After an exciting finish over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 71-69 in a double-overtime earlier this week, the Wisconsin women's basketball team (6-1) will host Virginia Tech in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge Thursday night in hopes of extending its winning streak to six.
While the Hokies (5-1) have maintained solid defense so far this season, limiting their opponents to 56.5 points per game and an average of just 37.1 percent shooting from the field, the Badgers will look to keep their offense as sharp as in the overtime against Milwaukee.
I feel like we wear Wisconsin really well on our chest and we fight for it every single day,"" freshman guard Jade Davis said. ""We all have each other's back '¦ At the end, everyone was in there rebounding and doing what they had to do to get that win.""
Wisconsin sophomore guard Alyssa Karel currently leads Wisconsin's offense with an average of 12.4 points per game, and scored 11 against UW-Milwaukee. Sophomore forward Tara Steinbauer also added 11 while junior guard Rae Lin D'Alie led the team with eight rebounds. Defensively, Wisconsin is showing signs of improvement, only allowing 16 turnovers Tuesday.
""I'm really proud of the team. I've never been on a team that's focused so much on the team,"" junior forward Mariah Dunham said. We're all together like coach Stone said, it doesn't matter who starts, it doesn't matter who plays. As long as we get the win."" Dunham led the Badgers' last game with 16 points.
Coming off of two wins against Baylor, Villanova and Central Florida at the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands last week, the Badgers will face a strong Virginia Tech offense as well.
Virginia Tech is led offensively by junior guard Lindsay Biggs who is averaging 13.2 points per game. She has gone 10-of-25 from beyond the 3-point arc this season and has 23 assists. Junior forward Utahya Drye is averaging 6.2 rebounds per game for the Hokies and has also handed out 19 assists through six games. Drye has also scored double figures five times this season already.
Defensively, Virginia Tech senior guard Laura Haskins has earned a team-high 16 steals and has pulled in an impressive 29 total rebounds in the team's first six games.
""Every game is the biggest game of the year '¦ We're not going to make excuses, we're going to get it done,"" Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone said. ""They're tired right now. We'll have a light walk-through tomorrow and get ready for Virginia Tech.""
Last year's Challenge ended in the favor of the ACC as it topped the Big Ten 8-3. Wisconsin picked up one of the losses as it dropped its road game to Virginia 84-60.
The last time the Hokies and the Badgers met was in the 1998 NCAA tournament when Virginia Tech upset the then-No. 24 Wisconsin squad 75-54.
Tipoff will be at 6 p.m. at the Kohl Center and will be broadcast on bigtennetwork.com.
