This is not the type of result Wisconsin women’s basketball head coach Bobbie Kelsey had hoped for in year five.
Wisconsin (1-1) fell to Drake (2-0) Wednesday night 89-70 at the Kohl Center.
After defeating the Badgers last year and entering the game with a win against Iowa State, Drake looked like the well-oiled machine Wisconsin hopes to become.
Drake started the game hot, scoring the first eight points, and never trailed at the Kohl Center en route to the win.
The Badgers defense forced 23 turnovers on the night, but allowed the Bulldogs to shoot 43 percent from beyond the arc in what proved to be the deciding factor.
Drake star Lizzy Wendell paced all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, causing problems for the Wisconsin defense throughout the night with cuts to the lane and mid-range jump shots.
Wendell’s presence on the inside allowed teammate Paige Greiner to knock down 4-of-6 three pointers that deflated the Badgers any time they seemed poised at a comeback.
Kelsey was not pleased with the attention to detail Wisconsin showed on the defensive end.
“Some of it was miscommunication on our part,” Kelsey said. “We talked about what we wanted to do in timeouts and we would have one person messing it up — not paying attention. When that happens you get somebody coming in late, they get open shots and that’s it. And against this kind of team you can’t have mental errors like that. You have to know what you’re doing, five people out there working together, on the same page, and we don’t have that.”
For the Badgers, senior Nicole Baumon led the team in scoring with 18 points and Michala Johnson also had a strong night with 12 points and 5 rebounds.
However, when a team shoots above 40 percent from downtown and has a 29-point advantage in bench points, it is hard to keep up with the pace.
After the game, Kelsey was searching for answers in her effort to limit Drake’s long ball.
“That’s totally on the people on the floor,” Kelsey said. “You have to pay attention in the huddle and you have to be on the same page. They took total advantage of that and they didn’t miss.”