Badgers Rally to Beat Iowa For Tenth Straight Win
December 30, 2001 | Women's Basketball
For the third time this season, 14th-ranked Wisconsin held its opponent to only one field goal in the last eight minutes of the game to score a come-from-behind victory. The Badgers overcame a seven-point half-time deficit to defeat Iowa 68-61 this afternoon for their first win in Iowa City since 1997.
UW held the Hawkeyes to a meager 24% second-half shooting percentage to notch their second straight win to open the Big Ten season. Wisconsin has now won ten consecutive games which ties the school mark set by the 1995-96 team. The Badgers improve to 2-0 in the Big Ten and 11-1 overall, while Iowa drops to 1-1 and 8-4.
Wisconsin jumped out to a fast start, dominating in the paint, to race to a 13-4 lead after six and a half minutes of play. The smaller Hawkeyes, however, got their track shoes out and their offense on track to tie the game at 13-13 and outscore Wisconsin 29-11 to take their own nine-point lead at 33-24 with 3:34 left on the clock
Freshman Stephanie Rich, who hails from the Iowa City area and had over 50 fans in the arena, drilled a three pointer with 44 ticks left to bring UW within 37-32, but an Iowa fast-break bucket gave the Hakweyes a 39-32 advatnage at the break. Iowa outrebounded the taller Badgers 21-16 and took advantage off 11 UW first-half turnovers to build their lead.
Wisconsin slowly chipped away at the Hawkeye lead throughout the second half. Back-to-back three-point plays by Rich and Kyle Black gave the Badgers a 52-51 advantage, their first lead since the 8:31 mark of the first half. The game saw three more lead changes before Black gave Wisconsin the lead for good 62-61 with 2:47 left on the clock. The Badgers were 4-5 from the free-throw line down the stretch to preserve the victory.
Black finished the game with 16 points, 12 of them coming in the final frame. In addition to her second-half offensive heroics, Black limited Iowa 's leading scorer, Lindsey Meder, to only nine points for the game. Meder, the Big Ten's top three-point shooter, managed to make only one of her seven three-point field-goal attempts against Black's tight defense.
'In Madison, Kyle is known as an offensive player,' noted Wisconsin Head Coach Jane Albright. 'Tonight, though, she should be known for her defense on Lindsey Meder. If you can keep a kid like that under double digits, that 's some good work.'
Center Emily Ashbaugh scored a career-high 17 points to lead all scorers and notched the second double-double of her career (and her first this season) with 10 rebounds. Jessie Stomski just missed a double-double of her own with 15 points and nine rebounds.
'Emily picked a good night to have her career-high in points,' remarked Coach Albright. 'I thought she and Jessie really owned the boards down the stretch.'
Center Jennie Lillis led the Hawkeyes with 16 points to go along with nine rebounds. Leah Magner hit three three-point baskets to finish with 13 points, and Beatrice Bullock came off of the bench to grab a game-high 13 rebounds for the Hawkeyes.
The Badgers return to the friendly confines of the Kohl Center this coming Thursday, January 3 to take on Big Ten rival Indiana at 7:00 PM.
