The Wisconsin women's basketball team is coming off a much-needed one-week hiatus. This mental and physical break is well-deserved following a tough loss against Penn State at home last Thursday, a game that carried with it a lot of opportunity and emotion.
""Our bye weekend came at a very good time,"" head coach Lisa Stone said. ""We had this weekend off to refresh and recharge, and we're looking forward to having very purposeful practices in preparation for Indiana.""
The Badgers enter play tonight on the road against Indiana carrying a 5-4 Big Ten record (15-5 overall) and hold a tie for third place in the conference. The Hoosiers sit at 4-5 in conference play (11-9 overall) and are coming off a 70-56 defeat at the hands of Michigan.
Leading Indiana this season has been junior guard Jori Davis. This year, Davis is averaging 17.2 points per game and over 6.5 rebounds per contest. Additionally, Marshfield, Wis., native and senior guard Jamie Braun is averaging 12 points and nearly 6 rebounds per game for the Hoosiers.
For Wisconsin, junior guard Alyssa Karel continues to lead the team in scoring, averaging just under 14 points per game this season. Karel is the only Badger averaging double figures in scoring this year.
However, Karel's normally hot hands have cooled off recently though Stone shows no concern for the slump.
""I like the balance that we have and when we all play well together,"" Stone said. ""I'm not concerned about that at all with Alyssa. What I'd like to do is get more people and more production out of others.""
While scoring has been an issue as of late for the Badgers (the team ranks at the bottom of the Big Ten in offense), Wisconsin has had no trouble handling the game at the defensive end. Wisconsin currently sits atop the conference in scoring defense and continues to rank high among national leaders in the category.
From the beginning of the season, Stone emphasized the importance of defense. After ending the 2008-'09 campaign ranked 39th in defense nationally, Wisconsin has been listed as high as ninth best in the country this season.
""I'm very pleased with our defense. That's who we are,"" Stone said. ""We are a defensive team with a mentality of servanthood and we hope that that carries over on the offensive end.""
As the Badgers enter Bloomington tonight to start the second half of the Big Ten season, the team remains both confident and focused on improvement.
""[We] still have lots of things to work on yet,"" Stone said. ""We're excited to be sitting right now in third place, but we've got a lot of work to do ahead of us.""
