Ironically, only a week after dismissing forward Mariah Dunham, post-play was the key in pulling the Wisconsin women’s basketball team out of its five-game losing streak.
Sophomore Tara Steinbauer recorded her first career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Lin Zastrow chipped in 11 points as the Badgers dominated Penn State underneath. Wisconsin’s post players outscored their Nittany Lion counterparts 27-10. The Badgers also won the rebounding battle, 36-31.
Steinbauer, starting in place of Dunham, gave Penn State problems underneath. She shot 5-for-8 from the field and also drew multiple fouls, getting to the line nine times. She even hit a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock midway through the second half.
“I think I pulled my 3-point percentage up from 9 percent to 20 percent,” Steinbauer said jokingly. “It came at the right time for us, and I was just glad to contribute.”
“That was a desperation 3-pointer, but it was all net,” Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone added. “We’ll live with that, but she’s got that type of range.”
Maybe her biggest play of the night came when she grabbed Alyssa Karel’s missed shot and laid it in to give the Badgers a 54-50 lead with only 56 seconds left.
Zastrow, who struggled the last time the Badgers played Penn State, also played well. She was 4-of-7 from the field and pulled down four rebounds as well.
“After every game, you always have to look at the negatives and positives, and if it’s negative, just try to forget about it,” Zastrow said.
Stone agreed with Zastrow’s assessment.
“She came out with a look of aggressiveness,” Stone said. “She really came out looking to score and help her team.”
The post players came up big defensively as well. The Badgers held Penn State forwards to only 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting. Penn State forward Julia Trogele was the only Lion to find success underneath, as she scored six points and pulled down 11 rebounds.
“Our posts did a nice job,” Stone said. “Trogele is really good. She’s a guard-like post player, and with her ability to shoot outside, we had to put Lin on her so we could use her length. It was just a great team effort.”
Grant stars in loss
For the second game in a row, Penn State junior guard Tyra Grant had a huge game against Wisconsin.
On Thursday, Grant scored 24 points on 8-for-15 shooting, including 2-of-5 from 3-point range, and played all 40 minutes. Grant is the second-leading scorer in the Big Ten, averaging 19.7 points per game.
In their last meeting, Grant scored 32 points, including the game-winning shot as time expired, to give the Lions a 58-56 overtime win over the Badgers. Her 32 points were the most that the Badgers have allowed to an opposing player this year.
“She’s a fantastic player,” Stone said. “From the standpoint of her ability to score from outside and inside, handling the basketball, and shooting in traffic, she’s a WNBA-quality player. We knew that we had to do a good job on her. I thought that Teah Gant and Jade Davis did a very nice job on her.”
However, Grant was the majority of Penn State’s offense, as no other Lion scored in double figures. Brianne O’Rourke and Mashea Williams, who came in averaging 11.4 and 9.3 points per game, were held to only five and two points, respectively.
As a team, Penn State shot only 39.1 percent, including only 34.8 percent in the first half. Wisconsin also forced 21 turnovers that led to 22 points.
