Feb. 10, 2011
Recap | Box Score | Notes
Post-Game Coach Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Northwestern
February, 10, 2011
Head Coach Lisa Stone
On putting themselves in second place in the Big Ten standings:
“I tell you what I am really proud of the team, they responded. Northwestern is a good team, since the last time we played them they are 2-0. They swept Ohio State, they went 2-0 against Ohio State who beat Purdue tonight pretty handily, and that is a significant win for them.
Coming into this game we knew we had our hands full. Playing them 12 days ago and understanding that they had a little bit of time to prepare for us and Amy Jaeschke, there are not a whole lot of better post players out there. Once again, Lin Zastrow did a fabulous job on her, she got a couple touches late in the game. I thought defensively, to hold this team to 41 points, that is a great team effort by our players. Offensively we were out of sync, we turned it over to end the half and to open up the second half. But after about four minutes in the second half, we did a pretty good job of taking care of the ball and got some good shots.”
On ball control and the defensive effort in the second half:
“They sure did. You challenge your team to value the ball and we finish with 12 turnovers, had six in each half. That is pretty decent, but the turnovers we had I know we can control those. The bottom line is we played very solid defense, great game plan, rebounded the basketball pretty well.
Brittany Orban is one of the best offensive rebounders in the conference. She had her way, was really wrestling with Taylor Wurtz the first couple possessions of the first half, but after that Taylor just came up to me and said, “I just have to get low coach, have to get low and get position.” She battled very well. I thought Taylor did a really good job of trying to keep Orban off of the boards.
That is a good basketball team, Beth Marshall is a quick little shooter, and Kendall Hackney, I thought we did a decent job of keeping her in check. The key is that All-American Amy Jaeschke is something special, I am really happy she is a senior. I wish Lin was a freshman to guard her the rest of the way. A great effort by our players.
On the Badgers’ outside shooting especially in the first half:
"It was hard. Jaeschke is also a very good shot-blocker. She has got 86 blocks on the year prior to this game, and I think our leader has like 23. It has hard to score in the paint on her. Lin hit a couple threes, made a nice four-point play. When you have to bring your 6-4 post player outside to make some plays, there is not a better choice than Lin Zastrow. You also saw us set some ball-screens for Lin to make some plays, and that worked for us later in the game.
But, she is tough inside and the fact that our guards are knocking shots down outside helps our post players, because from a percentage standpoint we shoot very well in the paint. We missed some bunnies in the first half, but overall when you have an inside-outside attack that is a great team effort.”
On Alyssa Karel and Lin Zastrow being the top scoring duo in the Big Ten:
“I challenged the seniors at halftime. They got that look on their face and Alyssa got a couple open looks at threes in the second half, but made a couple really nice plays and found Lin.
Our entire team works hard every day, they practice, they prepare, they are together, and they are on a mission right now. Other teams can play their games and do what they are doing. We have a couple days to get ready for a really tough Iowa team. We only play Iowa once this year and it’s at their place. This team will lock in, prepare and get ready for the Hawkeyes.”
Northwestern Head Coach Joe McKeown
On how Amy Jaeschke’s play tonight affected the game:
“We just didn’t do a very good job at getting her the ball. We didn’t penetrate. We were just really cold. We had a lot of good looks in the first half that didn’t go in and then we made a little run and I thought we were going to climb right back in. Then they made shots. For Kendall (Hackney) to go 2-for-11 and Brittany (Orban) 1-for-5, who have both shot the ball really well all year, and they play off of Amy.
In all honesty, the reason why we beat Ohio State is because people made shots off of her, and tonight we didn’t do that.”
On how much Wisconsin’s play attributes to Amy playing below her average in both match-ups this year:
“I think that not just having the physical play of (Lin) Zastrow or (Tara) Steinbauer or (Anya) Covington, but more than that, they sent two people at her. She’s kicking the ball out on double teams and we didn’t make shots off of that. And that’s a big reason – they double-teamed her. That was their game plan and we didn’t do a very good job with that. We made a couple of lay-ups and we missed people. We just didn’t do a very good job.
(Jaeschke’s) a great player. She’s going to get double-teamed the rest of year, so we need to do a better job of that.”
On his read on Wisconsin:
“I know they struggled in non-conference and they had injuries, especially with (Alyssa) Karel hurt for a little bit and (Lin) Zastrow sat out, but you know with their experience that they are a real solid team. I think Karel is one of the premier players in our league and she’s able to get everybody else involved. I think people play off of her and they play off of her really well.
Zastrow and her I think are, obviously all-conference players. They are a real solid team.
We had a great game in Northwestern two weeks ago and it came down to the last two minutes. We had a five-point lead, but we played a lot better than we did tonight.
Our league is one of those crazy leagues where everybody can beat everybody. I think they’ve been able to separate themselves a little bit defensively and by being able to control paces of games. They had a tough loss to Michigan State in overtime when they led most of the second half, but when they can control the pace of the game, they are as good as anybody in our league.
Everybody in the league can beat everybody depending on the day, but tonight we couldn’t beat Wisconsin. They just outplayed us.”
