A win over the Ball State Cardinals tonight in the Kohl Center could be the fresh start the Badgers are looking for after opening the season a meager 1-4.
However, Badgerball, coming off an 81-69 loss in Washington, will be looking to rebound on its home floor without the services of senior guard Leah Hefte.
Hefte, who dislocated her right shoulder Nov. 28 in practice, is not expected to return for another two to three weeks. Hefte has been one of UW’s few consistent scoring options this season, pulling in nine points a game.
Without Hefte’s leadership and scoring load, the other perimeter players will have to not only pick up her minutes, but also be responsible for knocking down a few more shots if the Badgers hope to be successful while Hefte is on the sidelines.
One of these go-to players will be sophomore guard Stephanie Rich. Despite struggling to find her shot early in the season, Rich is coming off a career performance, scoring 20 points against the Washington Huskies Monday night.
Head coach Jane Albright feels Rich can help pull the Badgers out of their early season rut and even compared her to Washington’s star guard Loree Payne, who posted 27 points in Monday’s contest.
“We have a young Loree Paine, and her name is Stephanie Rich,” said Albright. “They are the same type of gym rat. They are just shooting all the time.”
Also posting a career night for the Badgers Monday was freshman point guard Ashley Josephson. Josephson, playing in just her fifth game as a Badger, knocked down all three of her attempts from beyond the arc and went 5-9 from the floor, en route to a career-high 13 points.
With Hefte absent from the lineup, the Badgers will depend heavily on the scoring of Rich and Josephson.
UW will need their veteran interior players, however, to continue winning the battle of the boards underneath if they hope to turn their season around.
Lello Gebisa, Emily Ashbaugh, and the other Badger post players have not scored many points this season, but they have won the rebounding edge in most of UW’s games, out-rebounding four of their five opponents on the season.
If the team can pick up Hefte’s scoring load and continue crashing the boards, the only other major issue it needs to address will be keeping turnover totals to a minimum. Albright realizes that no matter how well her players rebound or shoot, if they keep coughing up the ball as routinely as they have thus far, it could be a long season.
“We improved a lot [on this trip],” Albright said. “For us to come in here and up our average against a team like that and against their zone, I thought we really corrected a lot of errors. Then again, we still have the fatal flaw [of turnovers], and we will have to correct that or this will be a never-ending story. Every day we get to practice as a unit I expect that aspect of our game will improve.”
The Badgers’ matchup with Ball State will tip off at 7 p.m. tonight in the Kohl Center. The team will be looking to pick up its second win, its first at home this season.
