With hopes of keeping its postseason alive, the Wisconsin women's basketball team will gear up to host St. Bonaventure in the third round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament Thursday.
The Badgers (19-14) are coming off a 49-45 win against Kentucky last Sunday in the second round, and with a win on Thursday, Wisconsin will advance to the quarterfinals. Feeling good after defeating the Wildcats, the Badgers will look to not let anything distract them.
""This was a big win for us. It will be a short turnaround for us. Where we play will be determined very soon. … We will be back here this week,"" said UW head coach Lisa Stone said following Sunday's win.
Sophomore post Tara Steinbauer scored a career-high 18 points for the Badgers against Kentucky, with 13 coming in the second half. Although the rest of the team struggled to make shots—only shooting 31.7 percent from the field—Wisconsin turned the ball over only 10 times and also had 10 steals.
""Our defense is going to keep us in every game. The way we played in the Big Ten Tournament defensively is what I saw today. The offensive part will come, but our post play was outstanding,"" Stone said.
Thursday will be the first-ever meeting between the Bonnies (22-10) of St. Bonaventure, N.Y. and the Badgers. Against West Virginia in the second round, the Bonnies outscored the Mountaineers 40-21. Junior forward Dana Mitchell leads their offense with 15.7 points per game, ranking second in the Atlantic 10.
In contrast to their continuing strong defense, the Badgers have consistently struggled from the free-throw line in the second round. Compared with Kentucky's 15-for-18, the Badgers shot just 9-for-16 from the line. Offensively, Wisconsin will have to pick up its game against the Bonnies, who are shooting 36 percent from behind the arc this season.
Against Kentucky, Wisconsin struggled in the second half, at one point going scoreless for six minutes, and allowing the Wildcats an 11-2 run. However, it was Steinbauer who helped them break out of the drought.
""It was just a matter of turning around our mentality,"" Steinbauer said after the game Sunday. ""Coach [Stone] said our defense has always been our identity and that was something that we had to get back into. We came down and had a great defensive possession, and things started to really turn around for us.""
Tip off for the St. Bonaventure-Wisconsin matchup is set for 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center.
