Badgers Upset No. 7 Purdue
December 28, 2001 | Women's Basketball
Tying its best 11-game start in school history at 10-1, the No. 14 Wisconsin women 's basketball team opened the Big Ten conference season with an upset over the No. 7 Purdue Boilermakers, 71-59, Friday night at the Kohl Center. It was the Badgers' first victory over the defending Big Ten champion and NCAA runners-up since Feb. 15, 1998.
'It wasn't a monkey ' it was a gorilla on our back,' coach Jane Albright said.
The swagger and tenacity of the senior triumvirate, which tallied 49 of the Badgers' points, once again led Wisconsin. Senior Kyle Black led the way with 19 points, hitting key free throws down the stretch to put the game out of reach. Senior Jessie Stomski poured in 13 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for her 7th double-double of the season and 31st of her career. Senior Tamara Moore put down 17 points for the Badgers.
In the first five minutes of the game the Badgers jumped out to a 10-2 lead and later increased their lead to 21-7 on three-pointers from Black and Moore. Grabbing their largest lead at 31-15, the Badgers withstood a 6-0 Purdue run and Black nailed another trey, raising the crowd of 9,328 to its feet.
'The crowd was awesome,' Albright said. 'They really gave us a lot of energy.'
Plagued by cold shooting in the first 20 minutes of the game, the Boilermakers were held to 32.4 percent in the opening half. Wisconsin fired 48.4 percent from the field and entered the break with a 38-25 halftime lead.
The Boilermakers entered the second half attacking the basket, but the Badgers handled the charge, keeping their solid lead. UW kept a double-digit lead for most of the second half and survived a scare with 8:25 to go in the game. Moore went down and limped off the court, but her replacement, Candas Smith, handled the call and picked up a steal and a layup to fire up the crowd and put the score at 61-49.
Purdue battled back, managing to pull within seven with a minute and a half left in the game. But Black hit three free throws and Emily Ashbaugh drained two foul shots to ice the game for the Badgers. Ashbaugh tallied seven points and six boards for the Badgers.
'We just want to take one game at a time. [This win] does give us confidence certainly ' that's a key,' Albright said. 'This is the kind of group that responds to confidence. They've really put in a lot.'
Wisconsin travels to Iowa for its first road test of the Big Ten season Sunday at noon.
