It had been 10 years since the UW Field House hosted a collegiate basketball game.
For the Wisconsin women's basketball team, the return to the old gymnasium Saturday was an unfriendly one as the Badgers were ousted from the Women's National Invitation Tournament, suffering a 60-54 defeat to Villanova.
I thought it certainly was not due to a lack of effort,"" Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone said. ""Our kids really played hard today. It's just unfortunate that we just couldn't get over the hump.""
The loss also marked the end of the careers of Wisconsin seniors Jolene Anderson, Janese Banks, Danielle Ward and Ivana Mijalcevic.
""This is always a hard day in the locker room, because you are saying goodbye to your senior class,"" Stone said. ""Jo and Janese and Danielle have been with me for four years and it's awfully hard to have their careers end. We wanted to keep the season going.""
Anderson, the Big Ten's Co-Player of the Year, led all scorers with 21 points in the contest. Anderson also led the Badgers with seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals. No other Badger scored in double figures.
Anderson finished her Wisconsin career totaling 2,312 points, good for No. 4 all-time in Big Ten women's basketball scoring.
Yet Anderson's game was not enough, as seven of the nine Wildcats who saw action made at least one 3-pointer.
""Defensively we had a great game plan playing a team that shoots 500 more 3-point shots than their opponents and they got hot,"" Stone said. ""We lost them a couple of times and they make you pay. They shot 11-for-21 from the three-point line and it came down to 3-point shooting and our free throw shooting.""
Villanova's 21 tries from behind the arc broke its own NCAA record for most threes attempted in a season with 833.
The Badgers shot a dismal 44 percent from the free-throw line and made just two 3-pointers in the contest.
Behind 57 percent field goal shooting in the second half, Villanova (17-15) won its first ever meeting against Wisconsin (16-14) and will move on to face the winner of Colorado and Gonzaga in the third round of the WNIT.
The Badgers, who made it to the WNIT championship game last season, fell to 13-3 in WNIT games and failed to make it past the second round for the first time ever.
- uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
