Badgers Rout Phoenix, Win Fourth Straight Game
December 11, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Wisconsin had five players reach double figures en route to the Badgers' fourth straight home victory over UW-Green Bay, 81-58. Jolene Anderson led all scorers with 20 points Tuesday night at the Kohl Center. UW improves to 6-3 overall, while the Phoenix drops to 4-3.
Wisconsin scored 15 quick points, but was stuck in a scoring rut for some time after. UW-Green Bay, however, wasn't gaining on the Badgers, as they went nine minutes without scoring a field goal, making their only points off free throws. In meantime, the Phoenix racked up eight turnovers.
The Badgers were getting shots off down low, drawing the fouls, but were unable to finish at the charity stripe the entire first half. At the line, UW was just 3-of-13, for 30.8 percent. Green Bay, on the other hand, went 9-for-10 from the free throw line, averaging 90 percent.
In a half punctuated by scoring droughts, Wisconsin took an 11-point lead, 41-30, heading into the break. UW knocked in just 17 shots, while UWGB made 10. Keeping UW in the game was its low turnover count, tallying just three, while the Phoenix lost the ball 16 times.
Leading all scorers after 20 minutes of play was UW's Janese Banks with 12. Jolene Anderson recorded eight points, adding five assists. Green Bay's Rachel Porath had a team-high nine points in the first half, making 3-of-3 from the field. As a team, the Phoenix shot 52.6 percent before the halftime break.
Teah Gant provided a spark for the Badgers in the second half, tying her career high points with 10. In addition to Gant finishing in double figures, four other Badgers racked up double digit points, which resulted in all five starters finishing with double figures.
Anderson finished with 20 points, leading all scorers, and nearly had a double-double, tallying eight rebounds as well as six assists. Banks ended the night with 16 points, Danielle Ward had 12, while Rae Lin D'Alie also tallied 10 points.
The Badgers maintained good ball control throughout most of the second half, turning the ball over just 10 times, a new season low, meanwhile forcing 23 UW-Green Bay turnovers, a new season high by an opponent.
In UW's 23-point victory, the Badgers recorded a season-best field goal percentage with .507. Wisconsin also out-rebounded UW-Green Bay 37-to-25, making it the seventh time this season (of eight games) in which UW has achieved that feat.
The Badgers lead the all-time series 17-7. In Madison, Wisconsin has a 10-4 record over the Phoenix. In 2006, UW fell to UWGB on the road, 70-66.
Wisconsin closes out its five-game home series on Friday taking on non-conference rival South Dakota State. The last time the two programs met, SDSU came away with a three-point win back in Dec. of 2005, to lead the all-time series 1-0. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center on Dec. 14.
Wisconsin Post-Game Notes
' Tara Steinbauer was held out of tonight's game with a lower leg injury. Her status is on a day-to-day basis.
' Teah Gant recorded 10 points, setting a new season high. Ten points also ties her career high, which she set on Nov. 17, 2006 against Central Connecticut State.
' Jolene Anderson needs just 90 points to tie (she has 1,904) 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, passing Robin Threatt (1,901) today. Second in line is Jessie Stomski with 1,915 points.
' Anderson finished with 20 points, making it the 98th career game of 102 in which she has recorded double figures. She has the second-longest consecutive double-figure scoring streak at UW with 38. LaTonya Sims (1997-2000) holds the record at 45.
' With six assists, Anderson tied her season high. She previously recorded six assists against IPFW on Dec. 2.
' Wisconsin has out-rebounded its opponents 8-of-9 times this season. Wisconsin is 5-2 in those games in which they finished with more boards than their opponent.
' Tonight is the first time this season that UW has had five players finish in double figures. The last time Wisconsin had five players in double figures was against Central Connecticut State on Nov. 17, 2006.
' The Badgers' 11 turnovers is the fewest they have recorded in a game all season. UW previously had 13 turnovers against Cleveland State on Nov. 9.
' Wisconsin kept UW-Green Bay to just 39 field goal attempts, a new season record. Previously, Wyoming had taken the fewest shots with 50 on Nov. 20 against UW.
' Wisconsin forced 23 Phoenix turnovers, which is the most by a UW opponent this season. Previously, UW-Milwaukee had 22 turnovers against Wisconsin on Dec. 4.
' Wisconsin recorded its worst free throw percentage of the season with 38.1 percent (8-21). UW previously shot 50 percent (9-18) from the charity stripe against Marquette on Nov. 17. UW also set a new team record for worst free throw percentage at the Kohl Center. The previous low free throw percentage was 40 percent, which they shot against Marquette on Dec. 3, 1998.
' Tonight's win was UW's largest margin of victory over UW-Green Bay since Dec. 13, 1995, when the score was 83-56.
' UW recorded a new season high field goal percentage with 50.7 percent. The Badgers previously shot 48.4 percent from the field against IPFW on Dec. 2.
Wisconsin Head Coach Lisa Stone Quotes
On missing free throws: 'It is an issue when our fans give us a standing ovation for making one free throw, it reminds us that we need to go back to work. Our consistency at the line needs to pick up. I am really proud of this team. Our defense was amazing to me, they shoot it well, they play well and they drive well. I thought we did a pretty descent job on their shoots and getting out to their shooters and did a good job on the boards'
On Teah Gant's performance: 'I thought Teah Gant was fantastic. She gave us great energy right away in the first and second half. She gets to 10 points, shoots the ball pretty well and makes her free throws as well. We'll make some free throws, we shoot enough of them and we'll shoot some more tomorrow to get ready for Friday.'
On the team's performance: 'I am really proud of our team. This was a game we really needed to play like this and hopefully we can forge forward from here. '
On Janese Banks: 'I thought we missed Janese a couple times. She got hot and hit back-to-back threes and our team has to learn to go back to the hot hand and she [Janese] did not touch it again for about another 10 possessions. Janese shot the ball well and I thought Rae Lin had a bumpy moment but then came out of it.'
UW-Green Bay Head Coach Matt Bollant
Opening statement: 'Their (Wisconsin's) quickness really made the difference at the start of the game. They got by us off the dribble with that first step and we were just slow to recover, not only throughout the first few possessions, but throughout the game. I thought their physical play made a difference ' obviously that showed up in the rebounding as well ' and I guess the biggest thing was our turnovers that first half. When we got shots we were able to score, but having 16 first half turnovers definitely gave us that deficit and I was disappointed in how we took care of the basketball.
I give Wisconsin a lot of credit for playing well. It showed why they're picked second in the Big Ten.'
On UW-Green Bay's turnovers: 'I'm not sure. I felt like at the start of the game we didn't have that confidence and that bounce that we normally have. Normally we step on the court and believe in ourselves and have that confidence. Tonight part of that was probably Wisconsin, but it definitely seemed shaken right from the beginning and we never got that going at all offensively. I think maybe just a lack of confidence, at times poor decision making, but we just never really got any kind of offense or really any kind of flow taking care of the ball.'
