SPORTS
UW winning as a team
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Monday, February 3, 2003
The UW women’s basketball team is turning its season around after winning four of its last six games and moving to No. 7 in the Big Ten.
With a 68-56 victory over Michigan (11-8, 2-6), the Badgers (6-14, 4-5) have won two games in a row for the first time all season and will be going into their Thursday matchup with Michigan State playing the best they have all year.
“I thought we were a very poised basketball team today,” head coach Jane Albright said. “I thought the first two minutes of the second half really set the tempo for what we think we can be.”
In those first two minutes, the Badgers scored seven unanswered points and took an 11-point lead that would remain for most of the second half. Behind the hot shooting of Lello Gebisa, the Badgers were able to shoot 53.5 percent from the floor and 63.6 percent from three-point range. Gebisa led the Badgers in scoring and rebounding with 16 points and eight boards.
“Lello did a great job of attacking the basket,” Albright said.
The Badgers had six players who scored eight points or more, and they focused on a team concept rather than getting the ball to the hot shooter. For the game, UW had 20 assists on 23 field goals as the guards did an excellent job at distributing the basketball.
“You can tell we were a very balanced team,” Albright said. “We just had a lot of good ball movement. We looked very refreshed.”
The Badger starters scored 57 of the team’s 68 points but received excellent support from bench players Jordan Wilson and Shawna Nicols, who combined for 11 points and seven assists.
Nicols ran the offense from the point guard position when she was in the game, filling in well in the absence of starting point guard Ashley Josephson. Josephson was cleared to play in Sunday’s game, but Albright decided she would not see any playing time because she had not practiced.
Throughout much of the game against Michigan, UW was able to control the tempo and get good offensive looks at the basket. Creating open shots with good passing, the Badgers took advantage of nearly every second on the shot clock and were not fazed by Michigan’s zone defense. Finishing the game with 20 assists and just 18 turnovers, the Badgers proved that it is hard to lose when you take care of the ball.
“We had more assists than turnovers, which is something every basketball team strives for,” Albright said. “It was good to be able to finally get that statistic.”
Great defense helped the Badgers hold a Michigan team that usually shoots 42 percent from the field to a meager 37 percent on the afternoon. The Badgers’ only defensive weakness came at the conclusion of the first half, when the Wolverines tied the score at 30-30 with 0:51 remaining. Communication and effective switches forced Michigan to rely on the play of Niki Reams and Jennifer Smith, who combined for 33 points, but could not get Michigan on track.
Before a season-high crowd of 9,442 people, the Badgers were able to continue the momentum built with back-to-back road wins at Northwestern and Indiana.
“This feels great,” guard Stephanie Rich said. “We’ve won two in a row against teams where we are in the Big Ten, so we were able to separate ourselves from them.”
