Badgers Host UW-Milwaukee Tuesday
December 04, 2007 | Women's Basketball
After playing five of its first six games on the road, Wisconsin is happy to return home for what will be a five-game homestand. UW will play three games this week beating IPFW Sunday, 85-69, and hosting UW-Milwaukee Tuesday at 7 p.m. and Air Force Saturday at 11 a.m.
The Badgers are 3-3 overall and 1-1 at home. UW-Milwaukee comes to the Kohl Center with a 2-3 record. Tonights game will be televised tape-delayed at 11 p.m. on Wisconsin Public Television with Ken Syke and Dawn Crim. It may also be heard locally on WIBA Radio AM 1310 with Mike Heller, and on the Internet at yahoo.com. The game will also be video streamed live FREE on uwbadgers.com.
Coach Lisa Stone acknowledges hard work in practice and is not afraid to start freshman. Sunday freshman forward Tara Steinbauer got the nod for her first start and she responded with a career-high 16 points hitting 7of-9 from the field and adding six rebounds. Throughout her tenure, Stone has started freshmen. Seniors Jolene Anderson and Janese Banks are four-year starters. Sophomore Rae Lin D'Alie has started every game since she stepped foot on campus (42 straight).
While needing just 134 points to tie UW's career scoring mark, Jolene Anderson is collecting some other records along the way. She tied her own consecutive double-figure scoring mark at 35. She also scored double figures in 35 straight games between 2005-07. Thirty-five games is the third-longest streak in Badger history. The record is 45 is held by LaTonya Sims (1997-2000). Robin Threatt scored doubles in 37 games between 1991-92. Anderson has now scored double figures in 95 of 99 career games. The UW record for double-figure scoring is 105 games held by Jessie Stomski and LaTonya Sims.
Senior guard Jolene Anderson picked up where she left off last season as the leading scorer in the Big Ten averaging 24.3 points per game. Anderson set a career-high with 37 points on 13-26 field goal shooting at Cleveland State. She is fourth in conference rebounding with 8.5 per game.
Last season Anderson became UW's first Big Ten scoring champion with a 19.3 Big Ten average in Big Ten games. She set the season scoring mark with 714 points, and needs just 134 points to tie UW's career record of 1,994 set by Barb Franke in 1996.
Coach Lisa Stone
Head coach Lisa Stone is in her fifth season at Wisconsin with a 59-67 (.468) school record. In her 23rd season of coaching, Stone is 434-185 overall (.701 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.
BADGER NOTES
NO'ORDINARY JO: Senior guard Jolene Anderson (Port Wing, Wis.), started a new double-digit scoring streak with 24 points vs. S. Mississippi Dec. 1, 2006, and it now stands at 35, 22 games of which are 20+, games including a career-high of 37 points in the season opener at Cleveland State. Anderson has scored in double figures in 95 of her 99 career games. Her career-low was two points against Iowa State on Dec. 5, 2004, the sixth game of her career. Follow her at uwbadgers.com/noordinaryjo.
Anderson has started in every game as a Badger (99 straight games) and is UW's leading scorer for the fourth-straight season with 24.3 points per game which leads the Big Ten. Anderson has made at least one 3-pointer in 85 of her 99 career games. She is the only UW player to rank among the top 10 in four major career categories: 5th 1,860 points; 9th 668 rebounds; 9th 319 assists; 10th 199 steals.
A 2007 first team All-Big Ten honoree, Anderson was also named UW's sixth Kodak District IV All-American. Last year she was named to the 2007 WNIT all-tournament team and the MVP of the 2006 Rebel Shootout in Las Vegas. She was also all-tournament and MVP of last year's 2005 Rainbow Wahini Classic in Hawaii. On March 13, 2007, she was honored by the Wisconsin State Legislature.
DAIRYLAND'DUO: Wisconsin's backcourt duo of seniors Jolene Anderson and Janese Banks have accounted for 53.3 percent (37.3 points/game) of Wisconsin's scoring, and 28.6 percent of UW's rebounds. The two also account for 48.7 percent of the team's steals, and 35.0 percent of the assists.
SUGAR'RAE: Sweet Rae Lin D'Alie (Waterford, Wis.) has returned atop the Big Ten leaderboard for assists averaging 5.0 per game. She was just the third point guard in Big Ten history to lead the conference as a freshman with 80 in conference only games for 5.0 per game. D'Alie ranked first in Big Ten overall games with 4.58 per game.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: Unlike last year when UW had no seniors, this year their are four including two four-year starters in Jolene Anderson and Janese Banks. Add Danielle Ward, and these three seniors have each played in nearly 100 career games. But 10 of the team members are either sophomores (7) or freshmen (3).
One of those youths had a significant coming out party against Ole Miss 11/23. Lin Zastrow was needed early to spell Danielle Ward who was in foul trouble. The 6-4 freshman not only scored her first collegiate points with 11, she added nine rebounds. At Virginia, 6-1 freshman forward Tara Steinbauer responded with a career-high 10 points, and had a career-best 16 points in her start vs. IPFW. She is leading the team in field goal shooting hitting 62.5 percent (15-24).
REBOUNDING'PROWESS: UW outrebounded every team but four last season and ranked fourth in the conference averaging 39.8 rebounds per game. That trend has continued outrebounding all but one team (Virginia) including a season-high 58 vs. Ole Miss, to put UW first in the league averaging 46.0 caroms per game.
TAKING'CARE'OF'THE'ROCK: The Badgers are 10th in Big Ten in turnovers per game averaging19.8--uncharacteristic after last season UW set a school record for fewest turnovers averaging 17.17. That mark replaced 17.84 average/game set in 1997-98.
NOT MUCH CHARITY: Also uncharacteristic is UW's free throw percentage of 66.7 percent which is ninth in the conference. UW is shooting just 42 percent from the line in the last two minutes (3-7). Last season UW set the Big Ten school free throw record, hitting .752 (249-331) and the overall UW record with 74.2 percent (old charity mark was 71.9 set in 16 years ago in 1990-91).
BIG TEN PREDICTIONS: The Badgers were picked to finish second in the 2007 preseason Big Ten coaches poll and third by the media. UW is coming off a record-setting season of 23 wins, the most in school history. The Badgers finished 23-13 last year and lost in the finals of the WNIT Tournament. UW tied for fifth in the Big Ten with a 7-9 mark, its best conference finish since 2002.
RETURNS EVERYONE: Wisconsing returned everyone from a year ago. Ten of 12 returning letter winners saw extensive minutes in at least 29 games.
LAST TIME OUT
GAME 6: UW 85, IPFW 69
Wisconsin enjoyed an 85-69 homecoming win over IPFW in just its second game at the Kohl Center. The Mastadons kept it close in the first half by hitting the 3-pointer and tralied 33-30 with 2:59 left. But UW outscored IPFW 11-6 to lead 44-36 at the half. That trend continued with Jolene Anderson scoring 16 of her game-high 26 points in the second half. IPFW set a Kohl Center record for 3-point attempts with 37 (hitting 11). Janese Banks added a season-high 19 points and Tara Steinbauer had a career-high 16 points in her first start. UW outrebounded the smaller Mastadons 51-29.
UW-MILWAUKEE SCOUTING REPORT
The Panthers are 2-3 heading into Tuesday's game against Wisconsin. Overall, Wisconsin leads the series between the in-state rivals, 16-1, with the Badgers coming away with a 78-45 win on Nov. 20, 2006. UW-Milwaukee opened its 2007-08 season with a win over Chicago State in early November. The Panthers then went on a three-game losing streak, including one overtime loss to Miami (Fla.) on Nov. 28. Most recently, UWM topped Central Connecticut on Saturday, snapping the streak.
Leading the squad is Traci Edwards, who is averaging 19.4 points per game and 10.8 rebounds a game. The junior is shooting 49.3 percent from the field. Senior Aubri Rote also averages double figures at 11.8. The guard has totaled 59 points this season, averaging .487 from the field and 87.5 percent from the charity stripe.
Last Time Out
The Panthers gave Central Connecticut its seventh loss of the season on Saturday, topping them 77-57 at Detrick Gymnasium in New Britain, Conn. Rote led all scorers in points with 17 in just 26 minutes of play. Edwards, Emily Markert and Maurika Hickman also scored in double figures with 13, 10 and 10, respectively. As a team, UWM shot 46.6 percent from the field and 50 percent (8-12) from behind the arc. Although the Panthers had just a six point lead at the half, they ended up outscoring CCU 51-to-31 in the second half to win 77-51.
Head Coach Sandy Botham
Sandy Botham enters her 12th season at UW-Milwaukee, having compiled an overall record of 180-135 and a 118-50 mark in Horizon League action. Botham has consistently kept UWM in the thick of the league title chase, and has finished second place or better seven times since 1999. Last year Botham reached a coaching milestone, eclipsing the 200-win mark for her career. In 2006, under the direction of Botham, the Panthers advanced to the NCAA tournament for the second time in school history after winning the Horizon League Tournament at the Klotsche Center.
A native of Madison, Wis., Botham attended Madison West High School from 1980-84 where she was a standout in three sports. She then went on to earn her bachelor's degree from Notre Dame in 1988 while majoring in psychology with a minor in business. As a player on the Fighting Irish squad from 1984-88, Botham ranked among the top-10 in career scoring (1,460), rebounding (773) and field goal percentage (.588).
Panthers Picked First
The Panthers were picked to finish first, ahead of UW-Green Bay (244 points) in the Horizon League after receiving 253 points, including 13 first-place votes, for the first time since 2001-02. UWM returns four starters and nine letterwinners from one year ago. Last season UW-Milwaukee finished fourth in the conference.
Preseason Kudos
Junior Traci Edwards was named the Horizon Leagues Preaseaon Player of the Year. The center led the league in both scoring (20.5 ppg) and rebounding (9.4 rpg) last season, becoming the first player to do so since UWM's Maria Viall in 2003-04. Edwards set a number of school records, including her 615 points in a season and 20.5 per game scoring average.
