Second Half Burst Gives Badgers 20-Point Win
December 04, 2007 | Women's Basketball
A tie game at half, Wisconsin went on an unstoppable run following the break, creating a 20-point gap between them and their opponent, UW-Milwaukee. Senior Janese Banks contributed 23 points in the Badgers' 79-59 win over the Panthers at the Kohl Center Tuesday night.
Wisconsin and Milwaukee traded baskets for nearly the first eight minutes of play, neither team going up by more than two points. With 12:15 remaining in the first half, the Panthers scored the first back-to-back shots, giving them a four-point lead, 12-8.
UW soon evened the game at 12, but not for long. UWM hit three 3-pointers in the row to again take the lead, 21-14 with just over six minutes on the clock. The Badgers were down by seven one more time, but netted three consecutive baskets to even out the game, 32-32, heading into the break.
Wisconsin senior Janese Banks led all scorers with 12 points at the half, hitting 5-of-11 from the field, while fellow classmate Danielle Ward tallied 10 in 13 minutes of play. The Badgers attempted 33 shots in the first half, hitting 14 of them for a 42.4 shooting percentage.
Junior Traci Edwards collected 10 points in the first half, also grabbing six defensive boards. As a team, the Panthers shot 41.4 percent from the field and 33.3 (4-12) from beyond the arc before the break.
Additional stats demonstrated how evenly the teams were playing in the first 20 minutes of action. Both squads grabbed 19 boards, while only one or two numbers separated each team 's total number of steals, personal fouls and turnovers.
Entering the second half, the Panthers scored first, but Wisconsin was not to be out-done and responded by adding 11 unanswered points to their total, going up over UWM 43-34. From then on, it was all Badgers on the offensive end.
Wisconsin also tightened up its defense in the second half, keeping the Panthers to just 27 second-half points, while the Badgers went on to score 47 points of their own. UW also finished the game with 10 more boards than UWM (43-to-33), including 19 offensive rebounds, which gave them a scoring edge, tallying 16 points off second chance shots.
Banks led all scorers with 23 points, setting a new season high. The guard also finished the game with five assists. Two additional Badgers, Jolene Anderson and Danielle Ward, also scored in double figures with 11 and 10, respectively. Anderson also grabbed nine rebounds, while Ward recorded six of her own.
Leading the Panthers in scoring was Edwards who ended up with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Aubri Rote and Turquoise McCain additionally contributed 13 and 10 points, respectively.
The Badgers continued their home stand on Saturday when they face the Air Force Falcons. Wisconsin and Air Force have only met one other time in the history of both programs, when UW came away with the win in 2006. Game time is set for 11 a.m. at the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin Post-Game Notes
' Senior Danielle Ward tied her season high of 10 points going 5-of-10 from the field. She previously recorded 10 points against Wyoming on Nov. 20.
' Senior Janese Banks set a new season high of 23 points making 10-of-20 from the field. This season, she previously had 19 points against IPFW on Sunday, Dec. 2.
' Freshman Alyssa Karel set a new career high of nine points, shooting 4-of-6 from the field. The guard previously had five points against Wyoming on Nov. 20.
' Jolene Anderson finished with a season-low 11 points tonight. The last time Anderson finished a game in single digits was against UC-Riverside on 11/28/07. She was 1-of-6 from the field in the first half, tallying two points and then went 1-of-9 in the second half, adding just three more points. Anderson finished that game with five points going 2-of-15 from the field. The last time Anderson has finished with this few of points, other than against UC-Riverside, was against Illinois-Chicago on 12/7/06 when she recorded 10 points.
' Anderson's lowest scoring game came her freshman year against Iowa State on 12/5/04 when she went 1-of-11 from the field, tallying just two points.
' After tallying just three points in the first half, Jolene Anderson finished with 11 points, making it the 96th career game of 100 in which she has recorded double figures. The senior also broker her previous consecutive double figure scoring record (35), which she previously tied last Sunday against IPFW. Tonight was the 36th straight game in which Anderson recorded double figures.
' Anderson needs just 123 points to tie (she has 1,871) the UW women's career scoring record of 1,994 which was set by Barb Franke (1991-96). Anderson now stands in the fifth spot, behind Theresa Huff (1,879), Robin Threatt (1,901) and Jessie Stomski (1,915).
' Wisconsin finished the game with 16 turnovers (just five in the second half), the fewest since Cleveland State on Nov. 9, when the Badgers turned the ball over just 13 times.
' With 33 field goals, Wisconsin set a new season-high. UW previously made 31 shots against IPFW on Nov. 2.
' This is the sixth time in seven games the Badgers have outrebounded their opponent.
' Wisconsin scored just one 3-pointer (1-of-5) in tonight's game, which is the fewest the team has tallied this season.
Wisconsin Head Coach Lisa Stone Quotes
Opening comments: 'The team was ready. That run that we had really allowed us to distance ourselves. We talked at halftime about what we wanted to do. I think our defense tightened up, we got on the boards a little more and we got scoring from all over the place today and that was huge.'
On Rae Lin: 'Rae was great, she gave us the energy. I know I talk about how she is like `the little engine that could' and she is. I give her the keys to the car and I tell her to take over and drive that team. I thought she had great energy and made tremendous decisions, especially in the second half.'
On Janese Banks: 'Janese Banks was on fire and our team found her and I thought she did a great job on getting on the offensive boards and got nice put backs, made her free throws and did some nice things for us.'
On Caitlin Gibson: 'She gave us some quality minutes with some nice rebounds and defense inside. Her and Tara had a nice little one-two touch going on in there and I like to see that. The problem I have is finding minutes for everybody because we have some quality players and they're a great group.'
UW-Milwaukee Head Coach Sandy Botham Quotes
'Obviously I'm pleased with our first half performance ' to play them even. Last year we came in here and didn't score until there were probably five minutes on the clock, so it was great to see our players battle early and I thought they executed the game plan well defensively and really fought ' made a game of it.'
'We knew they were going to come in the second half and turn up the defensive pressure and they did that, and we just didn't do little things. We missed some early defensive assignments and got down quick. Within three minutes it was a 12 point game and against a team like this we just can't afford that. But (it was) a good learning experience for our players.'
On Wisconsin's ability to win and take control without (Jolene) Anderson being a factor: 'Their pressure on the ball ' they were very physical and I thought their defense created a lot of offense for them, especially in the beginning of the second half, and that comes from everybody. And there definitely were mismatches '.I think Lisa has done a nice job with this team. There's no doubt that she's got the most depth she's ever had and they have a lot of different options now, which makes them that much more dangerous.'
