After having their first two-game conference winning streak snapped by a surging Ohio State team, the Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team must win the Big Ten tournament in order to have any hopes of playing in the NCAA tournament. However, the team will be without their second leading scorer, as Stephanie Rich left Sunday’s home loss due to injury.
Rich suffered a fractured right hand with five minutes remaining in Sunday’s contest. The injury is costly for the Badgers, who were riding their two-game winning streak since late January.
“I was trying to poke away the ball,” Rich said. “She had the ball over her head, looking into the post. Her elbow came down on my fingers and I felt it right away. It’s frustrating, but I am glad it happened in the last game in the season rather than two months ago.”
Rich remains confident in her teammates’ chances.
“I am really disappointed that I can’t play in the Big Ten Tournament against an Indiana team we played so well against just a week ago,” she said. “I believe in the girls. They’re going to rise up and do everything they can to come up with a win.”
In Rich’s absence, freshman guard Kandace Evans will most likely fill in at the point. Evans will have some big shoes to fill, as Rich is second on the team in minutes (38.2 per game) and points (155). Additionally, sophomore guard Erin Olson will get minutes according to head coach Lisa Stone. Olson has played in only eight games for Wisconsin, registering five points in only 21 minutes, while Evans has notched 23 points in 13 games.
Different rotations
With their starting point guard out, Stone and the Badgers look to shift the offensive focus from the point guard position. Stone said it will not be easy to make such a big change but it is not impossible.
“We are going to be very innovative,” Stone said. “We were up to 2:30 in the morning last night trying to come up with a plan for the rotation. Stephanie (Rich) will help us out. She’ll help whoever is leading the charge…But against Indiana’s pressure defense, it’s imperative that our players make good decisions with the basketball, that we find good passing angles and we find ways to score.”
Defensively, UW will also have to deal with the loss of Rich. She leads the team in steals (25) and rebounds (74). Most of the weight will have to be put on seniors Lello Gebisa and Emily Ashbaugh.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge,” Stone said. “We have faced adversity throughout the year. We’ll do it again and rise up and hopefully win games in the tournament and move on.”
First round date with Indiana
Wisconsin will face Indiana Thursday in the opening game of the Big Ten tournament. The teams last met Feb. 22, with the Badgers hanging on to beat the Hoosiers 66-62. Stone and UW are plenty familiar with Indiana and their style of play.
“Indiana is very guard-oriented,” Stone said. “They have got Cyndi Valentine, who is a great free-throw shooter. Jenny DeMuth has taken 223 free throws this season, she gets to the free-throw line…Sometimes when you play a team so close together, there’s an advantage to that [because] we know what they are going to do. We need to keep [Cyndi] Valentine off the free throw line and we have to rebound. They’ll push the ball and we need to contest high and hard in order to win.”
The Badgers must win the conference tournament, which requires winning four games in five days. By winning the tournament, Wisconsin would receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
“It’s tournament time,” Stone said. “A lot of crazy things happen in March and I’m hoping that the craziness we have come with on Thursday will provide us with a win.”
The winner of Thursday’s contest will face No. 1-seeded Penn State on Friday.
