MADISON, Wis. -- It took overtime, but the Wisconsin women's basketball team outwitted Valparaiso in a Sunday afternoon overtime thriller at the Kohl Center, claiming an 89-82 victory.
Sophomore guard Julie Pospisilova stunned the Crusaders (4-3) out of the gate, scoring a career-high 23 points, including 11 in the first quarter alone. Pospisilova was 5-7 from 3-point range and also played spoiler to four Valparaiso shots with a career-high four blocks on the afternoon.
The Badgers (3-2) had three players score in double figures, all hitting above or near the 20-point range. Sophomore
Sydney Hilliard scored a team-high 25 points, her fourth game this season with 20-plus points, while
Imani Lewis added a season-high 19 points. Lewis recorded her third double-double of the season, adding a game-high 11 rebounds.
Wisconsin got off to an early lead, using a 10-2 run over less than three minutes in the middle of the first quarter to lead 20-11 with 2:13 to play in the period. UW upped its lead to 14 (28-14) early in the second period as
Estella Moschkau hit a 3-pointer with 9:08 on the clock. The Badgers led 42-35 at the half but the Crusaders started a comeback cutting Wisconsin's lead to 61-57 after three quarters. A 12-2 run by Valparaiso over the last two minutes of the period closed the gap.
The Crusaders knotted the score for the first time at 61 with 8:54 remaining but Wisconsin regained a seven-point lead (68-61) with 6:22 on the clock. Valpo ralled to tie the score at 68 with 5:16 to play and took its first lead at 71-70 with 4:05 to go. The Crusaders took a three-point lead (73-70) with 2:33 left but a triple from
Tara Stauffacher knotted the score for the third time. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Pospisilova gave Wisconsin a 79-76 lead with 21 seconds left in regulation. Hilliard connected on one-of-two free throws to put UW up 80-78 but Shay Fredrick, who scored a game-high 27 points for the Crusaders, hit a jumper with one seconds to play, sending the game into overtime.
In OT it was all Badgers as Lewis used her experience to lead the way. The forward scored five of the Badgers' nine points and pulled down four rebounds with sophomore Hilliard scoring the other four points as Wisconsin outscored Valparaiso 9-2 in overtime. UW shot 4-8 from the field during the extra period while holding the Crusaders to 1-10.
Wisconsin shot a season-high 53.1% (34-64) from the field, including 52.6% (10-19) from 3-point range, while the Crusaders shot 40.6% (28-69), tying a Kohl Center opponent record by hitting 14 3-pointers. Greenville, Wisconsin native Shay Frederick scored a career-high 27 points as the Badgers shut down Valparaiso's leading scorer, Carie Weinman, holding her to just three points all game, well below her season after of 16 points per game.
UW outrebounded its fifth-straight opponent of the season, pulling down 39 boards compared to 31 for the Crusaders. The Badgers also dished off 19 assists, behind a career-high nine from Hilliard, while tallying 16 turnovers.
Other top performers for Wisconsin were junior
Alex Luehring, who totaled nine points on the day, completing a four-point-play off a made 3-pointer in the third quarter, and
Tara Stauffacher, who continued her shooting run with two 3-pointers en route to scoring eight points.
Straight from the Court
"(It was) a gut check. Credit Valparaiso, they kept it a two-possession game. The response the team had in the last five minutes. Defensively to hold them to two points, they were 1-10 from the field, seven of them were threes. We got the ball inside – Imani capitalized for us, Syd got in deep, we got to the free-throw line. A lot of things to be thankful for. I'm just really happy for them to take this into the break.
On Imani Lewis:
"Offensively, she took everything to the basket. When you've been in more of those situations over the years, you understand that. The younger kids were looking at how those veterans react. I think the younger kids fed off of her and I think that starts in the huddle as we headed into overtime. Imani has those games under her belt, to rely on her experience."
On Julie Pospíšilovà:
"She takes great pride in setting her teammates up and distributing the basketball. We want her to be more of an offensive threat, scoring the ball. I think she did that in the North Dakota game. I thought she was like that from the get-go today. I thought she did a great job of attacking and not just shooting threes."
Notes to Know
- The Badgers won their first overtime game of the season and their first since defeating Vanderbilt, 73-71, on Nov. 25, 2019, at the Bahamas Hoopfest in Washington, D.C.
- Sophomore Julie Pospíšilovà scored a career 23 points, shooting 9-13 from the field, including 5-7 from 3-point range. Her field goals made, field goals attempted, 3-pointers made and 3-pointers attempted were all career bests. The 6-foot guard also recorded a career-high four blocks.
- Sophomore Sydney Hilliard scored 25 points, her fourth game this season with 20-plus points. The 5-foot-11 guard shot 10-17 from the field and 5-7 from the free-throw line. She also dished off a career-best nine assists.
- Junior Imani Lewis recorded her third double-double of the season with a season-high 19 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. The 6-foot-1 forward has 21 double-doubles in her career, which moves into a tie for seventh on the UW record list.
- Redshirt junior Alex Luehring shot 3-4 from the free-throw line, both career highs.
- Senior Estella Moschkau tied her career highs with five rebounds and two steals.
Up next
Tuesday's game versus Omaha has been canceled due to positive testing in the Mavericks' program. The Badgers have 10 days off before they continue Big Ten Conference play on Dec. 31 at No. 19 Michigan. Tip time is 11:30 a.m. CT from Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The game will be streamed live on Big Ten Network Plus.
