Wisconsin Falls to Western Illinois, 70-61
December 23, 2005 | Women's Basketball
The Wisconsin women's basketball team (5-6) fell to Western Illinois 70-61 Friday at the Kohl Center. Sophomore Jolene Anderson tallied a game-high 18 points to lead the Badgers.
Western Illinois, picked in the preseason poll to win the Mid-Continental Conference and the league's three-time defending champion, led by just one at the halfway mark, 30-29. But the Badgers would never take the lead in the second half. The two teams were tied at 34 with 17:48 to play before the Westerwinds went on a 7-0 run to take a 42-34 lead with 13:34 left on the clock.
The Badgers would cut the lead to two at 11:39 following a trey and a 3-point play from Anderson (Port Wing, Wis.). A layup from Caitlin Gibson (Jefferson, Wis.) would tie the game for the second time in the half at 42 with 10 minutes left in the game.
On the very next possession, WIU's Rachael Reed made a layup of her own that sparked a 9-0 scoring run over the next two minutes. The Westerwinds would lead 51-42 with 8:35 to play and led by as many was 12 with just under five minutes left in the game. The closest the Badgers would come was five, 63-58, but there were just 28 tics on the clock and Western Illinois went 6-of-6 from the charity stripe to defeat Wisconsin for just the second time in series history.
Anderson scored in double figures for the 11th-consecutive game. Teammates Janese Banks (Indianapolis, Ind.) scored 11 and Danielle Ward (Milwaukee, Wis.) added 10 points off the bench.
The Badgers were outrebounded for just the second time this season, pulling down 29 boards to WIU's 32.
Wisconsin turned the ball over just nine times, the lowest of the season and the third-lowest in program history. Western Illinois had 18 turnovers in the game.
Four players scored in double digits for the Westerwinds (8-2), led by All-American candidate Zane Teilane with 15.
In the first half, the game was tied 10 times in the first 20 minutes and the lead also changed eight times. Western Illinois had a four-point lead, 6-2, just three minutes into the game. The Badgers were able to take a three-point lead, 25-22, following a 3-pointer from Spencer with five minutes to play in the half. The Westerwinds would answer with a trey of their own and would go on to take a one-point lead, 30-29, into the locker room at halftime.
The Badgers open Big Ten play Dec. 29 at Purdue.
Women's Basketball Game Notes & Quotes
Dec. 23, 2005
Wisconsin (5-6) 61, Western Illinois (8-2) 70
Kohl Center
Madison, Wis.
Attendance: 5,151
Game Notes
' Wisconsin leads the all-time series against the Westerwinds, 9-2. Western Illinois has won the last two meetings, both of which were at the Kohl Center.
' The Badgers are 2-3 in the Kohl Center this season.
' Rookie Christine Spencer scored a career-high five points, all of which came in the first half. Her previous best was three against Cleveland State (11/20). Spencer also had a season-best 14 minutes.
' Wisconsin is 1-5 when trailing at halftime. UW trailed the Westerwinds 30-29 at the break.
' Western Illinois is just the second team to outrebound the Badgers, pulling down 32 boards to Wisconsin's 29. Notre Dame is the only other team to grab more caroms than UW.
' The Badgers had just nine turnovers in the game, which is a season-low and also is the third-lowest in school history.
' Sophomore Jolene Anderson netted 18 points to lead the Badgers against WIU. She has scored in double figures in each of Wisconsin's 11 games this season.
Game Quotes
Wisconsin Head Coach Lisa Stone
On the game:
'We took enough shots, that's for sure. We took 20 more shots than they did and made a few less. It's unfortunate. It's our home court and we need to shoot the ball better here. We had nine turnovers and we stayed pretty even on the glass but couldn't score. It's a good basketball team and we've had a rough non-conference schedule. Hopefully, we can find some silver lining in this before we head into Christmas prior to going into Big Ten play. To finish were we're at right now in the non-conference season, it's been disappointing and we have to find a way.'
On Chris Spencer:
'We have brought some young people. We have some young ones coming. Chris Spencer gets better everyday. She played the most minutes she has played all year and there are some good things that we can look at in some of those younger players. '
On the defensive effort:
'I thought defensively we didn't have that spark I was looking for in the first half. They shot 57 percent in the first half. I give them a lot of credit, they found some easy baskets. We didn't apply the pressure that we needed to and they did nothing different that we had prepared for. It's just a heartbreaker. The kids were ready for this game. There are no excuses with finals, holidays and things like that, it's just disappointing and a bit heartbreaking. We have a couple of days off and we have to get back to work.'
On opening Big Ten play against Purdue Thursday:
'What we have to look at now is a brand new season. This is the Big Ten season. We've played well in Mackey Arena in the past. We have not been real successful in the past couple of years but we have played well. I'm hoping we can go down there and regroup. It appears that we play pretty well on the road and we have to bring that back home. Our next game is the Big Ten opener at home with Northwestern and that's one we have to get along with seeing if we can knock off Purdue. Purdue is a great team and they're ranked right now but we've played a lot of really good teams in this preseason schedule and hopefully that will pay great dividends for us.'
Western Illinois Head Coach Leslie Crane
Opening statement:
'Probably the biggest stat for us is that we out-rebounded this team ' and Wisconsin is a great, great rebounding team. They've been outrebounding all of their opponents throughout this first semester. That was probably one of our biggest concerns, because that hasn't been this year one of our strong suits. Even though we had 18 turnovers, when you outrebound people, that takes care of a lot of ills. I'm very pleased with that. I'm very pleased with how we maintained some composure. We had one or two kids out there that did not when the times got a little tough there toward the end, which are some things that I'll work on.
'We knew coming in that this was going to be tough game, but Wisconsin mirrors two or three of our teams within the Mid-Con Conference, so we knew this would be a very good measuring stick for us going into second semester and starting our conference play next week.'
On their defense:
'Our system and our program is known for its defense and the things that we do ' our quickness and speed on the perimeter ' we get in a lot of pathways. It's a half court game and it is defense and rebounding. We just make sure that we do a lot of that and we create some of the offense out of our defense. I'm very pleased with the things we were able to accomplish today. '
On the key to ending Wisconsin's run:
'Defensively we made some stops. We got the rebounds when we needed to. Teams are going to make runs. You know that. You've got to be able to withstand that. Our kids kept their poise and their composure. We've been in these situations with big crowds'.Defensively we stayed right in there, we made some plays happen offensively, and I think that was probably the difference.'
