SPORTS
No rust in Badgers’ WNIT victory
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Also by Derek Zetlin:
- Gridiron: BCS top 2 intact; who's No. 3? (November 29, 2007)
- Cinderellas fly under national radar (November 1, 2007)
- GRIDIRON - No sure bet this year in Heisman race (October 25, 2007)
- GRIDIRON: Senior quarterbacks show potential (October 18, 2007)
- USC loss keeps upset train rolling (October 11, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Kohl Center hosts WNIT (March 16, 2007)
- Stone earns 1st postseason bid at UW (March 13, 2007)
- Badgers' postseason outlook murky (March 5, 2007)
- Yee-haw! UWs shoot it out for WNIT title (March 30, 2007)
- Stone reaches UW status (March 27, 2007)
by Derek Zetlin
Monday, March 19, 2007
When a team has an abnormally long layoff between games, one of two things can happen: It can look sharp and rested, or it can look rusty. Sunday, 16 days after falling to Purdue in overtime in the Big Ten Tournament, the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team beat Arkansas State 77-45 in the second round of the WNIT. Needless to say, there was no rust.
"Wisconsin was just in every aspect of the game a step quicker than we were," said a disappointed Arkansas State head coach Brian Boyer, whose team was eliminated from tournament play with the loss.
The Wisconsin defense forced 17 first-half turnovers, and the Badgers shot lights out to begin the game, shooting 59 percent from the field en route to a 51-18 lead at the break. Freshman walk-on guard Erika Engen scored her first points as a Badger, and UW earned its 20th win of the season and its first postseason victory since 2000, when it won the WNIT Championship and beat the Florida Gators. All of these aspects of Sunday's victory would be worthy of a headline, if it weren't for Jolene Anderson.
Going into Sunday's game, Anderson had 585 points on the season, 16 points behind Barb Franke's program-record 601. Anderson had 22 at the half. Before Sunday, Anderson's career high was 29 points. With six minutes to go, Anderson had 28 points, and a layup with 5:29 remaining in the half gave her the new milestone of 30.
"My teammates [kept] finding me," Anderson said humbly. "A lot of it came from defense, [but my teammates] found me when I was open, set good screens. I [credit] them."
The Port Wing native finished with seven steals and seven rebounds to balance out the stat sheet.
Boyer's Lady Indians knew about Anderson's scoring abilities before Sunday's 4:30 p.m. tip off, but they simply could not stop her or even slow her down. Anderson's 22 first-half points came on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, including 2-of-6 from beyond the 3-point arc, meaning she was a perfect 7-for-7 on 2-point field goals.
Behind Anderson's hot hand, the Badgers shot out of the gate with a bang. They started the game on a 15-2 run and never looked back. It almost seemed too easy. UW junior guard Janese Banks disagreed.
"I don't think they gave us anything," Banks explained. "I think we worked for everything we [got]. We were working really hard; it wasn't easy."
Banks finished with 13 points and three assists.
Freshman point guard Rae Lin D'Alie handled the ball with grace, dishing out seven assists — many of which were of highlight reel quality — to complement 11 points of her own.
Shooting 50 percent from the field and out-rebounding Arkansas State 39-26, Wisconsin may have played its best game start to finish of the year.
"We're playing our best basketball right now," UW head coach Lisa Stone said after the game. "To be playing in March is awesome. It's a great feeling. [We] look fresh. The way we played against Michigan and Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament was some of our best basketball, and it carried over into [Sunday's game]."
The Badgers await tomorrow night's winner of the second round game between Ball State and Kentucky. No matter the winner, the third round game will be played at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Kohl Center.
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