In its second to last game of the non-conference season, the UW women's basketball team (6-3) put forth an exceptional performance against in-state rival UW-Green Bay Tuesday night, defeating the Phoenix (4-3) by a score of 81-58 at the Kohl Center to win their fourth straight game. The Badgers' victory is just their third in the past six contests against UWGB, who are perennial NCAA Tournament contestants.
I'm very proud of our basketball team,"" UW head coach Lisa Stone said. ""You can look at the assist to turnover ratio and that tells the story. Great sharing of the basketball, tremendous [balanced] scoring, great look by [sophomore guard] Teah Gant, five in double figures is big for us ... it goes on and on and on ... I feel really good about the fact that we really played well against a good team.""
The starting lineup for Wisconsin was different than what Stone has been using thus far in the season, with Gant getting the nod while standout freshman guard Tara Steinbauer sat on the bench with a boot on her right foot. The official report was that she was held out because of a lower leg injury. Gant took advantage of the start, tallying 10 points, three steals and three assists.
The story of the first half was the Wisconsin defense, which generated 16 turnovers and collected 18 rebounds before heading to the locker room. Six different players had a steal, while senior forward Danielle Ward collected five boards.
UWGB had no answer to the scrappy play of the Badger defense, only coming up with three turnovers of their own. The Phoenix did manage to keep senior guard Jolene Anderson's offensive production modest, holding her to eight points going into halftime, but Anderson did manage to dish out five assists to lead the team in the early going.
Heading into the second half up 41-30, Wisconsin faltered slightly, giving up two turnovers in the first two and a half minutes but immediately turned around and got into an offensive rhythm. Following the turnovers, the Badgers went on a 13-4 run to take a 21-point lead at 58-37.
Wisconsin gave up no ground the rest of the night, eventually ending with their highest lead of the night - up 23 points - and a total of 23 takeaways. Anderson got in a groove in the second half, putting up 12 more points to end the night with 20. This effort moved her to third all-time on UW's career scoring list.
Sophomore point guard Rae Lin D'Alie, senior guard Janese Banks and Ward each put up double-figure point totals as well.
""I felt like [Anderson] did a great job of letting the offense come to her, taking it when it was there and getting her teammates involved,"" UWGB head coach Matt Bollant said. ""Obviously, that's going to make them a lot better team. Tonight I know they had their five starters in double figures - they're going to be a lot tougher team to guard if you don't just have to worry about [Anderson]. Give her credit for getting everybody involved.""
The Badgers' one downfall of the night was their abysmal free throw shooting. The team hit just eight of 21 from the line to end the night at just 38 percent.
""The obvious missing piece ... is the free throw shooting,"" Stone said of the game. ""I don't have an answer to that. We got to the line like we wanted to. We just simply have to capitalize. We missed [13] free throws and our players will tell you, too, that we'll go right back to work again. We shoot them a lot. I have no explanation for it. I just know that we'll be better at the free throw line the next time we step up there.""
The Badgers will finish their non-conference season this Friday, when South Dakota State (8-3) comes to town. The Jackrabbits have wins over Oregon, Missouri and Southern Illinois already this season. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
