsin got hot and pulled ahead by a score of 22-8 with 8:26 left in the first half. The Badgers went into the locker room with a solid 28-18 lead.
Michigan was able to cut the Wisconsin lead to 11 points twice in the second half, but the Badgers were able to pull ahead by 30 points with just under four and a half minutes left in the game.
Ball protection was key to Wisconsin's victory, as the team committed only four turnovers in the second half of play. The Badgers finished with 15 turnovers on the game, but Michigan was only able to score eight points off those mistakes. On the other end, Wisconsin forced 17 Michigan turnovers and racked up 22 points off those miscues.
Carly Benson led the Wolverines with 11 points, followed closely by teammate Stephany Skrba, who posted 10 points.
The Badgers will be playing the No. 2 seed Purdue Friday at 11 a.m. Purdue's Katie Gearlds set an all-time opponent scoring record two weekends ago at the Kohl Center, collecting 41 points and leading the Boilermakers past the Badgers 69-60. Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton also will pose an offensive threat to Wisconsin, as she ranks seventh in Big Ten scoring, averaging 14.3 points per game. Gearlds and Wisdom-Hylton were also both named first team All-Big Ten based on their stellar performances this season.
If Wisconsin defeats Purdue, it will move on to the semifinals Sunday.
