Wisconsin Cruises Past CCSU, 75-45
November 17, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Five players scored in double figures to help the Wisconsin women's basketball team (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten) to a 75-45 win over Central Connecticut State Friday at the Kohl Center. Sophomore Caitlin Gibson led the Badgers with 12 points while rookie Mariah Dunham posted career-bests in points (10) and rebounds (eight).
Junior Jolene Anderson aided the Badger effort with 11 points and led the team in rebounding, along with Dunham, with eight. Classmate Danielle Ward also chipped in 10 points, as did rookie Teah Gant, whose 10 scores were a personal-best. Two players, Janese Banks and Ivanna Mijalcevic, were just one point shy of putting seven Wisconsin players in double digits. They both finished with nine.
The Badgers were an even 50 percent from the field, hitting 29-of-58 shots on the night while limiting the Blue Devils to just 35 percent shooting. Wisconsin also owned a 34-30 advantage on the glass and continued to dominate down low offensively, scoring 44 points in the paint, compared to just 14 for CCSU.
Wisconsin also turned the ball over a season-low 13 times while forcing 23 Blue Devil errors. The Badgers scored 32 of its points off turnovers.
In the first half, Wisconsin jumped out to a 15-5 lead at the 14-minute mark and continued to build on it after a 10-0 run put the Badgers up 25-5 with 10:16 left to play in the first half. UW led by 20, 37-17, at the break.
In was more of the same in the second half, with Wisconsin leading by as many as 32 points near the end of the game. The Badgers were a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe in the second stanza and finished the game 15-of-16 to mark a season-best 93.8 percent.
Brittney Dixon led Central Connecticut with 12 points.
Wisconsin returns to action with a 7 p.m. game Monday at home against in-state rival UW-Milwaukee.
Post-Game Notes
'Tonight's attendance was 4,808.
'Wisconsin has started 3-0 the last two seasons.
'Five Badgers reached double figure scoring in the game against the Blue Devils: Gibson (12), Anderson (11), Ward (10), Gant (10), Dunham (10). The last time five players scored in double digits in a win over Penn State last season (2/16/06).
'Wisconsin allowed 45 CCSU points, the lowest of its three opponents this season. It was also the fewest allowed since Northwestern (on New Year's Day) last season.
'Junior Jolene Anderson finished with 11 points adding to her ongoing double-digit scoring streak. The Port Wing, Wis., native has reached double figures in the past 32 games, including all of last season.
'Anderson also has made at least one 3-pointer in 52 of 60 career contests.
'Freshman Mariah Dunham's 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists were all season-bests.
'Rookie Teah Gant also notched a career-best 10 points.
'Sophomore Caitlin Gibson, with 12 points tonight, has reached double figures in all three games this year, along with Anderson.
'Junior Ivana Mijalcevic scored a personal-best nine points, including her first 3-point field goal near the end of the game.
'Freshman guard Annie Crangle has a left lower leg injury and is expected to miss several weeks.
'Brittany Heins suffered a left ankle injury in the first half. Her status is listed as day-to-day.
Post-Game Quotes
Wisconsin Head Coach Lisa Stone
Opening Comments: 'It was just a great team effort and this feels good. There were a lot of smiles on the floor. I thought we worked the ball pretty well. When everybody gets to play you can loosen up and prepare for a number of games that we have coming up and do some different things, we're making some progress and its fun to watch.'
On the free throw shooting: 'We didn't do anything differently. (Free throw percentage) was the first thing I showed them at the end of the game. It was some confidence, I told them to take a deep breath and take advantage.'
On the team's hustle: 'Janese took out the monitor, the popcorn, and the Coke all at once. Every time our players have the opportunity to step out onto the Kohl Center floor and compete they play hard. That is a tremendous sign, especially with a young team. '
CCSU Head Coach Yvette Harris
Opening Statement: 'We honestly are a better team than what you saw tonight. We did not execute our offense and that hurt us. We did not get the leadership at the point guard that I was looking for, and consequently we did not run our plays. We had way too many turnovers, and that's about all I can say right now.'
On Wisconsin's defense having something to do with turnovers or was her team not running what she wanted: 'I think both. They (Wisconsin) started out putting on a lot of pressure. We knew that they would overplay the wings and we had practiced and prepared and told our team that would happen, and we actually ran a couple of plays that we use when people overplay the wings to get open. The first play of the game we ran, executed, got a score, and then for some reason we went away from that.'
