[media-credit name=’MEGHAN CONLIN/Herald Photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]UW women's basketball head coach Lisa Stone started her 12th different lineup of the season Thursday night, and despite a 71-64 loss to Indiana, this starting five may be the one.

Guard Janese Banks shined in her return to the Kohl Center — and to the starting lineup — in her third game back from a foot injury.

Banks was all over the place — diving on the ground for loose balls, penetrating to the basket, creating steals in the full-court press and hitting clutch shots.

"It's certainly nice to have (Banks) back out there," Stone said. "It takes a lot of pressure off of Jolene (Anderson). She's had to carry the weight for quite a while."

Banks and Jolene Anderson — dubbed the "Dairyland Duo" — scored 19 and 20 points, respectively.

But it was Indiana's one-two scoring punch that was the premier duo of the night in Cyndi Valentin and Jenny DeMuth, who scored 25 and 19 points, respectively.

The game was tightly contested for much of the second half, but a Hoosier run in the last 10 minutes of the second half, sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers by Leah Enterline and Cyndi Valentin, helped put it away.

"We were able to get a little run going in the second half," Indiana head coach Sharon Versyp said. "We were finally playing some good defense and getting some rebounding and run in transition, and that's our game. We were able to hold on at the end, but they just kept on battling back. It was a really good basketball game."

Wisconsin had a 10-point lead with 16 minutes remaining in the second half, but Stone said the team simply did not know how to play with the lead.

"In the second half with a 10-point lead, we didn't use the clock real well and our shot selection was not the best," Stone said. "With the lead, we sped up and we needed to be more patient. When we're not shooting the ball real well in the second half, we needed to find easier opportunities by going to the post."

Post touches in the second half were minimal for the Badgers. Stone said she counted a mere five post touches, and that alone contributed to the shooting-funk offense.

In a game expected to be dominated by the guard play of Wisconsin's Banks and Anderson and Indiana's Valentin and DeMuth, Stone was hoping she could find an "X-factor" to give the Badgers an edge.

However, the lack of post touches in the second half left Wisconsin relying too heavily on its perimeter play.

"I think we would've had that X-factor had we gone inside a little bit more," Stone said. "We need more than two scorers, and it can come from anywhere else. The game had their two players scoring and we had two players scoring. I was hoping that we would have one more and that would throw them off."

Banks attributed the lack of looks inside to the pesky Hoosiers' "one"-zone defense — it took away the post-entry passing lanes and allowed good looks outside, but always contested with a hand up.

"They wanted to force us into taking a lot of outside shots," Banks said. "You just have to be smart and learn — penetrate gaps and know when to do it and try to get the ball in to the post players. It's not going to happen probably on the initial pass, but off a few reversals. We can't just settle for the first wide-open jump shot we get because we might get that same shot a few more passes down the line."

Despite the Badgers' continual woes this season, Stone insists nothing major is wrong with the team — they just need to get the job done in crunch time.

"It feels very interesting how people will try to say what's wrong with the team or whatever when you're having a season that we're having — that there seems to be problems," Stone said. "Well, there are no problems. We just have to get it done and learn how to win and play with the lead and so forth. No more yelling. We just have to execute.

"It's time to play basketball and get out there and get the job done."

Notes: Janese Banks wasn't the only one to make her home return from injury — senior Annie Nelson also got back to action after missing several games with a nagging shoulder injury. Nelson played eight minutes, collecting two points and two rebounds.

Akiya Alexander — currently on academic probation — was not on the Badger bench Thursday night and will not be practicing in the near future due to academic reasons.

"She's not putting all of her efforts right now into academics," Stone said. "Everything is in academics. She won't be practicing with us for a little while because everything is academic-oriented and she is in complete understanding of that and we want her back on the court."