Badgers Open Big Ten Season at Purdue
December 26, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Wisconsin (7-3) finished its non-conference schedule with a five-game win streak and opens the Big Ten Conference slate on the road at Purdue (4-6) Dec. 28 and at Illinois (8-3) Dec. 30. The Purdue game will be broadcast live by the Big Ten Network at 6 p.m. CT with Craig Coshun and Jenean Ford. The game may also be heard locally on WTSO Radio AM 1070 with Mike Heller and on yahoo.com.
UW beat South Dakota State 66-62 to finish 7-3 in the non-conference season on Dec. 14. The Badgers have had a 14-day break from games for finals and the holiday break. UW 's play of late has demonstrated better defense and balanced scoring. Even without injured starting freshman post player Tara Steinbauer, who was leading the Big Ten in field goal shooting at 68.8 percent, the Badgers placed five players in double-figures against UW-Green Bay Dec. 11, and almost four vs. SDSU Dec. 14. As a team UW ranks second to Ohio State in Big Ten in scoring with 72.0 points per game. UW leads the Big Ten in rebounding with 43.2 per game.
Several players have achieved season-highs in the past three games. Teah Gant had a career-high with 11 points vs. SDSU while and Rae Lin D'Alie tied her high with 10 vs. UW-Green Bay. Senior Danielle Ward had a season-high 14 points vs. Air Force, Alyssa Karel had a season-high nine points against UW-Milwaukee.
With 10 points vs.SDSU, Jolene Anderson, the Big Ten scoring leader (20.0), is two points from second place and needs 80 points to tie the UW women's career scoring record of 1,994 which was set by Barb Franke (1991-96). Anderson's consecutive double-figure scoring mark now stands at 39, second longest in school history. The school record is 45-straight held by LaTonya Sims (1997-2000). Anderson has scored in double figures in 99 of 103 career games.
COACH LISA STONE
Head coach Lisa Stone is in her fifth season at Wisconsin with a 63-67 (.485) school record. In her 23rd season of coaching, Stone is 438-185 overall (.703 winning percentage). She achieved career victory No. 400 with a win over Idaho State on Nov. 25, 2005, and ranks 22nd in all-time career win percentage among active Division I coaches at the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
LAST TIME OUT
GAME 10: UW 66, South Dakota State 62
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 to win their fifth-straight game 66-62. Led by Janese Banks with 20 points, the Badgers jumped out to a 12-2 lead with 13 minutes left in the first, but the Jackrabbits recovered to come within 27-23 at the half. SDSU led briefly in the second half but UW maintained an edge to win its 22nd of the past 26 games at home. Jolene Anderson made 1-of-2 free throws with a minute left to score her 10th point and keep her double-digit scoring streak alive at 39. Teah Gant had a career-high 11 points. Andrea Verdegan led SDSU with 18 points.
PURDUE SCOUTING REPORT
The Boilermakers are 4-6 on the season with four of the five losses coming against nationally ranked teams, including No. 3 North Carolina, No. 14 Duke, No. 17 Notre Dame and No. 25 Old Dominion. Purdue last lost at Washington, 66-65. Purdue has two players averaging double-figures, juniors Lakisha Freeman, who leads the team at 13.5 points per game and Danielle Campbell with 11.9 points. Campbell is the team's leading rebounder, averaging 8.2 boards and the 6-foot-4 center averages a team-high 2.9 blocks per game. She had a triple-double this year. This is only the second time since 1998 that the Badgers have met Purdue when it was not nationally ranked. The other was Feb. 27, 2005, in a 69-59 loss at West Lafayette. Purdue has missed All-Big Ten first teamer Linsay Wisdom-Hilton who tore her ACL while playing with UW's Jolene Anderson on the USA Basketball U21 team.
Head Coach Sharon Versyp
Sharon Versyp returned to her alma mater in 2006 after a season with the Indiana program. In her first year with Purdue, she led the team to a 31-6 record in her first season losing in the NCAA regional finals to North Carolina. Prior to her arrival at Indiana, Versyp spent five years as head coach at Maine. She also had assistant stints at Louisville and James Madison. Versyp (Purdue `89) is 35-12 in her second year at Purdue and 152-77 in her eighth season overall.
The Series
Purdue leads the all-time series with UW, 38-13, including a pair of meetings last season. No. 16 Purdue defeated the Badgers at the Kohl Center 69-60, then needed overtime to beat UW 82-79 in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament a week later. The Badgers have not won in West Lafayette since 1984.
GAME 28: UW 60, PURDUE 69
The Badgers jumped out to a 12-point lead in the first half but couldn't contend with Purdue's Katie Gearlds who got her team back into the game while setting a Kohl Center record of 41 points as the 16th-ranked Boilermakers rolled, 69-60. Wisconsin junior Jolene Anderson tallied her 1,500th career point in front of 13,178 fans Sunday and finished with 11 points. Wisconsin rookie Mariah Dunham tallied a career-high 16 points to lead the Badgers. The Boilers used a 19-4 run to end the first half up 32-29. Purdue went up by 11 in the second half, but the Badgers battled back and cut the lead to two, 54-52, with 5:26 remaining in the game. Gearlds was 13-of-20 from the field and hit 3-of-6 shots from behind the arc. UW never got over the hump and Geralds hit 12-of-13 overall from the line to secure the win.
GAME 31: UW 79, vs. Purdue 82 (Big Ten Tournament)
The Badgers fought back from 39-31 half-time deficit to tie the game on a Jolene Anderson runner at 68 to end regulation. UW led by seven early, but Katie Geralds led the No. 15 Boilermakers with 16 of her 26 points in the first half. Anderson, who closed with 27 points, led the charge while Janese Banks had 16, and Danielle Ward came off the bench for 14 points. Purdue went up six in overtime but Anderson closed within 80-79 with two seconds left. Geralds hit two free throws to give Purdue the 82-79 win.
