The Badgers women's basketball team (6-2 Big Ten, 11-9 overall) came out strong in the second half to pull out a win against Illinois (2-5 Big Ten, 7-13 overall) on Sunday night. Wisconsin has now won four out of their last five games. The Badgers made 16 of their 17 free throws, which helped the team beat the Illini, 60-47.
Senior forward Tara Steinbauer had an impressive 19-point game for the Badgers. Sophomore guard Taylor Wurtz was second on the team with 12 points. Wisconsin was able to get the ball inside to get a great post presence against a smaller-sized Illinois team. Senior forward Lin Zastrow also contributed 10 points. The Badgers handled the ball well, as they only had six turnovers as a team.
""When we play defense, we rebound, and we take care of the ball,"" head coach Lisa Stone said. ""Those three very simple things generally get a pretty good outcome.""
In the first half, the two teams seemed to be trading baskets, with Wisconsin unable to come up with many stops on defense. Illinois sophomore forward Karisma Penn averages 17.1 points per game. Penn had 13 of her total 18 points in the first half, and the Illini were leading 29-28 going into the locker room.
The Badgers stepped it up in the second half, as their defense was able to hold Illinois to a shooting percentage of 25 percent. Wisconsin was able to get Penn into foul trouble and when she got her third, the Badgers were able to go on a 23-8 run.
""We didn't play real well in the first half, but it wasn't quite as slow of a start as it was the last two games, but our defense really picked up in the second half, and we started going back inside,"" Stone said.
The Badgers travel to Evanston, Ill. next Sunday, January 30 to take on Northwestern.
