Picked to finish 10th in the Big Ten Conference before the start of the season, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team has made it their goal to prove critics wrong. The team took the first step toward that goal Sunday afternoon, crushing the UW-River Falls Falcons 71-38 in an exhibition game at the Kohl Center.
Freshman guard Jamie Russell led the way for Wisconsin with 15 points and seven rebounds in her first action as a Badger. Junior guard Rae Lin D’Alie added 11 points and four assists and sophomore forward Tara Steinbauer dominated in the post, scoring 12 points and pulling down seven rebounds.
“I’m really pleased with our basketball team,” Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone said. “We played really good defense, got some key rebounds and executed offensively. Our game plan is pretty simple. We play defense, contest shots and protect the lane. On offense, we take good shots and take care of the ball. I thought we did a pretty decent job on both ends.”
The game got off to a quick start for the Badgers as they opened the contest by scoring 20 straight points before the Falcons finally made a basket with 11:58 left in the first half. The Falcons had trouble scoring all game against a Wisconsin defense that held them to 32 percent shooting and forced 31 turnovers. The Badgers on the other hand, whose preseason emphasis was on minimizing turnovers, only gave the ball up 11 times. Building such a big lead can sometimes cause a team to relax, but the Badgers refused to let that happen.
“It’s all about discipline,” D’Alie said. “Our team still played as if it were ‘0-0′ instead of ’20-0.’ Our goal was to hold them under 40 points, and with three minutes to go they had 38, but we were able to grind it out and get it done.”
Stone agreed with D’Alie and was proud of her squad for maintaining their focus.
“It’s tough not to look at the scoreboard when you’re up big,” Stone said. “We did have to make some adjustments at halftime just to maintain our focus and drive. Give River Falls credit. They competed and played hard. This is a great measuring stick for us.”
The Badgers also greatly outsized the Falcons at the forward and center positions. River Falls had just one player who measured in at 6 feet, while the Badgers have six. UW took advantage of the mismatch, with Badger forwards outscoring their Falcon counterparts 31-9.
This was also the first game in four years that Jolene Anderson wasn’t in a Badger uniform. UW was able to make up in part for such a huge loss with more balanced distribution of the ball with three players scoring double digits for Wisconsin. Although it hurts to lose a player of Anderson’s magnitude, Stone is happy with the team’s direction.
“We have tremendous balance,” Stone said. “Getting good balance happens with simple things like taking care of the ball and taking good shots. Executing simple concepts puts us in a position where we get a nice balance. We’re a different basketball team, and I’m happy about it.”
The story of the game was undoubtedly Russell’s play. The 5-foot-7 Rock Falls, Ill. native not only led the team in scoring and rebounding, but also shot 63 percent from the floor and added two assists and three steals in 27 minutes coming off the bench.
“I was just trying to keep down the nerves,” Russell said. “I knew my teammates had my back.”
All of the freshmen got playing time with Ashley Thomas and Anya Covington scoring nine and four points, respectively. Jade Davis also saw some action.
“Jamie had a great first day,” Stone said. “She gave us a tremendous lift off the bench. Ashley’s patience was awesome. She came in and she was ready. She got big and wide on the post. She does a very good job of getting a hand to the basketball, and rebounds with a purpose. All of these freshmen are going to be really good. We’re far from where we need to be, but we’re off to a pretty good start.”
