UW Ends Non-Conference Play, Wins Fifth Straight
December 14, 2007 | Women's Basketball
A second half defensive presence and 48.1 percent shooting from the field helped the Wisconsin women's basketball team ward off South Dakota State's nine 3-pointers and up-tempo offense. Led by Janese Banks with 20 points, the Badgers have won 22 of their last 26 Kohl Center games, including five straight this season. The 66-62 victory improved the Badgers to 7-3 overall, while the Jackrabbits dropped to 6-4 overall.
Wisconsin went on a 10-0 run to start the first half, keeping South Dakota State from making a field goal the first 7:20 of play. The Jackrabbits were 0-of-11 before freshman Macie Michelson took the ball in for a layup, making the score 12-4 in favor of the Badgers.
After being stuck on seven points for another five minutes, SDSU went on a run of their own tallying nine consecutive points, evening the score 20-20 with just under four minutes to play before the break. The teams tied it up again at 23, before the Badgers added four more points to their total, making it 27-23 at halftime.
While Wisconsin was shooting 33.3 percent (11-33) at the half, South Dakota State hit just 7-of-31 shots for a 22.6 shooting percentage. UW, however, was 3-of-7 from behind the arc, while SDSU was 3-of-16. Each team committed 10 turnovers in the first.
Leading all scorers was SDSU's Andrea Verdegan with 10 points. UW's Janese Banks collected eight points, while Teah Gant added seven.
The Badgers came out flat in the second half, allowing the Jackrabbits to lead for the first time in the game. For the remainder of the game, both teams battled for the ball, hitting shots back and forth, responding to each other's tempo.
Overall, UW's defense was strong in the second half, finishing the game with 15 steals, a new season high. The Badgers also outrebounded its opponent, 45-40, and are now 7-2 in games when outrebounding their opponent this season.
The game was neck-and-neck to the very end, when free throws became an important factor for the Badgers. UW finished 14-of-25 from the line, but hit many of the clutch shots nearing the game's end, in an attempt to keep up with SDSU's 3-point baskets (9-31). Both teams recorded 39 points in the second half, giving the Badgers the same four-point advantage they had at half.
Wisconsin's Banks led all scorers with 20 points, shooting 7-of-18 from the field. Gant recorded a career high 11 points in the game, shooting 50 percent (3-6) from the field, while Anderson continued her double figure scoring streak, adding 10 points. Danielle Ward, who was followed out with minutes still on the clock, added nine points and 10 rebounds.
SDSU's Andrea Verdegan added 18 points, highlighted by four 3-pointers and 100 percent (4-4) free throw shooting. Also finishing in double digits was Jennifer Warkenthien with 12.
Wisconsin takes a break from competition for two weeks, as the team prepares for final exams before heading home for the holidays. The Badgers return to action on the road, as Big Ten Conference play commences. First up, UW heads to West Lafayette, Ind., to face the Purdue Boilermakers in a 6 p.m. start. The game is set to be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.
Wisconsin Post-Game Notes
' Attendance: 5,960 (season high)
' Jolene Anderson needs just 80 points (she has 1,914) to tie the UW women 's career scoring record of 1,994 which was set by Barb Franke (1991-96). Anderson now stands in the third spot, behind Franke and Jessie Stomski (1,915).
' Janese Banks has moved into the fourth spot in career free throw shooting attempts and most free throws made with 472 and 370, respectively. Barb Franke (1991-96) leads in both categories with 708 and 481, respectively.
' Teah Gant finished the game with 11 points, which is a career high. She previously had 10 points once this season against UW-Green Bay on Dec. 11.
' Anderson finished with the fewest points in her career since the UC-Riverside game on Nov. 28, 2006 when she tallied just five points.
' Anderson finished with 10 points in the game, making it the 99th career game of 103 in which she has recorded double figures. She has the second-longest consecutive double figure scoring streak at UW with 39. LaTonya Sims (1997-2000) holds the record with 45.
' Before being fouled out, Danielle Ward finished with 10 rebounds which tied her season high. She previously had 10 boards against Marquette on Nov. 17.
' South Dakota State attempted 69 shots in the game, which sets a new season high field goal attempts by a UW opponent.
' Wisconsin collected 15 steals in the game, which is a new season high. UW previously had eight steals twice this season, most recently against UW-Milwaukee on Nov. 23.
Wisconsin Head Coach Lisa Stone Quotes
On winning against a tough South Dakota State squad: 'It was a great game by our team. I'm really proud of our defense in the second half. I thought we did a better job getting out to there shooters. [South Dakota State] is a great basketball team. They're very up tempo. From a spectators standpoint they're very fun to watch. They push it, they shoot it, they drive and dish and do a lot of things fundamentally. They're going to have a great season. This was a big win for our team because that's a quality opponent for us.'
On poor free throws and the overall non-conference season: 'It's like an epidemic. When it faults one it hurts the other. That's something that we 'll continue to work on. We've got some time now and I'm thankful. In my opinion, if we get that game back in Malibu, maybe we're sitting at 8-3 instead of 7-3, but it was a decent non-conference season for us. We've been challenged, we're tired and it's time now to prepare for finals. '
On Alyssa Karel and Brittany Heins' performances: '[Alyssa Karel] gave us bounce, she gave us energy, she gave us a lift, she gave us offense and she gave us penetration to the basket. Defensively she had a couple picks, she has quick hands. Overall, our defensive is really improving. We needed Brittany Heins too. She gave us quality minutes. She came in right away and got some big boards inside.'
South Dakota State Head Coach Aaron Johnston
Opening statement: 'We almost needed a third chart on the bench to get all the possessions that were in this game. I thought it was a back and forth game, a really up tempo game and probably an exciting game, hopefully, to watch from both sides. I thought our team played really hard, and for those who haven't seen us lately, that 's been a little bit of a question, and I was really pleased with the effort we put into this game. And certainly I think Wisconsin played exceptionally hard, too. '
'They (Wisconsin) made, I think, better basketball plays in this game than we made. We got in a couple of holes in the first half and one in the second half that we had to dig out of and it's tough, tough coming back on the road from being down 8 and 10, especially when you're not shooting the ball exceptionally well, and that was probably in the end too much for us to come back from. It was a good game and I'm proud of how hard we played. We just need to make a little bit better basketball plays at times.'
On Wisconsin's defense in the final eight minutes after the game was tied: 'I think when they made their run they made a couple of lay-ups ' I think they got some energy going and I think it was a close game. They went to 10 down the stretch and they just did a good job of fighting through screens. They switched a few screens here or there and I just felt their players really did a good job of fighting through screens and allowed them to get out in the passing lane a lot. Our offense revolves around ball movement and ball reversal. They did a good job of trying to take away the high post ' I'm sure that was part of their scheme and really did a good job of fighting through screens and made it hard for us to get the ball where we wanted to. '
On his team's 31 three-point attempts: 'Each game takes on its own entity and there were times where we really tried to establish something inside, and we talked about that at halftime, but we just weren't able to get that going '.I don't feel like we took bad shots on the perimeter. I just felt like our perimeter players were forced to take those shots. We didn't have anything else.'
