SPORTS
Balanced scoring attack leads Badgers over Falcons
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Also by Jonah Braun:
- UW tries to end home stand well (December 11, 2007)
- Balanced scoring attack leads Badgers over Falcons (December 10, 2007)
- Depth evident as entire roster sees action (December 5, 2007)
- Badgers to fight Panthers (December 4, 2007)
- UW nets hoops win (December 3, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Surging Wisconsin hoping to upset Purdue (February 24, 2006)
- Balanced attack leads UW (December 12, 2007)
- Mistakes concern coach (December 7, 2007)
- Cyclones to pass through the Kohl Center (December 4, 2003)
- Ward stays hot, scores 14 (December 10, 2007)
by Jonah Braun
Monday, December 10, 2007
With four players scoring in double digits, the Wisconsin
women's basketball team exhibited a balanced scoring attack en route to a 74-60
win over Air Force at the Kohl Center Sunday.
Sunday's game was an example of the team play that Wisconsin
head coach Lisa Stone had been looking for all season. With the game being
delayed due to travel difficulties for Air Force — it was originally scheduled
for Saturday — the Badgers had to overcome more than just the Falcons.
"[The game being postponed] does have an effect, and I'm not
a person who makes excuses, but I did think it had an effect on our team,"
Stone said. "We were very sharp and crisp yesterday, and it had an effect here
today, but again, I give our team a lot of credit. We had some good people off
the bench, and some good energy."
The Badgers looked strong in the third game of their long
five-game home stand, and took control of the game right from the start.
Wisconsin jumped out to an early 15-6 lead with 15:51 left
in the half to set the tempo for the game, getting every player involved on the
offensive end of the court. The Badgers took advantage of eight Air Force
turnovers to take a 10-point lead going into halftime.
Danielle Ward stepped up for UW in the first half, leading
the team with 10 points before the break. Jolene Anderson and Tara Steinbauer
each added nine heading into the break.
"One of the biggest things is [that] we were going to try to
keep Jolene Anderson under her average," Air Force head coach Ardie McInelly
said. "It looks like we did that, but allowed other people to step up and play
really well."
Air Force came out in the second half looking to fix its
lack of defensive adjustments and displayed its shooters' talents, bursting out
of gates with a 10-6 second-half run to cut the lead to 49-43 with 13:55
remaining.
Nevertheless, Wisconsin showed Air Force and the Kohl Center
crowd the extent of its ability to score from every angle of the court.
Defense was the problem for UW to start the second half, but
Stone’s team quickly adjusted. After Air Force cut the lead to six points, the
Badgers stepped up their defensive play to bring their lead to as many as 18
points.
"I think that Lisa Stone just decided, 'Hey, this isn't
going to work. You guys better pick up on the defensive end,'" McInelly said.
"They did, and I think that certainly we didn't do a very good job of executing
our offense against their pressure."
Wisconsin played consistently toward the end of the game and
maintained its significant lead to eventually win by a 14-point margin.
Air Force had three players record double figure point
totals, led by forward Alecia Steele with 14.
"We made it much more competitive," McInelly said. "Our team
is getting better and we got better today as we played this game, and hopefully
we can continue to move on and improve on some of those areas that cost us the
game."
Though Air Force was not looked at as an easy win after the
game, Anderson was unimpressed with the Badgers' play, addressing things her
team needs to change heading into conference play.
"You've got to give credit to Air Force; they came in here
ready to battle," Anderson said. "I was pretty disappointed with the way we
played, the way we played offense. It's just something that we've got to pick
up especially going into this last week [of the home stand] before we enter the
Big Ten season. Once we get into the Big Ten, teams aren't going to back down
for us."
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