Nov. 8, 2009

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MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin women’s basketball team hosted its lone exhibition game of the season Sunday afternoon and defeated UW-Oshkosh 106-39 In front of 4,394 fans at the Kohl Center. UW’s 106 points marked the first time the team went over the 100-point mark since scoring 104 against Santa Clara on Dec. 16, 2004.

Wisconsin was on fire for most of the afternoon, finishing 45-of-72 for 62.5 percent from the field. Five Badgers finished in double figures and all 12 Badgers that played scored. Junior forward Tara Steinbauer lead the offensive charge with 25 points on 12-of-13 shooting. Senior guard Rae Lin D’ALie finished with 19 points, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Junior guard Alyssa Karel added 15 points while sophomore forward Anya Covington added 12 off the bench. Freshman guard Taylor Wurtz made her debut and chipped in 10 points off the bench.

Thanks to D’Alie’s hot shooting behind the 3-point line, Wisconsin finished 7-of-15 for 46.7 percent.

Oshkosh struggled offensively, going just 12-for-42 from the field to finish at 28.6 percent. After shooting just 13.3 percent in the first half, the Titans rebounded, going 10-of-27 for 37 percent in the second frame. Katie Kitzke led the Titans with 15 points.

The Badgers out-rebounded the Titans, 32-24, with Wurtz and junior forward Lin Zastrow grabbing five boards each. Wisconsin finished with 22 assists compared to just four for Oshkosh. D’Alie had six assists while senior guard Teah Gant added five. The Badgers also won the turnover battle with just nine compared to 32 for Oshkosh. Wisconsin finished with 52 points off of the Titans turnovers.

Wisconsin created a number of those turnovers with 22 steals, including five for Covington. Oshkosh finished with just five steals.

The Badgers got out to a strong start, taking a 9-0 lead before Oshkosh scored its first points with two free throws. That would be the only points on the board for the Titans until they made two more free throws at the 10:33 mark. At that point, Wisconsin had jumped out to a 33-4 lead and had 19 points off of Oshkosh’s 12 turnovers.

Wisconsin then got out to a 44-4 lead before the Titans made their first field goal at the 6:07 mark. The Badgers continued to roll, ending the first half with the 62-8 advantage, shooting 66.7 percent (26-of-39) from the field.

Steinbauer and D’Alie both had double figures before halftime. Steinbauer scored 19 points off 9-of-10 shooting while D’Alie had 11 points including two 3-pointers. Wurtz and Karel each had nine points before the break.

 The Titans turned the ball over 22 times in the half, leading to 38 points for Wisconsin.

Oshkosh picked it up offensively in the second half, but Wisconsin still stayed hot, shooting better than 60 percent for a majority of the half. The Badgers had their biggest lead of the game (67 points) when freshman guard Catie O’Leary made a layup to put the score at 98-31 with 3:36 remaining. Shortly after, sophomore guard Jade Davis made another layup off an O’Leary missed 3-pointer to give Wisconsin its first 100-point game since 2004.

Wisconsin officially opens the 2009-10 season next Sunday when North Dakota comes to town. The home opener is scheduled for a noon start inside the Kohl Center.