SPORTS
Turnovers remain troubling for women’s basketball team
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by Michael Poppy
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
With just three games remaining on the UW women's basketball team's schedule, head coach Lisa Stone seems to have pinpointed one of the major factors leading to her squad's woes — turnovers.
Ball control has been an issue all year, but it was more than evident in Sunday's 53-47 loss to No. 15 Michigan State.
In a game where Wisconsin actually had a 14-point lead with 10 minutes remaining in the second half, turnovers — 25 of them to be exact — spelled the Badgers' doom.
"It's easy to ask me (what we need to improve) this morning because it revolves around turnovers," Stone said. "You look at how well we played … we've got to take better care of the basketball and take pride in positions."
The turnovers have mostly been the result of the lack of a true point guard, a position Stone has delegated to Janese Banks and Jolene Anderson — both natural shooting guards.
"We're playing point guard by committee, there's no question," Stone said. "Everybody knows we're a point guard away. I don't like to look back, but there's nine games on that schedule where the difference might have went in our direction (with a true point guard)."
While McDonald's All-American Teah Gant will be coming in next season to take on the point guard role, Stone — a true point guard herself back in her playing days — is almost tempted to step on the court herself and fill the void.
"It's an interesting position," Stone said. "A point guard is a position that is a special type of player — someone that scores when they need to, gets the ball to people when they need to, throws the team on their back.
"I was a true point guard," Stone continued. "I was an extension of the coach on the floor, I was to shoot only when I was open, get the ball to people, make other people better, direct traffic offensively and defensively, be the emotional leader out there and in some ways I feel like I'm that on the sideline, but I don't have the ball in my hands."
Despite the turnover problems and heartbreaking losses throughout the year, there is no questioning the team's morale. Whereas many struggling teams tend to break up as a result, the Badgers have stuck together through thick and thin — staying true to their "team unity" motto.
"Our team is together," Stone said. "There were tears in the locker room of how did they get away, we were so excited, but the bottom line is that we come back to work and take the positives because we have an upward swing going on right now and that momentum right now is what we need to take into this Thursday's game, two more at home, and then the Big Ten tournament."
Anderson no stranger to turnovers, either: Last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year and, arguably, the Badgers' best player, Jolene Anderson has had her fair share of turnovers this season.
Despite her current 25-game double figure-scoring streak, Anderson is averaging 3.12 turnovers per game this season and had a game-high five turnovers in the Michigan State loss Sunday.
Furthermore, Anderson also hasn't been shooting the ball exceptionally well of late.
While it may be a cause for concern, Stone said she almost feels forced to allow Anderson to play herself out of the funk.
"We need Jolene on the floor," Stone said. "When she's not playing well, that might be one of our best at that particular situation."
"Right now we need to get Jolene shooting the ball better … when she's fundamentally square and correct, she doesn't miss. On the other hand, in the games she's double- and triple-teamed so I'm asking a lot of Jolene and the turnovers are coming out of certainly trying to get some things done."
Doug Williams (February 14, 2006 @ 11:30am):
Turnovers were only part of it. Up 14 points with 10 minutes and up 12 with 7 minutes left called for better court management. This was at least the 6th or 7th time that Wisconsin womens team has blown leads in final minutes. What are the coaches thinking!
In the last 7 minutes of MSU game the guards were not getting the ball into the post...they were taking forced outside shots and not penetrating to the basket. The shooting % of the guards was less than 25% for the game while the posts shooting % was well above 40% cummulatively. Jolene shot 2-11 from 3-point range. When you are up by 12-14 points that calls for clock management and better (unforced shot selections)...neither was enforced by the coaches. 3-point shots should be discouraged by the coaches during those last minutes with big leads. Blaming lack of true point guard was not the cause..I thought that Janese Banks plays a good point but not Jolene (too many turnovers from her).
The team (and coaches) forgot what it took when they beat Illinois last week. Most of team's points were scored in the paint during that game and they (Wisconsin) played TEAM-BALL.
Another reason they lost the MSU game was lack of focused defense. Reason was that several of the players were tired after playing most of 40 minutes. Coaches need to rest some of these players more during game so they have energy when it counts down the stretch of the game. Also need to put in their best defensive players during closing minutes. I thought Sheri Welton should have been in there to guard Bowen..she and Janese appear to be the best defensive guards and the two best at controlling ball.
Another thing coaches need to look at is number of stupid fouls that stop the clock and send other team into bonus with 10 minutes remaining in games. As a rule, at bonus, each foul gives other team 1.5 points...take those away and this team would be above .500 for season.
This is getting to be old-hat. Guards are expected to do it all with no accountability for poor shot selections and failures to get post touches. One other note: what was Jolene doing taking a 2-pt shot down by 6 with 19 seconds left to play (other than be high-scorer). Coaches need to be held accountable. Good hs coaches would do a better job then what I've seen.
