Badgers Come Up Short in Season Opener
November 23, 2003 | Women's Basketball
The University of Wisconsin's comeback bid fell just short as the Badgers lost 68-65 to Northern Illinois University at the Kohl Center this afternoon. The Huskies improve to 2-0, while UW starts the season 0-1.
The two teams traded baskets for much of the evenly played game, and neither squad was able to control the action. The difference in the contest was NIU 's 56% shooting in the second half that allowed the Huskies to build a double-digit lead Wisconsin was unable to overcome.
'It was a tough loss,' acknowledged UW Head Coach Lisa Stone. 'I don't like to lose, and I don't want to get used to it. We're going to learn how to win and take the good from this game and take what didn't end up going our way and improve on it.'
After a back-and-forth first half the score stood knotted at 27-27. The Badgers came out of the locker room cold, however, and made only four of their first 15 second-half field-goal attempts. The Huskies took advantage of the Badgers' offensive woes to build a 49-37 lead with 9:44 left to play.
Wisconsin regained its shooting touch and whittled away at the NIU advantage the rest of the way. Trailing 61-53 with four minutes left on the clock, UW guard Ashley Josephson nailed back-to-back jumpers, including a three-point basket, to pull the Badgers to within three points, 61-58, at the 2:20 mark.
UW could not get any closer the rest of the way, however, as the Huskies were 5-6 from the free-throw line down the stretch to preserve the hard-fought victory.
Josephson finished the game with 16 points and shot 3-4 from beyond the three-point arc. Guard Stephanie Rich also contributed 16 points to go along with seven assists, five rebounds, and two steals. Emily Ashbaugh led the Badgers in the paint, chipping in with 15 points and nine rebounds. Kjersten Bakke gave UW a spark off of the bench with seven points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes of action
Northern Illinois' Monique Davis led all scorers with 20 points on 7-10 shooting. Lindsay Secrest added 16 points, and Kristin Wiener scored 11 off of the bench. Jennifer Youngblood grabbed a team-high nine rebounds for the Huskies.
'When you debut you want to demonstrate to these fans the great work ethic of our players,' said Coach Stone. 'I think they certainly did that effort-wise. It's just real unfortunate that we didn't come away with a `W,' but this has to make us tougher, make us stronger. We 'll go from here.'
The Badgers head to Florida over Thanksgiving weekend to compete in a tournament hosted by the University of Miami. The Badgers play Hampton University in the opening round on Friday, November 28 at 2:00 PM.
