SPORTS
Badgers raise roof, raze Gophers
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Also by Tyler Mason:
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by Tyler Mason
Monday, January 29, 2007
The University of Wisconsin women's basketball team heavily promoted their "Raise the Roof charity" event. They then raised their game for it.
In front of a season-high crowd of more than 15,000, the Badgers put on perhaps one of their finest all-around performances of the year on their way to a 70-57 victory over Minnesota (13-9, 5-4 Big Ten).
Wisconsin (16-6, 5-4 Big Ten), which led by as many as 22 points in the second half, was fueled by strong guard play from juniors Janese Banks and Jolene Anderson and freshman Rae Lin D'Alie, who all scored in double figures.
"I'm very proud of our basketball team," UW head coach Lisa Stone said. "We weathered every storm that Minnesota brought to us."
Banks led the team in scoring 20 points, including nine points from behind the arc, and pulled down eight rebounds. Anderson, who didn't score until inside of four minutes left in the first half, finished with 15 points. D'Alie scored 14 to go along with her six assists, and forward Mariah Dunham added 11 points.
"I thought Janese attacked the basket very well," Stone said. "She made very few mistakes. She makes her free throws, she plays defense, and her shot was on."
With seven minutes remaining in the first half, Banks caught fire and energized the record crowd, draining back-to-back three pointers to break open a 19-19 tie. The Badgers would go on to score 17 unanswered to end the first half and build a 36-19 halftime lead.
"I didn't realize we were building such a big run," Banks said. "I just knew that our defense was picking up. You could feel it on the floor. It was a great feeling."
Earlier in the season at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, the Badgers were completely outplayed by the Gophers, who beat Wisconsin 71-53 by forcing 22 turnovers. Sunday was a totally different story as the Badgers were able to shut down Minnesota offensively and turn the defensive stops into points.
"We got a lot of offense from defense today," Stone said. "We've been looking for that for quite some time. We defended the drive fairly well; we got out to the shooters pretty well, and defended inside."
Despite shooting just 38 percent for the game, the Badgers played one of their most offensively sound games of the year, turning the ball over just twice in the first half and only seven times in the game, a record-low for any team playing in the Kohl Center.
"That's the best we've played all year," Stone said. "From a 40-minute standpoint, this might be our best. … We shared the ball well, we got scoring from a lot of different areas, and withstood a rush. They cut it to 12 and a lot of things could have happened, but we held on."
Leading the way for Minnesota was sophomore guard Emily Fox, who notched 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Ashley Ellis-Milan, the only other Gopher to score in double digits, added 14. Minnesota was held to just 34 percent shooting on the game after making just six shots in the first half.
"Obviously we're extremely disappointed with the loss," Minnesota head coach Pam Borton said. "I think we could have had a little better effort in the last 10 minutes of the first half and I think that's where we let the game go. I think our defense and our lack of rebounding really says it all."
Minnesota was without their leading scorer, Kelly Roysland, who was out with a broken collarbone suffered in the team's game against Iowa Thursday. Although Roysland had been averaging nearly 15 points a game, Borton and her team did not use her absence as an excuse for the team's loss.
"We're not using any excuses for us not showing up ready to play," Borton said. "We just need other people doing what they're supposed to do out there and maybe just a little bit more. I think some of the people we have coming off the bench showed a little bit of youth and a little bit of inexperience out there."
With their third win in a row and second straight home victory, the Badgers improved their record to 11-2 at the Kohl Center this season, suffering losses to only Ohio State and Illinois. Next up Wisconsin will take on Indiana on the road as they hope to carry on the positive play from Sunday.
"This was one of the best team efforts," Anderson said. "It can't stop here though. The win was good, but it's got to go behind us. We have to focus on Indiana on Thursday. We just have to stay focused and continue what we're doing."
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