Badgers Edged by Lady Dons in OT
December 30, 2002 | Women's Basketball
The Wisconsin women's basketball team led San Francisco throughout the second half, but the Lady Dons forced overtime and edged the Badgers, 70-67, Monday night at the Kohl Center. It is the second overtime loss for UW (2-7) this season.
'That's the kind of game we needed to get ready for the Big Ten,' coach Jane Albright said. 'In the second half they really hit the offensive boards. They had a lot of quickness and that really bothered us in a lot of spots.'
Lello Gebisa led Wisconsin in her second start as a Badger, registering a double-double with career highs in points (18) and rebounds (10). Five Badgers scored double figures while Ebba Gebisa and Emily Ashbaugh also added nine boards apiece.
After a back-and-forth first half, Wisconsin took the lead with 18:42 to play in regulation at 25-24 and held a slim advantage throughout. UW's lead wavered from one-point to four-points, but never faltered. San Francisco tied the game at 35-35 and the Badgers answered by grabbing their biggest lead of the game at 49-42 with 6:09 to play.
UW led by six with four-and-a-half minutes left, but USF stormed back. A rainbow three-pointer by Lisa Whiteside with 22 seconds remaining cut the UW lead to one and two Whiteside free throws sent the game into OT at 57-57.
Whiteside scored six points in overtime to lead USF in the end. Wisconsin continued to keep it close with the game knotted at 67 late, but a jumper by Whiteside with 17 seconds left and a free throw by Toni Russell sealed the deal for San Francisco.
Runs and droughts defined the first half as Wisconsin and San Francisco traded leads before entering halftime in a 20-20 tie. Wisconsin opened the first half with a six-point lead, its largest lead of the half. The game's leading scorer Carey Sauer answered with her own 11-point run, including three treys. Sauer led all scorers in the first stanza with 14 of her team's 20 points. The Badgers held Sauer to six points the rest of the way.
Leah Hefte, returning from a shoulder injury, broke the Badgers ' eight-and-a-half minute scoring drought at 9:07 in the first with two free throws, but Sauer got some aid in the next three minutes. Sauer kicked off a 7-3 run with a three-pointer to give the Lady Dons their biggest lead of the half at 18-11.
Jordan Wilson ignited the next run with a move inside at 6:05 to put the score at 18-13. Lello Gebisa finished off a 9-0 Badger stretch with a turnaround jumper at 1:32 giving UW its first lead in 12 minutes of play. USF's Joy Hollingsworth scooped in a bucket with three seconds remaining to put the halftime score 20-20.
The Badgers continue their four-game home stretch with another Kohl Center match-up this Thursday. UW opens the Big Ten season in the New Year versus Penn State Jan. 2 at 7 p.m.
Additional Albright quotes:
"I thought Leah did a great job coming back for us. She was a spark for us in the first half.
I thought Ebba did a particularly nice defensive job on Sauer. We changed our match ups and put Ebba on her after she got 12 points and that really cooled her off.
We got to the free throw line [and] that's another great statistic for us. That's something we talked about after the game. When you get to the free throw line that many times ... as a whole that's a great statistic for a team to have as we start the Big Ten season."
