Despite playing without Preseason All-Big Ten selection Alyssa Karel, the Wisconsin women's basketball team barely missed a beat in their opening weekend, easily handling both St. Louis on the road and then William & Mary at home.
The Badgers began the weekend and the season on a strong note Friday night when the team traveled to St. Louis and came away with an impressive opening performance, highlighted by a staunch trademark defense, in a 60-32 win.
Wisconsin jumped out to an early 8-0 lead in the first five minutes against the Billikens and only widened that gap as the game progressed.
With two double-doubles in the team's opening exhibition matches, senior Tara Steinbauer posted her first official such performance of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Lin Zastrow led the Badgers in scoring with 14 points on the evening.
St. Louis shot just 20.8 percent from the floor all night while the Badgers out-rebounded the Billikens 44-28.
All 10 players who dressed for the trip saw time on the court Friday, including freshman Morgan Paige who filled in for injured senior Alyssa Karel. Paige continued to show the poise and performance she demonstrated in the team's exhibition matches, seeing the most playing time of any Wisconsin player and contributing six points.
On Sunday, the Badgers welcomed the William & Mary Tribe to the Kohl Center for the first meeting between the two teams. Former Tribe standout forward and current UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin was on hand to witness her Ph.D. alma mater, Wisconsin, take down her undergraduate alma mater 65-38.
Senior Tara Steinbauer again took the helm, powering the Badgers with her second double-double of the season, contributing a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds.
""A huge credit to my teammates, they found me on great penetration,"" Steinbauer said. ""I couldn't be more proud of our guards right now. I think their passes inside to us have just been right there, and obviously that puts me in a great position to score.""
Coming into Sunday's matchup, William & Mary head coach Debbie Taylor was more focused on containing Zastrow, but found Steinbauer to be a larger threat than expected. Although the Tribe shut down Zastrow, who went just one for three from the floor for six points, Steinbauer posted near career highs.
""When you have a tough kid [like Steinbauer], they're just worth their weight in gold,"" said Taylor. ""She just gets after it. She's nasty.""
Sophomore Taylor Wurtz also continued to shine in the starting role on both ends of the court, with 14 points and three steals in 33 minutes of play.
For the second game in a row, the Badgers held their opponent to under 30 percent shooting from the floor. The Tribe managed just 26.9 percent, while Wisconsin boasted 43.8 percent shooting, boosted by a 56 percent effort in the second half.
""We're banged up a little right now,"" Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone said. ""And I give them a lot of credit. We're nowhere near where we need to be at, but we're showing progress, and that's the best part of this.""
