Even before the regular season has started, head coach Bobbie Kelsey has made it clear she thinks this year’s team can be great. Kelsey has high hopes for her veteran group and believes her team can make the NCAA tournament, a feat that Wisconsin women’s basketball has not accomplished since the 2009-’10 season. Even though the tournament is a while down the road, Kelsey knows that the journey has already begun in their exhibition games.
The Badgers beat the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire 69-49 at the Kohl Center Wednesday in their final tuneup before the regular season begins. Even though it was just an exhibition game, Kelsey continued to stress the importance of each matchup.
“If you want to get to the NCAA tournament, then every game is a dress rehearsal for that,” Kelsey said.
To Kelsey’s delight, the team performed very well in this dress rehearsal. The team finished shooting just under 45 percent from the field and just under 35 percent from beyond the arc. Kelsey attributed a lot of her team’s success to their enthusiasm.
“The kids came out and played with a lot of energy,” Kelsey said. “A lot more than last game.”
Kelsey knows the importance of energy and enthusiasm, and says her team even practices calling plays out from the bench and cheering each other on.
“That’s important, and that’s how you beat people,” Kelsey said. “When you’re together, nobody can get inbetween you. If you make a mistake, you move on quickly when you are together. That’s our culture.”
More technically, the Badgers dominated on the defensive end of the court, holding UW-Eau Claire to only 30 percent shooting from the floor, something senior guard Dakota Whyte took pride in.
“I think that when you have defensive pressure and intensity, it helps you step up your game,” Whyte said.
This smothering defense allowed Whyte to use her transition game to put up points on offense, as she finished with 18 points and six assists.
Similarly, senior guard Nicole Bauman had a big night, putting in 15 points and dishing out four assists. Bauman was particularly happy to see her hard work in practice transfer over into a game. When asked about her shot off the dribble, Bauman said, “I work on that every day in practice, and so does everyone else.”
After her team’s work in the preseason, Kelsey is confident her team will continue to perform in the regular season. Still, despite their initial success, the team knows that there are still parts of their game that they can work to improve.
Specifically, Bauman knows the importance of continued work ethic and improvement every day in practice.
“For me individually, I just want to keep playing to the best ability I can,” Bauman said. “And as a team, we just want to be more in synch than we were last year, and one of the biggest things is finishing games. There were a lot of games last year where we would be in it until then end, and then somehow we would lose energy or the other team would step up more.”
Fortunately for the Badgers, Kelsey thinks this team has the makeup to accomplish those improvements.
“We have the bodies to [finish games],” Kelsey said. “They’re in great shape. Dakota doesn’t really get tired, and Nicole never gets tired.”
Through their conditioning and enthusiasm, the Badgers look to carry the momentum from this win into the regular season and pick up their first victory against Louisiana Tech Saturday at home.
