After the Badgers (2-2) dropped two games in a row, head coach Bobbie Kelsey needed her players to step up and show improvement going into the SDSU Thanksgiving Tournament in San Diego, Calif. Fortunately, the Badgers responded by correcting both short-term mistakes and long-term tendencies, ultimately leading to a hard-fought 54-52 win against Delaware (2-2) Friday.
Despite giving up an early lead, the Badgers found a way to hold on and win. The Badgers took a 31-20 lead into the half, but promptly gave up that lead by the end of the third quarter. Despite losing the momentum, Wisconsin found a way to outscore the Blue Hens in the fourth and ultimately win on a jumper from sophomore guard Cayla McMorris with just three seconds remaining in the game.
In their two-game losing streak, the Badgers struggled heavily from behind the arc, shooting the ball only 7 percent and 25 percent in each game, respectively. Specifically, senior guard Nicole Bauman, who finished last season tied for first in the nation by shooting 48 percent from behind the arc, shot a combined 1-of-12 in their two losses.
In fact, after the Badgers’ loss to Drake at home, Bauman simply said, “My form is a little off. I have to get in the gym and work on it.”
Bauman’s work, along with the rest of the Badgers’ efforts, paid off in the win, as the team shot the deep ball much better. The Badgers finished shooting just under 40 percent from behind the arc, including Bauman’s two 3-pointers. Bauman finished with 17 points and shot 6-of-13 from the field. Senior guard Tessa Cichy also had a great shooting night, as she finished with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field, including a 3-of-6 effort from deep.
When asked this week about how to get players going on offense, Kelsey responded simply, “Sit people down. Pine time.”
Kelsey implemented this philosophy against Delaware, and as usual starter Dakota Whyte only saw 14 minutes as a result of her poor shooting night, as she only went 1-of-6 from the field.
The Badgers also stepped up on the defensive end of the floor. In the last two games, the Badgers allowed opponents to shoot 40 and 58 percent, respectively. Friday, however, the Badgers held Delaware to only 30 percent from the field, while creating 13 turnovers.
The Badgers definitely saw improvement on their short-term goals, but, more importantly, they did things that they could not have done last year. Specifically, the Badgers struggled closing out games last season, but rectified that weakness Friday.
“Finishing games was a big struggle for us,” Bauman said before the regular season. “We usually would start the game well, but by the end the other team would come back.”
Seven players put in over 10 minutes for the Badgers, and two others put in seven minutes, all helping to get an important win to end their brief losing streak.
