The Wisconsin women’s basketball team started their season with a 79-68 win against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies Wednesday night at the Kohl Center. A debut win for first-year head coach Robin Pingeton, it was the Badgers ninth straight season opener victory.
The star of the game was senior guard Destiny Howell, who went off for 10 points in the first three minutes of the game. Although there were lots of things to improve for the Badgers, the home opener nonetheless reflected a good performance to start the season.
The Badgers started five new transfers in their lineup, a surprise decision especially considering Senior guard Ronnie Porter’s omission. Porter, over the past two years, had started every game for the Badgers. Instead, the first five for Pingeton were Shay Bollin, Laci Steele, Kyrah Daniels, Breauna Ware and Howell. Pingeton later clarified her decision for the starting lineup.
“We don’t really look at it as a starting lineup. We look at it as the start of our rotation, and that could vary game to game,” Pingeton said.
Wisconsin struggled in the first half, even though they maintained a lead throughout. Howell and Daniels led the way in the first quarter as they were the only scorers for the Badgers with 10 and five points, respectively. But turnovers stalled the Badgers from running away with the game. Bollin started heating up in the second quarter before Oakland started chipping back at the deficit. The Badgers ended up with nine turnovers in the first half and led 39-30.
In the second half, the Badgers transitioned into a full-court press, which helped them create more turnovers on the defensive end and protect their lead. In the third quarter, the Badgers were much more aggressive, getting rebounds and getting inside to score gritty points. With their defense controlling Oakland, they were able to take an 18-point lead by the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, a three-pointer by Bollin with 3:25 left to play sealed the win for Wisconsin.
The Badgers ended up going 50% from the field and 11-for-14 from the free-throw line. They also attempted 24 three-pointers, converting eight of those shots.
Wisconsin will look to improve from this win, especially to fix their turnover issue, after giving the ball away 18 times Wednesday. The Badgers play four games in eight days, so they will hope to rest some players while preparing to face Marquette on Saturday.
