Jan. 28, 2010

Box Score | Box Score | Post-game News Conference

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Wisconsin women's basketball team (16-5, 6-4) grabbed just its third win at Assembly Hall in school history with a 55-47 win over Indiana (11-10, 4-6) Thursday night.

It was the Badger defense that made the difference in Thursday night's match-up, with Wisconsin holding the Hoosiers to just 47 points, significantly less than the 67.8 point scoring average they brought into the game. In addition, Indiana shot only 26.3 percent from the field, which was a season-low for any UW opponent.

"I am very proud of the kids," Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone said. "This is a tough place to play. It's a tough state to play in to be quite honest. Our kids had the will. I thought we won the x-factor, bottom line. The grind and the commitment to defensive energy in the second half were just truly amazing with those young kids."

Three Badger juniors scored in double digits, with Lin Zastrow recording 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season.  Tara Steinbauer led Wisconsin with 15 points and 11 boards, while fellow junior, Alyssa Karel, gave herself a present on her 21st birthday, scoring 13 points.

"Tonight it was the starters," Stone said. "Our posts, both Tara (Steinbauer) and Lin (Zastrow) had a good game, and that's good to see. It takes pressure off the perimeter. Alyssa's pull-up jumpshots couldn't have come at a better time. She's a really good player, and I'm happy for her on her birthday."

Wisconsin, which also recorded wins at Indiana in 1997 and 2003, started Thursday night off right, going on a 9-0 run early in the game to take a 16-6 lead over the Hoosiers with 14:25 left in the first half.  

The lead did not last long however, as the Hoosiers answered with a 13-0 run to take the 22-18 lead at the 11:09 mark. Steinbauer made a lay-up to tie the score at 22-22 with 4:20 left in the first half, but Indiana converted when Jasmine Davis scored off a baseline drive to advance the Hoosiers to 24-22.  

The Badgers solidified the first half lead when senior Karel took the ball up the full length of the court to take a 26-24 lead heading into halftime.

In the second half, Wisconsin pulled away, outscoring the Hoosiers 11-2 in the first five minutes to gain the 35-26 advantage. The Badger defense did not give up a field goal in the second half until the 11:30 mark, while Wisconsin extended its lead to 42-30.

IU attempted to rally and narrowed the deficit to just five points with 32 seconds left in the game. Indiana tried to gain possession by sending Zastrow to the foul line, but the junior made both free throws to give the Badgers the 51-44 lead.

Indiana fouled again and senior Rae Lin D'Alie added another two free-throws to hand Wisconsin the 53-44 advantage with 18 seconds left in the game.

IU's Whitney Lindsay made a deep 3-pointer just three seconds later, but it was too little too late.

Steinbauer cemented the 55-47 Big Ten win for the Badgers with 11 seconds left in regulation when she added to the free-throw trend and notched two of her own.

"I think our team really believed it," Stone said. "They came here expecting to win and that's mental toughness. I thought offensively we were much better than we were the other night. It's a team effort. You've got to have energy and the bench has to be active and vocal throughout the game and they were. We did what we had to do to get out of here with a win for the first time in a long time."

Wisconsin hopes to advance its position in the Big Ten when it returns to Madison to face Northwestern on Sunday. Tip-off is at 4 p.m. at the Kohl Center.

---

Allison Metcalf, Wisconsin Athletic Communications