The UW women's basketball team finished off its exhibition season in an impressive fashion as they defeated Lithuania Laisve-Kaunas 84-72 Thursday night.
Junior center Lello Gebisa owned the post as she grabbed 16 rebounds in addition to 16 points.
\Lello is a player that I thought we really rallied around. I thought she had emotion, she had leadership and I thought she had a good scoring touch,"" Head Coach Jane Albright said. ""We are real pleased with what we've seen.""
Lello's sister, sophomore forward Ebba Gebisa, led all scorers with 20 points and six rebounds. Ebba hit 10 of 12 free throws in the game and had no problem penetrating the Lithuanian defense in the second half.
""When they went to the zone, the way we had our offense set up, we were getting a lot of good skips and reverses, and it really just opened it up for me to take it in,"" Ebba said.
The Badgers dominated the game by establishing the post and scoring 50 of their 84 points in the paint. Sophomore guard Stephanie Rich continuously found the open player and ended up with six assists. Rich also contributed to the offense with 16 points on seven of 14 shooting.
Senior forward Kristi Seeger played the most all around game of the evening with 14 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.
""[Seeger] did a real nice job and I think she did a real good job on the boards,"" Albright said.
At halftime the Badgers only led the Lithuanian team by one point at 40-39, but the second half was a different story as UW began to click on all cylinders. With only four turnovers in the second half compared to 13 in the first, the Badgers were able to run their half-court offense and get the ball into the post area where both Gebisas and junior center Emily Ashbaugh were able to convert the majority of the time.
""All in all, I'm very encouraged by what I saw,"" Albright said.
Jovita Jutelyte led Lithuania with 19 points on eight of 12 shooting.
UW begins the regular season next Friday at Northern Illinois, followed by its first home game again Sunday against UW-Green Bay.
