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The new-look Wisconsin women’s basketball team kicks off the 2008-09 season Sunday at the Kohl Center with an exhibition game against UW-River Falls.
Wisconsin, which finished 16-14 last season, is excited to face their first opponent after nearly a month of practices.
“It will be fun to put uniforms on and run out to the band and have a real game-like experience,” head coach Lisa Stone said. “We’re ready for it. We’ve got a long ways to go, but we’ll be ready to go against another team.”
As the Badgers take on the Falcons, the lineup will be much different from the last few years. This year’s Badgers will be without Jolene Anderson, the program’s all-time leading scorer.
Also missing from Wisconsin’s starting lineup this year will be Janese Banks and Danielle Ward, both of whom started for the Badgers last season as seniors.
The Badgers return just two starters from last season, junior guard Rae Lin D’Alie and sophomore forward Tara Steinbauer. Despite being among the most experienced players on a young Wisconsin team, D’Alie and Steinbauer do not seem to be worried about any added pressure.
“I actually feel less [pressure] because last year we were picked to go second in the Big Ten and it didn’t turn out that way, but this year nobody thinks we’re going to do anything,” D’Alie said. “In my opinion, that’s fine because that’s just extra motivation that we’re using to get to where we want to be.”
While they may not be feeling any added pressure, Stone certainly expects D’Alie and Steinbauer to lead the way for her team this year.
“Both Rae Lin and Tara lead in different ways,” Stone said. “Rae Lin has a bulldog mentality up on top, and Tara is a banger inside, so they can lead by example as well as with words.”
For the Badgers’ four new freshmen, Sunday will be their first chance to feel what it’s like to play at the Kohl Center in front of the home crowd. The players and Stone alike are excited to see how the new members of the team will react to the experience.
“I think all four freshmen have a chance to get some minutes,” Stone said. “Anya Covington is making strides every single day as a great presence inside for us. Ashley Thomas can guard both inside and out for us, and Jamie Russell is probably our quickest on-ball defender.”
Much like Wisconsin, UW-River Falls is a young team this year with just one senior on its roster. The Falcons also return only two starters from last year: junior guard Kelli Hilt and senior guard Jenna Hanson.
Despite the fact that the Falcons won’t be quite as tough as the competition the Badgers expect to face down the road, Steinbauer sees a lot of positives that her team could take away from Sunday’s matchup.
“We’re looking forward to our first win,” Steinbauer said. “I think it’s going to be great to see how all of our hard work manifests into game situations and to expose some of our young talent with our four freshmen who have just been phenomenal in practice.”
One of the biggest things the team has been working on so far is the new defensive system that Stone has put in place. Last year’s Badgers struggled defensively, allowing 66.9 points per game.
“We’re definitely trying to pick our defense up,” D’Alie said. “Personally, I’ve been trying to pick it up as well, hassling the point guard a lot more to make it difficult for other teams to start their offense.”
“It’s kind of a whole new perspective this year which really stresses ball pressure and keeping everything pushed out of the lane,” Steinbauer added. “I think for our team it’s going to be a huge improvement from what you’ve seen in the past.”
For Stone and the Badgers, this weekend is the first chance to see how everything works together with a new set of players, a new defensive system and two new assistant coaches in Kathi Bennett and Oties Epps.
“There’s a lot of things you can take from an exhibition game,” Stone said. “It’s all about learning and getting better with a week before the opener.”