Wisconsin Overpowers UW-Milwaukee
December 11, 2001 | Women's Basketball
15th-ranked University of Wisconsin downed in-state rival UW-Milwaukee 80-61 this evening at the Kohl Center. The Badgers have now won seven in a row and improve to 8-1 on the season. The Panthers drop to 4-5 this year.
The Badgers used their superior size to overpower UW-M, as the Panthers had no answer for the Wisconsin inside tandem of Jessie Stomski and Ebba Gebisa. Stomski, who collected her sixth double-double of the season, scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Gebisa came off of the bench to score a career-high 15 points to go along with six rebounds.
For the game, the taller Badgers outrebounded the Panthers by 10 boards, 46-36, and poured in 14 more points in the paint (36-22). Wisconsin connected on 45% of its field-goal attempts, and the generous Badger offense recorded 20 assists on 29 field goals.
'I thought after a really big win on Saturday [against #10 N.C. State], we came back tonight and got off to a really good start,' said Wisconsin Head Coach Jane Albright. 'We played very consistently throughout the game.'
The two teams started the game evenly, playing to a 12-12 tie at the 12:49 mark of the opening frame. The Panthers made two of their five three-point field goals in the first few minutes of action to keep the game close.
Wisconsin responded by pounding the ball inside, and UW-M could not stop Stomski and Gebisa as they took over the game. The two forwards powered a 17-3 run over the next four minutes to give Wisconsin the lead for good, 29-15, with eight minutes left on the clock. Stomski and Gebisa combined for 14 points and four rebounds to power the UW surge. Milwaukee never got closer than nine points for the rest of the half, as the Badgers cruised to a 44-28 halftime lead.
'The scary thing about Wisconsin is they have got players like Ebba Gebisa coming off the bench and giving them a great spark,' analyzed UW-M Head Coach Sandy Botham. 'That, for me, is the sign of a great team is when you have kids that can come in and pick up were the starters left off.'
Coach Albright experimented with different match-ups for most of the second half, and UW-M never really got back in the game. The Panthers did close to within ten points, 64-54, late in the half, but Albright responded by reinserting her starting five. Kyle Black nailed a three-point basket, and Tamara Moore added four points to spark a 12-3 run that pushed the Badgers' lead to 76-57 and put the game away for good.
'In the second half, Milwaukee really made a run at it, ' said Coach Albright. 'They got about three transition buckets in a row, and they cut it to ten points. I felt we knuckled down then and played some really good defense, and were able to come away with the win.'
Black finished the game with 15 points, including three three-point baskets, to go along with four assists and two steals. Moore, the Badgers' floor leader just missed a triple-double with 11 points, ten rebounds, eight assists, and only three turnovers in 31 minutes of action.
Center Maria Viall led the Panthers with 17 points and eight rebounds, a Angela Wenzel came off of the bench to add eight points. Holly Tamm and Stefanie Kaufmann each added seven points for UW-M.
Wisconsin remains at the Kohl Center and will take on Drake University this coming Thursday, December 13 at 7:00 PM.
