In the Wisconsin women’s basketball team’s Saturday afternoon 65-48 victory over No. 10 North Carolina State, senior guard Tamara Moore’s stat line read like this: 24 points on 10-18 shooting, seven rebounds, six assists, and six steals.
To see what kind of game she really had, though, you don’t even need to glance at her stats. In fact, you only needed to see one sequence during the second half to understand how much the talent and enthusiasm that Moore brings to the game means to the Badgers.
After missing a layup, she got the ball back and threaded a perfect pass down low to senior forward Jessie Stomski, who layed in it, was fouled, and hit the free throw with 13:22 left in the game to extend the UW lead to 41-28. Moore pumped her fists wildly in celebration after the play, showing her excitement for her teammate’s basket.
But she wasn’t quite done. Moore put her emotions back in check to get ready to play the press defense that UW has employed so well this season. Sure enough, she used her quickness to grab a great steal, leading to another Wisconsin score.
If Stomski is the dominating presence down low and senior guard Kyle Black provides the dead-eye outside shooting, Moore is the glue that holds the team together, routinely feeding her teammates and shutting down her opponents with quick feet and a knack for stealing the basketball.
But don’t think that she can’t score. In fact, it was Moore’s scoring at the end of the first half that turned the game around and gave the Badgers momentum after an offensively lackluster first half.
With the Badgers trailing 20-18 after a Black three-pointer and shooting a woeful 8-27 from the field, Moore scored eight straight points, punctuated by a scintillating three-point play and a crowd-raising step-back three right at the end of the half to give UW a 26-20 halftime lead.
“I thought that at the end of the first half Tamara put the team on her back and carried them a little bit when it was really, really tough to run an offense,” UW head coach Jane Albright said. “She just drove and cleared out some things and she read the defense. That step-back three, I think that gave us some confidence.”
Moore has recorded 29 points before, and she’s also garnered 13 assists in a game. She has put up better individual numbers before, but perhaps never all combined so well in one game like Saturday’s. So was this one of her best games ever?
“If you take away the turnovers, yes,” Moore humbly stated. “A win is a win. It doesn’t matter what my stats look like.”
However, some were more inclined to agree that, yes, it was one her best games ever.
“Her coach would say a definite yes,” said Albright. “Even with the turnovers.”
Stomski couldn’t agree more with Albright’s assessment.
“And so would someone who’s played with her since tenth grade,” she said. “This was one of the best games I’ve ever seen her play.”
With the accolades pouring in from her coach and teammates, Moore has also caught the attention of, as well as struck fear into, national opposition.
“I think Tamara has a good game,” N.C. State head coach Kay Yow said. “She played some point (guard) and two guard. It’s real hard just to see in this one game which position she really plays the best, but she’s versatile. That’s the good part for her, that she can handle the ball.”
In practice earlier this week, Stomski was wearing a jersey that read “Chairman of the Boards” to get the point across that she is working to own the boards against UW’s competition.
If Moore chooses to wear a similar jersey in practice, maybe she’ll want to wear something that has to do with sticking closely on the defensive end to opposing players and holding the Badgers together on the offensive end.
