In a true team effort, the Wisconsin women's basketball team secured a 69-54 victory against visiting Canisius Sunday afternoon at the Kohl Center.
The fashion that we won in was in some ways, hopefully, uncharacteristic of our team,"" UW head coach Lisa Stone said. ""We didn't play with a whole lot of energy throughout the game and defensively we had a goal that we thought maybe we could hold them under 40, but that didn't happen.""
Despite turning up a 17-0 run at the end of the first half and beginning of the second, the Badgers gave up eight unanswered points midway through the second half. According to Stone, even though the statistics communicated a balanced game, the team knows it can play better.
""We shot free throws better, we shot decent from the field,"" Stone said. ""But I hope we can prepare quickly before we go to the Virgin Islands because the competition will continue to get stiffer as we go.""
Coming off of a solid victory over Drake last Thursday, the Badgers (2-1) were looking to improve their free throw shooting and keep their defense as strong as it's been. Aside from a few shaky moments, Wisconsin did exactly this, shooting 10-14 from the line and causing Canisius to turn the ball over 21 times, which led to 21 points for the Badgers.
""I like the fact that we have a lot of weapons and if we continue to show off our offensive movement and lack of being stagnant, that's going to help us as well,"" Stone said.
The offense was led by Wisconsin freshman Jamie Russell, who put up 16 points and sunk two three-pointers. Sophomore Alyssa Karel, who managed 10 points on the game, started the offense off for Wisconsin, hitting a three-pointer to put her team on the board. Ten of 12 Badgers who played in the game scored as the team shot 13-26 for 50 percent from the field.
The Badgers accumulated more assists against the Griffins than they have so far this season. Going into the game, Wisconsin had 11 assists but finished Sunday's game with 16. Wisconsin junior guards Rae Lin D'Alie and Teah Gant finished with seven and four points, respectively.
Canisius (1-2) battled their way through the game, as Micayla Drysdale led her team's offense with 19 points. The Griffins also finished 18-20 from the line, but struggled to score in the first half, only making five from the field.
""We went into half time down 14 and we didn't have a lot of fight in that time '¦ The size and strength difference sometimes between Wisconsin and Canisius is tough,"" Canisius head coach Terry Zeh said. ""They hit that deep three at the end of the shot clock from about half court and it took the wind out of our sails a little bit. You need to continue to play.""
Although this win was important for the Badgers, Stone said that her team will have to keep working to get where they need to be in order to keep winning.
""There's not a game on our schedule that's an easy game,"" she said. ""That's something we talked about every day and it's important that our players understand that. As we've seen from South Dakota State until now, things have gotten better, but we have a long way to go.""
Wisconsin travels to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, Thursday for the Paradise Jam to face Villanova at 12 p.m. and will continue Friday with No. 10 Baylor at the Sports and Fitness Center.
