Although it is perhaps a clich? and oversimplified analysis of the game of basketball, it holds true nevertheless that free throws win games.

Especially close games.

And so, in improving to 18-7 overall (8-6 Big Ten) with a 66-58 home win Sunday over Indiana, the most encouraging statistic for the Wisconsin women’s basketball team was a 75 percent mark from the charity stripe, where they outscored the visiting Hoosiers 21-10.

Though three of every four may not blow the casual observer away, it is a critical number for a squad that shoots just over 67 percent from the line, and it is particularly important for a squad that has recently found itself prone to nail-biting finishes.

In fact, Sunday’s contest — which was still in doubt with as few as 22 seconds remaining before two Tara Steinbauer free throws gave the Badgers a 6-point advantage — could be considered anti-climactic in light of a double-overtime victory over Minnesota on Feb. 4, and a buzzer-beating loss to Purdue last Sunday.

With so many close games entering the team’s final four-game stretch, the value of free throws grows exponentially.

“It’s very encouraging,” UW head coach Lisa Stone said of her team’s success at the free throw line. “We were very aggressive offensively and we got to the double-bonus pretty early in the second half and that allowed us to get to the line. And again… we got to the line 28 times against a zone, I’m very encouraged by that.”

“[We] know that sometimes we settle for outside jump shots,” she added. “And I thought we went inside and outside, got some attacks, got some offensive rebounds and put ourselves in a good position to get fouled and get to the line.”

Particularly heartening for Wisconsin, their 17 second-half free throws allowed them to outscore an opponent in the closing half for the first time in three games. And of the team’s 17 second-half freebies, they managed to sink 11 of their last 14 in the game’s final 1:36, including their last seven attempts.

Tara Steinbauer, who led the Badgers with 19 points on the night, was the life of the party at the line, sinking 9-of-10, a rate Stone called “outstanding.” On the season, Steinbauer leads Wisconsin with an average of just under 84 percent.

Badgers shut down Big Ten’s fourth-leading scorer

Equally impressive for Wisconsin was the defensive effort turned in by the team on Hoosier guard Jori Davis.

Entering Sunday’s contest, Davis was fourth in the conference in scoring with an average of 17.5 per game. She had reached double-figures in 20 of Indiana’s 24 games, including a career-high 33 in a loss to Virginia in November.

But against Wisconsin, Davis netted just a single free throw in 37 minutes of action.

“To hold the third-leading scorer in the conference in check — Jori Davis is a very, very good player, and she was held to one point and that was tremendous defense,” Stone said. “Teah [Gant] had the start on her but it was the entire team.”

Davis, a junior from Rochester, N.Y., missed all five of her field goal attempts and, under harassing defense from the Badgers, turned the ball over five times.

Indiana head coach Felisha Legette-Jack, however, noted that Davis has been ill, which likely contributed to her poor performance.

“We probably shouldn’t have played Jori — definitely not that many minutes — she’s been sick and throwing up and trying to find her way,” Legette-Jack explained. “And she’s a kid that has earned the right to play, wanted to play. … [But] they certainly played good defense.”