Senior guard Jolene Anderson recorded her 19th double-double with 37 points and 12 rebounds en route to Wisconsin's 82-62 victory over Cleveland State (0-1) Friday. The road win was the fourth consecutive season opening victory for Wisconsin (1-0) under head coach Lisa Stone.
What impressed me the most is our character,"" Stone said in Monday's press conference. ""We were on the road in a tough environment... Just going against a team that is picked under the radar with five players on their team from Wisconsin inspired to play us...we demonstrated a lot of character.""
""We were on the road for our first time,"" Stone added. ""The last seven minutes of the game we played very well. Jolene put the team on her back, no question and got some things done for us.""
Anderson's career high 37 points put her in third place for most points in a single game in Wisconsin women's basketball history. Keisha Anderson scored 45 points in a victory over UC-Santa Barbara in 1996, one season after Barb Franke scored 38 against Purdue.
Sophomore point guard Rae Lin D'Alie scored 10 points, Wisconsin's only other double-digit scorer against the Vikings.
Because Cleveland State used a five-guard set for much of the game, Wisconsin's posts saw limited playing time. Stone was impressed with the play of freshman forward Tara Steinbauer and sophomore forward Brittany Heins, who had nine points apiece against the Vikings.
""It was not a game for our 'bigs,' more a game for Tara Steinbauer and Brittany Heins, who I was very impressed with,"" Stone said. ""To get nine and nine [points] out of Brittany and Tara on a daily basis is pretty nice coming off the bench.""
Steinbauer also grabbed nine rebounds in her first game in a Badger uniform.
""Tara really stepped out and it was a game for her to shine,"" Stone said. ""She got on the glass, she's got great hands, she can finish inside. Defensively, she and Alyssa [Karel] and Lin [Zastrow] are all growing in terms of learning the new philosophy for our defense.""
As for the other freshman on Stone's squad, including Zastrow and Karel, the numbers were much less impressive than the first two exhibition games.
""I think it was just different,"" Stone said. ""They found some success and got written about pretty highly in their first exhibition games, and to go on the road is a little different.""
""I'm really proud of them,"" Stone added. ""I'm very excited about our freshmen class - they give us a lot of options and when they are playing, they are the first players off the bench.""
The Badgers will head to Milwaukee Saturday afternoon to take on in-state rival Marquette in the Bradley Center. Wisconsin has not beaten the Golden Eagles since 2001.
