[media-credit name=’RUSS COOK/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]

As has been the case all season long, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team’s defense again played a major role in its victory against Virginia Tech Thursday night.

Coming into the game, the Badgers had been giving up only 55.7 points per game, good for second in the Big Ten and No. 35 in the country. On Thursday night, the Badgers held the Hokies to only 52 points, 14 points below their season average, and the second-least points they’ve scored all year. They also held Virginia Tech to only 37 percent shooting, including only 34.5 percent shooting in the first half.

The Badgers were also much better in terms of fouling than they were against UW-Milwaukee. Virginia Tech managed to get to the foul stripe only 15 times during the game, making nine free throws. The only Hokie player who was able to get something going offensively was junior guard Lindsay Biggs, who had 22 points on 8-for-19 shooting.

“Defensively, I thought we were outstanding tonight,” Wisconsin coach Lisa Stone said. “Outside of maybe the first two minutes of the second half, I thought we were great. We rotated Teah Gant and Ashley Thomas on Lindsay Biggs and she got her numbers, but she had to work for everything she got.”

Virginia Tech came into the came averaging 66 points per game, but Wisconsin held them far below that average, also forcing 18 turnovers in the process. Stone, who has preached offensive balance all season long, saw the same balance in her team’s defense against an ACC team that started out the year 5-0 before dropping its first game at Vanderbilt.

“Everyone contributed,” Stone said. ” I thought we did a decent job getting through screens, we chased, and we were in the pack. Simply put, we were playing our system and if we can add the ‘one and done’ mentality to it, it’s really going to help. When we play defense like that we are going to be in position to be in every single game. And now are players are believing that.”

Another key in the team’s defense has been its ability to adjust to the game and use multiple players in different situations.

“I like the versatility on our defense and the fact that we’ve got some options to work with,” Stone said. “When called upon, many players can step up. Tonight, we had a big lineup in at points in the game so some of our players had to play the post on defense while playing the guard on offense. Matchups are going to be the key for our defense. I like the fact that our identity is starting to become true on the defensive end and it works well with our matchups.”

Virginia Tech coach Beth Dunkenberger was also very impressed with how Wisconsin’s defense was able to hold her team’s offense in check.

“I thought that they were very fundamentally sound on defense,” Dunkenberger said. “They played hard. They locked down the paint. We only had two points in paint at halftime. They just didn’t make mistakes and played really hard. When you do those two things on the defensive end, good things happen.”

Wisconsin’s defense has been so solid this season that it is starting to be thought of as the team’s most formidable aspect, according to Stone. Junior guard Teah Gant, known for her defense, had seven rebounds and a steal Thursday night. She agrees with defense is the key to the Badgers’ success.

“I would definitely say defense is our trademark,” Gant said. “Since the first day we started practice we’ve been focusing on defense. Playing good defense is what we plan on doing for the rest of the season.”