In what appeared to be a competitive game at halftime, the Wisconsin women's basketball team pulled ahead of Northwestern convincingly in the final 10 minutes of play to win 79-65 Monday.
The win puts Wisconsin, 13-11 overall, even with Illinois for eighth place overall in the Big Ten at 6-8 and two games away from fifth, which would give the team a bye in the Big Ten tournament in early March.
The game took off at a fast pace, with each team scoring quickly and evenly to create a virtual tie throughout the first 10 minutes of play. Freshman Wildcat Amy Jaeschke, who has been leading the team in scoring all year, put eight points on the board in the first four minutes.
Northwestern began to pull away midway into the first half by taking advantage of numerous UW turnovers, earning a game-high lead of 8 points at 31-23.
With about five minutes remaining in the half, the Badger defense started to force Wildcat turnovers, allowing UW a 15-2 run to take a 37-33 lead with four minutes remaining.
UW had a 41-38 lead at halftime after Northwestern scored four points in the last two minutes to close the gap. Freshman guard Lin Zastrow led UW scoring at halftime with 10 points.
Northwestern remained about five points behind UW for the opening 10 minutes of the second half, and the Wildcats even got within one point, to make the score 51-50 with 13 minutes remaining.
After the Wildcat scare, UW quickly answered with a 9-0 run to widen the gap 60-50, which sealed the Badgers' lead over Northwestern. The lead stayed about the same for the remainder of the game, with UW adding another four points to its lead in the final eight minutes.
Wisconsin edged Northwestern rebounds 33-26 and had six fewer turnovers, with 17 to the Wildcats' 23.
Janese Banks was the leading scorer for UW at 21 points, hitting 71 percent and making 4-of-5 three pointers to become the No. 11 all-time scorer. For the second time this season, five UW players scored in the double figures.
Zastrow and senior guard Jolene Anderson scored 14 points each while sophomore forward Marish Dunham and freshman guard Alyssa Karel each raked in 10 points. Anderson is 14 points away from surpassing Alando Tucker's 2,217 career points to become UW's all-time leading scorer among men and women.
Northwestern's Jaeschke finished the night with 20 points, and senior guard Nadia Bibbs tallied 15 points while Amy's cousin Ellen Jaeschke scored 14 for the night.
Wisconsin won both games against Northwestern last season, and this season's sweep puts Wisconsin on top in 21 of the last 23 matchups. UW defeated Northwestern 75-45 in January.
Northwestern remains winless in the Big Ten at 0-14.
The Badgers have won five of their last seven Big Ten games after opening 1-6 and have four more conference contests before the tournament.
Wisconsin will get a chance to avenge its 24 point loss to Indiana earlier in the season at home Wednesday. Indiana is 8-6 in the Big Ten.
