Since the beginning of the 2004-05 campaign, Wisconsin women’s basketball coach Lisa Stone knew that her team’s success would hinge on the play of the freshman class. This statement certainly proved true Saturday afternoon when freshman shooting guard Jolene Anderson led the Badgers’ late comeback against UW-Green Bay.

Much has been made of the scoring talent possessed by the Port Wing, Wis., native and Saturday was another display of that talent. Anderson shot 66 percent from the field and went 3-6 from behind the arc en route to her 29 points, a new career high.

“She’s a good player,” UW-Green Bay head coach Kevin Borseth said. “She makes shots from every which way, direction or standing up or down.”

The Fighting Phoenix coaches were clearly worried about Anderson’s ability from the get-go. Coach Borseth matched up senior guard Abby Scharlow, the defensive leader for the Phoenix, against Anderson from the beginning. Entering the game, Scharlow led the Phoenix with 14 steals on the season and picked up four more against the Badgers.

UW-Green Bay’s defensive pressure had mixed results against Anderson in the early going. The freshman phenom led all scorers going into halftime with 13 points on 6-9 shooting, but she also led all players at the half with four turnovers.

“I thought we did a pretty good job keeping it from her,” Borseth said. “But she just shoots so much.”

With time running down in the first half, Anderson made a play that changed the entire dynamic of the game. With the Phoenix going up four on a lay-up from forward Tiffany Mor, who also set a career-high with 24 points on the day, the Badgers drove down the court with under ten seconds in the half. As time dwindled down, freshman center Danielle Ward missed a jumper with just under a second to play. But the 5-foot-8 Anderson found herself in the right place at the right time as she tipped in the rebound just as time expired.

“With two minutes left in the first half, they had the ball, and with some 3’s, we could have been down six instead of two,” Stone said. “Jolene’s tip before the half, that’s what builds the momentum.”

For Anderson, the moment was clearly a confidence builder. The Badgers came out flat to open the second half, while the Phoenix went on a 6-2 run to reestablish a six-point advantage before the Badgers called a time-out 2:30 into the second half. But coming out of the time-out, Anderson sparked a key run to help keep her team in striking distance.

In the ensuing 4:16 of action, the Phoenix shooters got hot, building their lead to as many as ten points during the span, but Anderson kept her team in the game. The freshman guard scored six points during the stretch and had a pair of steals including one that lead to a 3-pointer from guard Stephanie Rich that cut the deficit to four points.

While the pressure bothered Anderson in the first half, the second half was a different story. Despite continued pressure Anderson took care of the ball, turning the ball over only twice in the second half as the Badgers continued to play catch-up.

With two minutes left, and the Badgers down four, it was again Anderson who took over the game. Anderson’s steal at 1:59 helped set up a Jordan Wilson jumper to cut the lead to two.

With just over a minute to go, forward Annie Nelson grabbed an offensive board off a Jordan Wilson miss. After Nelson passed out of the post, Rich found Anderson behind the 3-point line, and the freshman drilled a shot that gave the Badgers their first lead since the 5:50 mark of the first half.

“That 3-pointer she made was probably the best shot, fundamentally, she took all game,” Rich said. “Usually she just throws it up there, and it goes in.”

Despite the career numbers Anderson posted, her standout performance managed to fly under the radar.

“We were all sitting around in the locker room saying ‘Jolene had 29 points?'” Nelson said. “It was a quiet 29 points.”

But most perplexing for the Badgers was the fact that the Phoenix just couldn’t seem to keep track of Wisconsin’s premier offensive weapon.

“I don’t know why they kept leaving her open, but we just kept finding her,” Rich said.