[media-credit name=’AJ Maclean’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]The Wisconsin women’s basketball team will continue its four-game road swing when it heads to Milwaukee to face Marquette (4-0) Wednesday night in its first inner-state rivalry game of the season.

“I think that inner-state rivalries are tremendous and they’re great for the state and the fans,” UW head coach Lisa Stone said.

After posting back-to-back wins at home over IUPUI and Southern Illinois to open the regular season, Wisconsin (2-2) dropped two straight at the Houston Classic against eventual tournament champion Houston 86-61 and Middle Tennessee State 77-74. Both teams advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season.

“You have to go back to the drawing board a little bit and (you’ve) got to address our defensive flaws, our lack of ability to put a body on somebody rebounding wise, our poor decisions inside of five minutes and to close down a game,” Stone said. “There are a lot of things we have to try to replicate through film and on the court through drills so our players learn. That’s all you can do. I can’t go back and change it, although I wish I could.”

The Badgers out-rebounded the opposition 52 to 29 in their first two games of the season, but over the weekend gave up an average of 44.5 rebounds, while only pulling down 37. After keeping their turnovers down in the first two games with an average of just 13, the Badgers committed a season high 26 turnovers against Houston and 22 the following day.

A win Wednesday against the Golden Eagles would certainly help the Badgers get back to the form they displayed while playing at home and would also prepare them for a tough road in the Big Ten Conference.

Marquette also advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament last year and has been quietly racking up wins to start this season. But, despite its unblemished record, Marquette hasn’t been receiving much national recognition in the rankings. The Golden Eagles have already defeated UW-Milwaukee, Toledo, Drake and IUPUI — a team the Badgers blew out 82-49 — 74-63.

Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell, now in her ninth year in Milwaukee, has guided the Golden Eagles to five NCAA appearances and one WNIT appearance. By doing so, Mitchell has become the all-time winningest women’s basketball coach in Marquette’s history.

“I respect every one of the head coaches in the state of Wisconsin and I think our feelings our mutual,” Stone said. “We want each other to represent the state and when you can play a team of Marquette’s caliber, who’s been to the tournament, you know Terri’s a great coach and there’s a nice staff.”

The Golden Eagles return three starters from the 22-10 team that nearly upset top seed Duke in the NCAA Tournament last year. Running the show is junior point guard Carolyn Kieger, who leads the team with 12.8 points per game. The match-up between Kieger and UW point guard Stephanie Rich should prove to be a stellar one.

Also returning are sophomore forwards Christina Quaye and Jasmine McCullough, who have put up 12.3 and 12.0 points per game, respectively. Quaye is also strong on the boards with eight per game, while McCullough is just a step behind at 6.8 per game.

“To taste a second-round trip to the NCAA tournament last year certainly fuels the fire,” Stone said. “And I keep telling our players once we taste success, it’ll breed more success, and that’s what Marquette has.”

While Stone understands the significance of an in-state rivalry — with former teammates facing off against each other and coaches seeing some of the players they missed out on in recruiting — she sees this as just another game and mainly hopes for her team to show improvement after last weekend’s disappointing losses.

“To me every game means the same, whether we’re playing Marquette or Alaska,” Stone said. “If anything, it will give some added incentive maybe for the players, but I would hope that every game we play they have incentive because it’s an opportunity to play college basketball and play to your fullest potential.”

Marquette is also unbeaten in the new Al McGuire Center, compiling an 11-0 mark since relocating there last season. With a win, the Golden Eagles would start the season 5-0 for the first time in school history. The Badgers, who own an 8-4 lead in the series between the two schools, will be a clear underdog Wednesday night.

“It’s just a confidence builder,” freshman guard Janese Banks said. “We just need the taste of success, beating someone we aren’t supposed to beat. We just need to start beating teams that are NCAA bound.”