UW Women's Basketball Team Hosts Western Illinois Friday
December 22, 2005 | Women's Basketball
The Badger women's basketball team finished up its finals this week and concludes the first semester of play Friday by hosting Western Illinois (7-2) at 7 p.m. in the Kohl Center. The game will be broadcast tape-delayed at 11 p.m. by Wisconsin Public Television with Ken Syke and Karie Cattanach.
Wisconsin evened its record at 5-5 and stopped a five game losing streak with a 72-57 win over UW-Milwaukee Dec. 14. Prior to that win, UW had not won a game since the finals of the Hawaii Tournament Nov. 27. Two of the five losses were to nationally ranked opponents and three were at home. UW lost a hard-fought 77-72 decision to No. 11 Notre Dame and placed second in the Rainbow Wahini Classic to then No. 17 Depaul, 76-57. UW is 2-3 at home this season. UW lost 90-87 in the program's fifth double-overtime game at Kansas Dec. 11. The Badgers started the season with four-straight wins and is 0-3 in games decided by five points or less.
The Badger injury situation contributed to the string of losses by disrupting the starting lineup in several games. Injuries to starters Ashley Josephson (missed Marquette game with a hip injury); and Kjersten Bakke (missed Notre Dame and SDSU with a knee injury) created new lineups. As a result, freshman 6-4 center Caitlin Gibson has served in the starting lineup the last four games. Leading scorer Janese Banks suffered a head injury Dec. 2, but has played in every game since.
One of the bright spots this first semester of play has been UW 's rebounding. Wisconsin owns the top position in rebounding in the Big Ten averaging 44.3 per game. The Badgers have outrebounded nine of 10 opponents this season with only Notre Dame winning the battle of the boards, 34-27. UW is also the conference leader in offensive boards with 17.9 per game second in rebounding margin with +7.5. Both Jolene Anderson and Janese Banks are offensive board crashers and rank third (3.3) and fourth (3.0) in the conference, respectively.
Wisconsin's sophomore backcourt duo of Anderson and Banks also account for 44.1 percent of Wisconsin's scoring, and 30.0 percent of UW 's rebounds. The two are also one-two in steals and assists accounting for 47.7 percent of the team's steals, and 48.1 percent of the assists. They also log the most minutes with Banks averaging 34.2 and Anderson averaging 32.8 minutes per game and make (42.5) and attempt (43.0) the most shots.
Western Illinois is 7-2 on the season and is coming to Madison Friday for the 11th meeting of the two teams. The Badgers had won nine in a row before the Westerwinds stopped the Badgers 64-58 at the Kohl Center on Dec. 1, 2003.
Senior Zane Teilane tied Western Illinois' all-time rebounds record two games ago as she led the women's basketball team to a 57-44 win at Saint Louis with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Teilane (Riga, Lativa/Agenskalns Gimnazija) was named Mid-Continent Conference November Female Student-Athlete of the Month. She averages a double-double and is the only double-figure scorer averaging 15.9 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.
Before its 46-41 loss at Missouri State Dec. 7, Western's 5-1 start to the season was the best start in school history since the 1977-78 team started that year 6-0 under Bea Yeager. The other loss was to No. 4 Ohio State, 75-36. The team has posted wins over Hannibal-LaGrance 96-59, Northern Illinois 50-34, Eastern Washington 57-54, and Bradley 57-54 and Illinois-Springfield, 109-38 in addition to St. Louis, 57-44.
