Off to a 3-0 start for the first time since the 2006-07 season, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team is gathering momentum early this season. Between a tough early-season road matchup against UW-Milwaukee last week and Sunday’s come-from-behind victory over Cleveland State, the Badgers are battle-tested and eager to prove themselves to the rest of the nation
“We’re certainly excited to be sitting where we are,” Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone said. “We hung in there [Sunday], we were down 14 points to a very active, aggressive, hot-shooting Cleveland State team. We really empowered each other and pulled through in the second half to play very good defense down the stretch, make some key plays.”
Badgers get busy with tough schedule
Following Tuesday night’s game against UW-Green Bay, the Badgers will hit the road and travel to Eugene, Ore. for the BTI Tip-Off Tournament Nov. 27-29. Between the three tough opponents Wisconsin will face in Oregon — Portland State, Oregon and Cal State Fullerton — last Sunday’s game and Tuesday night, the Badgers will have played five games in a week.
“We have a short turnaround, another game [Tuesday], and then three on the road coming up this week, so we’re in a tough spell in our schedule,” Stone said. “I’m looking forward to the challenge and growing and getting better every day.”
After beginning the season with a 68-43 rout over North Dakota and then the 64-55 road victory over Milwaukee, Wisconsin saw its first real challenge of the season against Cleveland State Sunday. Down 15 late in the first half, the Badgers relied on a strong second half from junior forward Lin Zastrow, who was held scoreless in the first half due to early foul trouble, and freshman guard Taylor Wurtz, who put UW ahead for good with a spin move and jumper in the paint with 1:39 remaining. When Stone was asked about how her team will endure its rigorous upcoming schedule, she had a very simple answer.
“Just not talking about fatigue,” Stone said. “It is what it is. It’s the way it is. I tell our players most basketball teams right now in the country…our men are in Hawaii right now, going to play a ton of games in a row and short turnarounds in their ACC challenge…same with us. It’s what you do in the non-conference; you can think about it and you can succumb to fatigue, or believe or talk about it like ‘Oh I hope we’re not too tired’…we don’t even address those issues, we talk about our next game.”
Freshman Wurtz living up to high expectations
Since even before the preseason media hype began for her squad, Stone was touting her new freshman guard Wurtz. Standing at 6-foot, Wurtz boasts good size for a Big Ten guard and has impressive versatility to complement her height. In the Badgers’ first three games, Wurtz has played positions 1-4, and was even entrusted with bringing up the ball late in the game against Cleveland State.
“I’m not at all surprised with Taylor Wurtz,” Stone said. “She’s a kid, if you read her bio and any type of description of her, she has a basketball under her arm most of the time, and it’s not due to turnovers. It’s due to the fact that she loves to play the game. She’s in the gym before, during, after the games; she’s a player that wants to get better. Putting the ball in her hands at the end of the game [Sunday] was not a question at all for us. Just her growth on a daily basis, she’s going to be fun to watch.
“The sky’s the limit; she’s nowhere near where she’s going to be, but she’s one that’s going to work at it to be the very best that she can possibly be by the time she’s done.”
