The Badger women’s basketball team had to go to the very last second Tuesday night to defeat Athletes in Action 75-71 in an exhibition game at the Field House.

After a first half in which the Badgers looked like they might win easily, AIA seemed to just hang around the whole second half, and nearly pulled out the victory.

With Wisconsin leading 71-68, AIA’s Elizabeth Hart nailed a three-pointer to tie the game with 50 seconds left. Senior guard Kyle Black missed a three on UW’s next possession, but junior forward Kristi Seeger came up with a clutch offensive rebound.

After a Badger timeout, senior forward and projected first team all-Big Ten forward Jessie Stomski missed a shot, but got fouled on the way up while trying to follow it in the basket. She nailed two free throws to put the Badgers on top.

Black stole AIA’s ensuing desperation pass and made two free throws to seal the game with one-tenth of a second on the clock.

Wisconsin came out flying in the first half, employing an offense that looked like run-and-gun at times. The Badgers shot 61.3 percent from the field in the half, largely due to fast break layups and exceptional passing.

Senior guard Tamara Moore, also highly touted in the Big Ten, scored a team-high 11 points and recorded four assists in the first half alone.

The Badgers also helped out their offensive cause by garnering seven steals, which often led to fast breaks. Overall, AIA turned the ball over 14 times in the first half.

“We came out tonight, and our defense was much better (than it was on Sunday),” head coach Jane Albright said. “That’s the way we want to play defense.”

However, Wisconsin turned the ball over 13 times themselves in the first half. And while AIA shot only 38.2 percent in the first half, they out-rebounded the Badgers 20-14, including 10 offensive rebounds.
This helped to keep the halftime score close at 44-35.

“We’re not going to win games if we shoot 63 percent and we turn the ball over that many times,” Albright said. “We should have been up by 20 points at halftime if we get those shots off, and, believe me, that’s not the first time we’ve talked about that.”

Turnovers continued to plague the Badgers in the second half, as they recorded 11 more. However, they were not able to compensate for this by shooting well — their field goal percentage dipped to 32.4 percent in the second half.

After Seeger hit a three to give Wisconsin its largest lead at 65-52 with 7:41 left, AIA went on a 12-2 run to get within three.

In fact, the Badgers didn’t make another field goal until Moore hit a jumper with 2:18 remaining to put Wisconsin up 69-64. The drought included a stretch in which the Badgers turned the ball over on three out of four possessions.

Overall, Moore led the Badgers with 17 points, six assists, three blocks, and five steals. Stomski added 16 points and 12 rebounds. Karyn Karlin led AIA with 17 points.

While the Badgers may have looked sloppy, they pulled in out in the end. Moreover, that’s what exhibition games are for: to learn about your team and work on improving its weaknesses.

“I was very pleased that we found a way to win down the stretch,” Albright said.

Badgerball opens its regular season against Washington at 4:00 p.m. Nov. 18 at the Kohl Center.