This past weekend, the women's basketball team collected two wins against non-conference opponents and helped head coach Lisa Stone to her 100th career victory at Wisconsin.
The Badgers battled in-state rival Marquette Friday night at the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee, coming away triumphant for the second year in a row against the Golden Eagles with a 56-49 victory.
Junior guard Alyssa Karel led the Badgers in scoring with a season-high 23 points, playing all but three minutes of the game. Additionally, junior guard Lin Zastrow chipped in 10 points, and senior guard Teah Gant pulled down seven rebounds for Wisconsin.
In the first half, Marquette shot just over 35 percent from the field, as the Badgers managed just 32 percent shooting. Although Wisconsin established a 12-6 lead to open the game, the team found itself down 23-20 at the half. However, the Badgers came out of the locker room strong and battled to regain the lead.
That lead would jump back and forth between the two teams before Wisconsin grabbed a 33-32 edge with 13:50 left in the game—a lead the Badgers would not relinquish.
Sunday, the Badgers returned to the Kohl Center for the first time in over two weeks to take on Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. While the Badgers played extremely solid basketball on both sides of the floor all night, there was only one word to describe the Cougars—sloppy.
SIU-Edwardsville managed just 27 percent shooting from the floor, while failing to make a free throw until the 14:11 mark in the second half. The Badgers, however, shot 51 percent from the field, including nearly 67 percent in the first half, and sank 17-of-21 free throws in the game.
Karel led the Badgers with 12 points on the night, while only playing 19 minutes. Additionally, junior forward Tara Steinbauer notched her third double-double of the season, scoring 10 points and collecting 10 rebounds. Freshman guard Taylor Wurtz added 10 points for Wisconsin and barely missed a double-double of her own after grabbing eight rebounds.
The Badgers took a 45-18 lead into halftime, and stretched that lead to as many as 40 points after opening the first seven minutes of the second half with a 14-1 run. Around that point, coach Stone pulled most of her starters, giving the bench an opportunity to see playing time.
""It was a game where we were able to play everybody and give some people some extended minutes and also be able to rest our starters just a bit,"" Stone said.
With over 14 minutes remaining in the game, Stone notched another milestone in addition to her 100 career victories. After a disagreement following a no-call by the referees, Stone let the officials know she was upset, and was charged with a technical foul. After over 25 years of coaching and a lifetime of playing the game, Stone had finally earned her first technical.
""I've deserved a technical many more times than the one I did today,"" Stone said. ""We went on an 8-0 run though after that so my players were actually proud of the fact that that happened.""
In fact, following the call, the bench was nothing but smiles, and Stone even let a grimace slip as she high-fived senior guard Rae Lin D'Alie.
However, Stone's 100th career victory at Wisconsin was the more memorable milestone of the night. The win came in Stone's seventh season with the Badgers.
""The credit [for the 100 wins] goes to my players and staff,"" Stone said. ""I have the best job in the world; I work with tremendous people. My players ... they do the work.""
